Assessment of mental capacity in psychiatric inpatients

Background: As per the Mental Health Care Act (MHCA) 2017, the construct of mental capacity assessment aims to define an individual's ability to make autonomous decisions. It provides a legal framework for mental health professionals to assess a person's ability to make treatment-related decisions. The present study aims to assess the mental capacity in psychiatric inpatients and various capacity variables affected in patients with psychosis. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess mental capacity in a psychiatric inpatient facility. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional, observational study of 48 patients admitted to the psychiatric inpatient facility. MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment interview was used to assess the capacity of participants. Data were analyzed using MS Excel version 2007. Results: Out of 48 patients, we found that 41 (85.41%) patients were lacking mental capacity. Patients who scored poorly in the domain of "understand" also had poor performance on the rest of the domains, while those who had better understanding performed relatively well in other domains. Conclusions: Under the MHCA 2017, mental capacity assessment has been included in alignment with UNCRPD 2006, to safeguard the interests of patients and help in effective policy-making. It is, therefore, important to incorporate mental capacity assessment in clinical practice to protect the rights of patients.