Date

11-13-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Lisa Ansell

Keywords

Baker Act, Marchman Act, continuity of care, involuntary hospitalization, outpatient providers

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of outpatient providers who treat psychiatric patients following involuntary hospitalization. The central phenomenon under investigation is how psychiatric providers experience their professional responsibilities when treating patients who have been involuntarily hospitalized. The study focused on the impact of involuntary hospitalizations on outpatient providers including how outpatient providers experience challenges in the outpatient milieu; how providers experience the legal and ethical portions of their jobs; and how outpatient providers experience the need for self-care. Guided by social learning theories, this study explored how and why participants learned from their interactions with patients, especially related to the traumatic nature of involuntary hospitalizations. Additionally, accepted theories of trauma were used to provide understanding of patient experiences after hospitalization. Data was generated after eleven semi-structured interviews were completed, and emerging themes were identified. To help mitigate potential researcher bias, bracketing and reflective memoing was used. Overall, participants reported feeling helpless due to systematic restraints including lack of resources, lack of transfer of patient information, and inconsistent interaction with law enforcement. Participants highlighted the need for effective communication between crisis stabilization providers and outpatient providers. Participants shared the need for uniform training among law enforcement agencies and better collaboration and training between law enforcement and mental health professionals.

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