Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry·2014
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry·2014
Oregon's civil commitment statutes were revised in 1973 and 1975.
These revisions incorporated nonphysician court examiners and public prosecutors into commitment hearings.
Observation:
The study compared commitment decisions made by physician-only panels versus mixed panels (one physician, one nonphysician mental health professional).
Commitment decisions for five case vignettes were evaluated across six groups of medical and nonmedical personnel.
Findings:
Nonphysician mental health professionals' commitment decisions did not significantly differ from those of psychiatric examiners.
Inclusion of nonphysicians in commitment hearings did not alter decision-making compared to physician-only panels.
Implications:
Nonphysician mental health professionals can be effectively integrated into civil commitment proceedings.
The findings support the use of diverse professional backgrounds in mental health commitment evaluations.
Statutory changes in Oregon did not negatively impact the consistency of commitment decisions.