Competency of Geropsychiatric Patients to Consent to Voluntary Hospitalization

The authors compared younger (< 60 years old; n = 35) and older (≥ 60 years old; n = 33) psychiatric patients in their responses to a questionnaire that dealt with voluntary hospitalization. The younger and older groups both did poorly on the total questionnaire. The older population had significantly more difficulty with the questions regarding obtaining release and access to an attorney but answered as well as the younger group those questions pertaining to the nature of the hospitalization. The Mini-Mental State Exam score, age, and the anxiety/depression and hostility factors of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were the strongest predictors of questionnaire score. The implications of these findings are discussed.