ObjectivesThe objective of the study was to investigate how mental health professionals describe and reflect upon different forms of informal coercion.ResultsIn a deductive qualitative content analysis of focus group interviews,… Click to show full abstract
ObjectivesThe objective of the study was to investigate how mental health professionals describe and reflect upon different forms of informal coercion.ResultsIn a deductive qualitative content analysis of focus group interviews, several examples of persuasion, interpersonal leverage, inducements, and threats were found. Persuasion was sometimes described as being more like a negotiation. Some participants worried about that the use of interpersonal leverage and inducements risked to pass into blackmail in some situations. In a following inductive analysis, three more categories of informal coercion was found: cheating, using a disciplinary style and referring to rules and routines. Participants also described situations of coercion from other stakeholders: relatives and other authorities than psychiatry. The results indicate that informal coercion includes forms that are not obviously arranged in a hierarchy, and that its use is complex with a variety of pathways between different forms before treatment is accepted by the patient or compulsion is imposed.
               
Click one of the above tabs to view related content.