Understanding compulsory community treatment across Australian jurisdictions: insights from three different data sources

BACKGROUND: Compulsory Community Treatment (CCT) is any intervention that mandates community psychiatric care. Despite Australia's high use of CCT compared to other countries, there is no standardised national reporting framework, limiting transparency and comparability across jurisdictions. AIMS: To determine rates of CCT orders per 100 000 population, individuals subject to CCT per 100 000 population and the proportion of all community mental healthcare contacts that were involuntary between 2016-2017 and 2023-2024. We also sought to identify and document differences in reporting practices across CCT reporting bodies. METHOD: Publicly available data were extracted from annual reports of state and territory Mental Health Review Tribunals or Civil and Administrative Tribunals, Offices of the Chief Psychiatrist and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Rates of CCT orders per 100 000 population, individuals subject to CCT per 100 000 population and the proportion of all community mental healthcare contacts that were involuntary were calculated and compared across jurisdictions. RESULTS: Marked differences were identified in CCT terminology, reporting scope and data completeness across jurisdictions and reporting bodies. Only three jurisdictions reported the number of individuals subject to CCT and none reported incidence data. Rates of CCT increased in most jurisdictions, except Western Australia, which showed a decline and the lowest rate of all jurisdictions. The proportion of involuntary community contacts ranged from 3 to 26% nationally. CONCLUSIONS: Australia's fragmented CCT reporting landscape impedes accurate national monitoring. A standardised national CCT data-set that incorporates prevalence and incidence indicators is urgently needed to enable transparent, comparable reporting.