Treatment no-show in forensic outpatients with ADHD
Woicik,K. van der Lem,R. Sijtsema,J.J. Bogaerts,S.
Woicik,K.
van der Lem,R.
Sijtsema,J.J.
Bogaerts,S.
Abstract
Background ‘No-show’ is important in today's mental healthcare services, yet in forensic psychiatry, little is known about its relationship to general and disorder-specific patient characteristics. Aims The aim of this article is to determine the prevalence of no-show and any general and disorder-specific features associated with no-show in a cohort of offenders with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder registered at a specialist forensic mental health clinic. Methods Participants were 118 adult men with a mean age just over 32 years (SD 8.75) attending forensic mental health outpatient clinics in the Netherlands who had a primary diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and who had been aggressive and/or delinquent. Results Over a 1-year period, most patients (101, 86%) missed at least one appointment. The average number of appointments offered was 37.88 (SD = 27.27), and the average number of no-shows was 6.53 (SD = 5.99) per patient. Multivariate linear regressions showed a 10-fold likelihood of later no-shows if the first appointment was missed; not showing up after the intake procedure was also associated with higher rates of later no-show. None of the disorder-specific characteristics contributed to the problem. Conclusions No-show is of particular concern in forensic mental health settings. In the current study, no-show was primarily associated with features related to the time of initial consultation. More attention should thus be paid at this stage to using a standard method of assessing a wider range of variables likely to affect attendance.
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2017
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Research Projects
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Woicik, K, van der Lem, R, Sijtsema, J J & Bogaerts, S 2017, 'Treatment no-show in forensic outpatients with ADHD', Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 76–88. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.1989