Assessment of health needs, satisfaction with care, and quality of life in compulsorily admitted patients with severe mental disorders

•The subjective experience of compulsorily admitted psychotic patients is of particular concern.•The application of ``needs – care satisfaction - quality of life – social support'' model of patient reported outcomes is an important topic for research upon compulsorily admitted psychotic patients.•Assessment of unmet needs, satisfaction with care, quality of life, hedonic capacity, and social support constitute the factors that differentiate compulsory admitted patients and could be targets for interventions aimed to reduce the negative effects of compulsory admissions. This cross-sectional study compared the levels of needs, care satisfaction, quality of life, and social support of compulsory admitted patients with severe mental disorders to a comparable group of voluntary admitted patients. One hundred and twenty-five patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder were admitted to a hospital by district psychiatrist order (DPO), court observation order (COO), or voluntary (VA). Participants were assessed before discharge using questionnaires, and psychiatric rating scales. A linear discriminant analysis revealed eight variables that best differentiated the three groups. COO patients were significantly discriminated from the two other groups (DPO and VA) by severe negative symptoms, better satisfaction with both nursing staff and family support. COO subjects had more non-illness unmet needs, while reported better hedonic capacity for social and interpersonal pleasure – compared to VA patients. DPO patients were significantly indicated by poorer awareness to illness, but better satisfaction with subjective feelings. VA subjects were significantly discriminated from compulsory admitted patients by higher illness severity scores. Assessment of unmet needs, satisfaction with care, quality of life, hedonic capacity, and social support constitute the factors that differentiate compulsory admitted patients and could be targets for interventions aimed to reduce the negative effects of compulsory admissions.