Grant: Catalyst Grant: Moving Upstream - Structural Determinants of Health - General

This study aims to better understand how mental health care is organized, how this influences involuntary treatment for mental illness, and subsequent implications on patient outcomes. Why is this important? Involuntary treatment occurs when someone experiencing a mental health crisis is hospitalized without their consent because they are deemed an immediate risk to themselves or others. In British Columbia (BC), there is growing pressure to expand the use of involuntary psychiatric care. While involuntary treatment can save lives, it can also be traumatic and harmful and existing research shows mixed results, suggesting current approaches to treating mental health and substance use issues might not be sufficient. Moreover, involuntary treatment is costly. There is limited Canadian research on this topic, and the available evidence has several important limitations. What are we doing? We will use a new approach called "computational ethnography," which combines in-depth interviews with people who have experienced involuntary care and healthcare providers, and statistical analysis of large sets of data that include healthcare, social services, and criminal justice data. This method allows us to understand both the personal experiences of those affected and to observe broader patterns of care across BC. What do we hope to achieve? Our goal is to provide critical evidence that can inform systemic changes and targeted interventions. By understanding the impacts of involuntary psychiatric care from both individual and systemic perspectives, we can improve how we approach the treatment of mental illness in BC to improve health outcomes and disrupt the apparent reliance on costly, involuntary measures.