Are mental health services getting better at responding to abuse, assault and neglect?

To determine whether staff responses to abuse disclosures had improved since the introduction of a trauma policy and training programme.

The files of 250 clients attending four New Zealand mental health centres were audited.

There was a significant improvement, compared to an audit prior to the introduction of the policy and training, in the proportion of abuse cases included in formulations, and, to a lesser extent, in treatment plans. There was no significant improvement in the proportion referred for relevant treatment, which remained at less than 25% across abuse categories. The proportion of neglect disclosures responded to was significantly lower than for abuse cases. Fifty percent of the files in which abuse/neglect was recorded noted whether the client had been asked about previous disclosure, and 22% noted whether the client thought there was any connection between the abuse/neglect and their current problems. Less than 1% of cases were reported to legal authorities. People diagnosed with a psychotic disorder were significantly less likely to be responded to appropriately.

Future training may need to focus on responding well to neglect and people diagnosed with psychosis, on making treatment referrals, and on initiating discussions about reporting to authorities.