Immigrant, racialised and ethno-culturally diverse communities and community treatment orders: A scoping review

People with serious mental illness from immigrant, racialised and ethno-culturally diverse communities experience greater coercion in mental health care.

This review aims to scope the literature and synthesise findings relevant on the association between these groups, and the use of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) and related forms of compulsory community treatment.

Five electronic databases were searched to identify relevant studies. Studies were included if they directly examined the association between immigrant, racialised and ethno-culturally diverse communities and community treatment orders and related forms of treatment or presented relevant data as part of a larger study.

Of the 43 studies included 9 studies focussed directly on associations between immigrant, racialised and ethno-culturally diverse communities and CTOs, while 34 studies presented relevant data related to immigrant, racialised and ethno-culturally diverse communities and CTOs albeit not the primary focus of the study. Most studies were quantitative, with varied study designs. The majority of studies were from Australia and New Zealand. followed by North America and the UK. Of the nine studies focussing directly on ethnicity and CTOs, results were mixed, and varied based on design, population and jurisdiction.

The relationship between ethnicity, immigration status and CTOs is complex, with mixed findings across jurisdictions. Most of the literature comes from Australia and New Zealand, were Indigenous populations were a significant focus. The review highlights the need for more qualitative and quantitative research, especially in underrepresented ethnic groups and jurisdictions outside of Australia and New Zealand.