A Blind Spot? Screening for Mild Intellectual Disability and Borderline Intellectual Functioning in Admitted Psychiatric Patients: Prevalence and Associations with Coercive Measures.
BACKGROUND
Failure to detect psychiatric patients' intellectual disabilities may lead to inappropriate treatment and greater use of coercive measures.


OBJECTIVE
In this prospective dynamic cohort study we screened for intellectual disabilities in patients admitted to psychiatric wards, and investigated the use of coercive measures with these patients.


METHODS
We used the Screener for Intelligence and Learning disabilities (SCIL) to screen patients admitted to two acute psychiatric wards, and assessed patient characteristics and coercive measures during their stay and over the last 5 years.


RESULTS
Results on the SCIL suggested that 43.8% of the sample had Mild Intellectual Disability or Borderline Intellectual Functioning (MID/BIF). During their current stay and earlier stays in the previous 5 years, these patients had an increased risk of involuntary admission (OR 2.71; SD 1.28-5.70) and coercive measures (OR 3.95, SD 1.47-10.54).


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that functioning on the level of MID/BIF is very prevalent in admitted psychiatric patients and requires specific attention from mental health care staff.
VGGNet, GGNet Mental Health Centre, Warnsveld, The Netherlands.
Jeanet Grietje
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3781-8709
JG
Nieuwenhuis
Dutch information Centre of Coercive Measures, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.|Resident training for psychiatrists, GGNet Mental Health Centre, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
Eric Onno
EO
Noorthoorn
Altrecht Aventurijn, Den Dolder, The Netherlands.
Henk Llewellyn Inge
HL
Nijman
Resident training for psychiatrists, GGNet Mental Health Centre, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
Paul
P
Naarding
Epidemiological and Social Psychiatric Research institute, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Prins Constantijnweg 48-54, TA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, Rotterdam, Prins Constantijnweg 48-54, TA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Cornelis Lambert
CL
Mulder
D000328:Adult; D003068:Coercion; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010343:Patient Admission; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital