Rates for civil commitment to psychiatric hospitals in Norway. Are registry data accurate?

Civil commitment rates to psychiatric hospitals in Norway are among the highest in Europe. However, published rates are based on registry data of uncertain quality. Civil commitment at four psychiatric hospitals were examined and the quality of registry data assessed.

Coercion and patient satisfaction on psychiatric acute wards.

Legal-, perceived- and objective coercion were examined both separately and together as a measure of accumulated coercion, to determine how coercion affected patient satisfaction in patients admitted for acute psychiatric care. Accumulated coercive events significantly reduced both overall satisfaction, and satisfaction in four of five subscales evaluating different aspects of treatment. Neither legal status nor perceived coercion affected patient satisfaction, while objective coercion had a significant negative effect on overall satisfaction when these measures were analysed separately.

Perceived coercion among patients admitted to acute wards in Norway.

Several studies suggest that the patient's experience of being coerced, during the admission process to mental hospitals, does not necessarily correspond with their legal status. Rather, perceived coercion appears to be associated with having experienced force and/or threats (negative pressures), as well as feeling that their views were not taken into consideration in the admission process (process exclusion). We investigated perceived coercion, among patients admitted both voluntarily and involuntarily, to acute wards in Norway.