Clinical course and prevalence of coercive measures: an observational study among involuntarily hospitalised psychiatric patients

The prevalence of coercive measures is still high in involuntarily hospitalised patients. Seclusion was the most frequently used coercive measure, which may be based on cultural and clinical aspects and differs from findings in other countries where restraint is more frequently used. Some sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were associated with the use of coercion. This underlines the importance of developing treatment strategies for patients at risk to prevent situations in which the use of coercion is necessary. To enable comparison between different study sites, standardised protocols should be used to document frequency and duration of coercive measures.