background Clinical admissions and inpatient services are increasingly replaced by enhanced community treatment in Western countries. Currently the Dutch mental health legislation is being revised, making compulsory community treatment a novel legal option in The Netherlands.
aim To summarize the current literature on compulsory community treatment and to review studies relating to efficacy, patients’ and carers’ perspectives, and costs.
method We conducted a systematic review of the literature, using PubMed and Trip.
results Current literature does not provide evidence for positive effects of cct in comparison to voluntary care in terms of admission duration, time-to-readmission, and clinical outcomes.
conclusion Results from England and the United States do not provide support for efficacy of cct in terms of number and/or duration of hospital admissions, and in terms of clinical outcomes compared to voluntary treatment. There is a pressing need for studies designed to allow for direct comparisons between outcomes after compulsory hospital admission and compulsory community treatment.