Marcus Felicity, Nel Yvette
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
S Afr J Psychiatr. 2021 Jan 29;27:1529. doi: 10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v27i0.1529. eCollection 2021.
The South African Constitution protects the right to vote for every citizen. The (No. 73 of 1998) limits registration on the voter's roll on the basis of being declared of 'unsound mind' or 'mentally disordered' by the high court or detention under the (No. 17 of 2002). There is limited information regarding voting knowledge and subsequent voting-related decisions amongst South African involuntary mental healthcare users (MHCUs).
To compare voting knowledge and related decisions between hospitalised MHCUs and non-psychiatric hospitalised patients (controls).
Participants were recruited from Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital (MHCUs) and Chris Hani Baragawanth Academic Hospital orthopaedic wards (controls) in Gauteng, South Africa.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a modified Cognitive Assessment Tool for Voting (MCAT-V) questionnaire. Scores on the MCAT-V were compared between the MHCU and control groups, along with socio-demographic variables and clinical variables.
There was a significant association between group (MHCU vs. control) and HLOE ( = 0.016). Although the median overall score for the controls (11; interquartile range [IQR] 10-12) was significantly higher than that for the MHCUs (10; IQR 8-12) ( = 0.043), when controlling for education level, there was no significant association between group (MHCU/control) and MCAT-V scores ( = 0.011). The MCAT-V scores of the 'Doe questions' between the MHCUs and controls were not significantly different ( = 0.063). There was a difference in 'reasoning scores' between MHCUs and controls ( = 0.0082) and this was associated with level of educational attainment ( = 0.013).
The limitations regarding voter registration legislated in the South African , are not supported by the findings of this study. The MCAT-V demonstrates a possible educational bias and therefore is not recommended as a screening tool for assessing voting competency.
南非宪法保护每个公民的投票权。《选举法》（1998年第73号）限制将被高等法院宣布为“精神不健全”或“精神错乱”者或根据《精神健康法》（2002年第17号）被拘留者列入选民名册。关于南非非自愿精神卫生保健使用者（MHCU）的投票知识及随后与投票相关的决定的信息有限。
比较住院的MHCU与非精神科住院患者（对照）之间的投票知识及相关决定。
参与者从南非豪登省的斯特克方丹精神病医院（MHCU）和克里斯·哈尼·巴拉干特学术医院骨科病房（对照）招募。
使用改良的投票认知评估工具（MCAT-V）问卷进行横断面调查。比较MHCU组和对照组在MCAT-V上的得分，以及社会人口统计学变量和临床变量。
组（MHCU与对照）与HLOE之间存在显著关联（P = 0.016）。尽管对照组的总体中位数得分（11；四分位间距[IQR]10 - 12）显著高于MHCU组（10；IQR 8 - 12）（P = 0.043），但在控制教育水平后，组（MHCU/对照）与MCAT-V得分之间无显著关联（P = 0.011）。MHCU组和对照组之间“多伊问题”的MCAT-V得分无显著差异（P = 0.063）。MHCU组和对照组之间的“推理得分”存在差异（P = 0.0082），且这与教育程度相关（P = 0.013）。
本研究结果不支持南非《选举法》中关于选民登记的限制规定。MCAT-V显示出可能的教育偏差，因此不建议将其作为评估投票能力的筛查工具。
