Beschreibung:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective:</jats:title><jats:p> Involuntary outpatient commitment (OPC), also referred to as community treatment orders or assisted outpatient treatment, is a legal intervention intended to improve treatment adherence among persons with serious mental illness. This paper reviews the empirical literature on the procedure's effectiveness. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods:</jats:title><jats:p> We identified and reviewed all English-language studies of OPC and related procedures available in Medline and other bibliographic search services. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results:</jats:title><jats:p> Existing naturalistic and quasi-experimental studies, taken as a whole, moderately support the view that the procedure is effective, although all do have methodological limitations. Two randomized controlled studies of OPC have conflicting findings and are reviewed in detail. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions:</jats:title><jats:p> On balance, empirical studies support the view that OPC is effective under certain conditions, although some of the evidence has been contested and the policy remains controversial. </jats:p></jats:sec>