Outpatient Treatment: Perceived Coercion, Procedural Justice, and Program Impact

Objective: Mandated community treatment has been proposed as a mechanism to engage people with severe and persistent mental dis-orders in treatment. Recently, two approaches to mandate treatment through the courts have been highlighted: assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) and mental health court programs. This study examined levels of perceived coercion, procedural justice, and the impact of the program (mental health court or AOT) among participants in a community treat-ment system. Methods: Data were analyzed from interviews with former AOT participants who were no longer under court supervision (N=17) and with graduates of a mental health court program (N=35). The Mac-Arthur Admission Experience Survey, created to measure perceived co-ercion, procedural justice, and program impact on hospital admission, was modified to include judges and case managers. Results: Mental health court graduates perceived significantly less coercion and more procedural justice in their interactions with the judge than did AO