Knowledge on types of treatment pressure. A cross-sectional study among mental health professionals

Treatment pressure restricts patients' voluntary and autonomous decisions. Yet interventions involving treatment pressure are widely used in mental health and psychosocial services. This cross-sectional study explored whether mental health professionals' knowledge on five types of treatment pressure (no coercion, persuasion or conviction, leverage, threat, and formal coercion) was associated with sociodemographic, professional and contextual factors. A more positive attitude towards interventions involving treatment pressure was associated with underrating the level of those interventions compared with a predefined default value. The treatment setting and professional group played a minor role in 'leverage' and 'formal coercion' types of treatment pressure, respectively.