[Evaluation of the efficacy of involuntary outpatient treatment in reducing the use of mental health services in hospital].

Objective: To determine whether psychiatric patients in involuntary outpatient treatment (IOT) show reduced use of mental health services in hospital compared with a control group not subject to a judicial order.

Method: We compared a group of patients in IOT (n=38) with a control group (n=38), selected from involuntarily hospitalized patients during the same period. Patients in the control group had similar sociodemographic, clinical and psychiatric characteristics to the group with IOT. We analyzed the number of emergencies, inpatient admissions and length of hospital stay during a follow-up period of 6 months after the beginning of the judicial order in the IOT group or after hospital discharge in the control group.

Results: No significant differences were found between the IOT and the control group in hospital use (number of emergencies, inpatient admissions and mean length of hospital stay).

Conclusions: These results question the efficacy of IOT to reduce the use of hospital services.