Long‐term regular follow‐up yields important benefits in forensic psychiatric patients with psychosis: A 2‐year longitudinal study on psychopathology, general health, quality of life, and functioning

Forensic psychiatric patients often present with severe psychopathology, functional impairment, and poor quality of life. Longitudinal follow-up studies in forensic psychiatric outpatient populations remain limited. The objective is to assess psychopathology, quality of life, global functioning, and general health in forensic psychiatric outpatients compared with psychiatric patients without a forensic history over 24 months. A prospective longitudinal study was conducted with 120 participants (63 forensic and 57 psychiatric outpatients). Assessments were conducted at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months using validate psychometric tools, PANSS, GHQ-28, WHOQOL-BREF, and GAF. Longitudinal changes within and between groups were analyzed. Most participants were male (82.5%), single (64.2%), unemployed (72.3%), and living in urban areas (93.3%). Forensic psychiatric outpatients reported less social support than psychiatric patients (68.3% vs. 89.5%). Most had a history of incarceration (93.8%). Schizophrenia was the predominant diagnosis (98.3%). Psychopathology, functioning, quality of life, and general health improved significantly over time in both groups (p < 0.001). Positive symptoms improved more in psychiatric patients (mean change -8.96). Psychiatric patients scored significantly higher in the WHOQOL-BREF "environment" domain at baseline and at 6 months. Greater improvement in anxiety/insomnia symptoms was observed in psychiatric patients (mean change -6.44). Long-term outpatient psychiatric follow-up was associated with significant improvements in symptom severity, functioning, quality of life, and general health in both groups. However, forensic psychiatric outpatients continued to experience greater disadvantages, highlighting the need for tailored, long-term, community-based interventions in forensic mental health care.