ArticleBJPsych open2020
Understanding increasing rates of psychiatric hospital detentions in England: development and preliminary testing of an explanatory model.
Article in BJPsych open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of Physical Activity Interventions on Acute Inpatient Mental Health Units on Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Pooled it
- A qualitative meta-synthesis of service users' and carers' experiences of assessment and involuntary hospital admissions under mental health legislations: a five-year update.BMC psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and narrative synthesis of indirect psychological intervention in acute mental health inpatient settings.Clinical psychology & psychotherapy · 2023Pooled it
- Clinical and social factors associated with involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation in children and adolescents: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and narrative synthesis.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2021Pooled it
- Exploring factors associated with psychiatric hospitalization for persons living with family.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Abolition of coercion in psychiatry on the horizon? A descriptive ecologic data study from six European countries.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026Article
- Ensuring compulsory treatment is used as a last resort: a narrative review of the knowledge about Community Treatment Orders.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2026Article
- Assessing decision-making capacity in clinical practice in Norway: a qualitative exploration of stakeholder perspectives.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Area-level factors associated with variation in involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation across England: a cross-sectional, ecological study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Racialised experience of detention under the Mental Health Act: a photovoice investigation.BMJ mental health · 2025Article
- "No Safe Place to Call": Perspectives and Experiences of Access to Mental Health Services by People Found not Criminally Responsible on Account of a Mental Disorder.International journal of forensic mental health · 2025Article
- Impact of introducing a capacity-based mental health law in Norway: qualitative exploration of multi-stakeholder perspectives.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- Professional experiences on use of the mental health act in ethnically diverse populations: a photovoice study.BMJ mental health · 2025Article
- Exploring pathways to compulsory detention in psychiatric hospital and ways to prevent repeat detentions; Service user perspectives.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Exploring pathways to compulsory detention and ways to prevent repeat compulsory detentions in England; clinician perspectives.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- From risky individuals to risky systems: a conceptual framework for the next generation of forensic mental health research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The impact of psychiatric decision units on mental health crisis care pathways: a synthetic control study.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Temporal patterns and individual characteristics of compulsory treatment orders for mental disorders in Scotland from 2007 to 2020.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- The effect of psychiatric decision unit services on inpatient admissions and mental health presentations in emergency departments: an interrupted time series analysis from two cities and one rural area in England.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Article
- Investigating the association between characteristics of local crisis care systems and service use in an English national survey.BJPsych open · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe steep rise in the rate of psychiatric hospital detentions in England is poorly understood.
aimsTo identify explanations for the rise in detentions in England since 1983; to test their plausibility and support from evidence; to develop an explanatory model for the rise in detentions.
methodHypotheses to explain the rise in detentions were identified from previous literature and stakeholder consultation. We explored associations between national indicators for potential explanatory variables and detention rates in an ecological study. Relevant research was scoped and the plausibility of each hypothesis was rated. Finally, a logic model was developed to illustrate likely contributory factors and pathways to the increase in detentions.
resultsSeventeen hypotheses related to social, service, legal and data-quality factors. Hypotheses supported by available evidence were: changes in legal approaches to patients without decision-making capacity but not actively objecting to admission; demographic changes; increasing psychiatric morbidity. Reductions in the availability or quality of community mental health services and changes in police practice may have contributed to the rise in detentions. Hypothesised factors not supported by evidence were: changes in community crisis care, compulsory community treatment and prescribing practice. Evidence was ambiguous or lacking for other explanations, including the impact of austerity measures and reductions in National Health Service in-patient bed numbers.
conclusionsBetter data are needed about the characteristics and service contexts of those detained. Our logic model highlights likely contributory factors to the rise in detentions in England, priorities for future research and potential policy targets for reducing detentions.
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