The following is a summary of “Strategies to promote treatment compliance: a grounded theory study with relatives of people with a serious mental health condition,”published in the July 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Hempeler et al.

Effective treatment involves communicative strategies influencing mental healthcare users’ compliance, including persuasion, leverage, inducements, and threats, used by both professionals and relatives, with limited research on relatives’ application of treatment pressures.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study examining the treatment pressures and alternative strategies employed by relatives to support treatment adherence in family members with serious mental health conditions (SMHC).

They conducted 11 semi-structured interviews with relatives of individuals diagnosed with SMHC in Germany. Participants were recruited through self-help groups for relatives and flyers distributed at a local psychiatric hospital. Inclusion criteria included having a family member with a psychiatric diagnosis who had been subject to formal coercion. Data analysis was conducted using grounded theory methodology.

The results showed diverse strategies to enhance treatment compliance in family members of patients with SMHC. The strategies include influencing the family member’s decision-making, eliminating alternatives, and altering the social or legal context of decision-making processes. Relatives’ efforts to promote treatment adherence extend beyond conventional treatment pressures documented in existing literature. 

Investigators concluded that relatives often use treatment pressures in home settings, impacting consent, and mental healthcare professionals should acknowledge the efforts and challenges.

Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-05907-9