Exploring Routine Practices of Coercion in Acute Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – Reflections for Practice

TOPIC: The article focusses on the use coercion in acute psychiatric wards for children and adolescents in Norway. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to provide insight into how coercion within a continuum of formal and informal coercion is embedded in psychiatric treatment of children and adolescents. This integrated focus on multiple forms of coercion is critical for raising professional awareness regarding the effects of coercion on children's wellbeing, trust in professionals and future access to mental health services. SOURCES USED: The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork in three acute wards in Norway conducted in 2023-2024. The research is part of a larger mixed-methods study focusing on the complexities of coercion in Norwegian child and adolescent psychiatry, which in addition to fieldwork includes interviews and surveys with clinical staff and patients in 18 acute wards. CONCLUSION: The study shows how formal and informal coercion is embedded in routine therapeutic practices in child and adolescent acute wards. Three forms of informal coercion are highlighted: misinformation or withholding information, the use of leverage to obtain treatment compliance, and the threat of formal coercion to secure treatment compliance. In clinical practice, the use of formal and informal coercion is interrelated. Children experience distress, frustration and exhibit forms of withdrawal when exposed to coercion. The study concludes that providing transparency in treatment activities and plans, listening to children's perspectives on treatment needs, and showing respect for their autonomy, also when they are admitted on parental consent, is vital for their wellbeing, recovery and future access to mental health care and other support systems.