ORIGINAL PAPER Absconding from Public Mental Health Inpatient Units – Who Does it, and why? Sonja CABARKAPA 1 & Raja Sadhu 2 & Joel King 3,4 & Nathan Dowling 3 & Raghavakurup Radhakrishnan 5,6 & Akinsola Akinbiyi 2 & Ravindra Srinivasaraju 2 & Dean Stevenson 2 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract Patients who abscond from acute inpatient psychiatric wards put themselves and others at risks of variable nature and severity. There is a limited understanding of what motivates them to do so. The research in this area is limited and predominantly outdated. To better understand the characteristics, patterns and predictors of people who abscond from hospital, this study compared absconding and non-absconding patients in a tertiary public hospital. Demographic and clinical characteristics were audited for patients who absconded (n = 159) and who did not abscond (n = 100) throughout a 2-year period. Patients who absconded in the public settings were more likely to be male, have suffered from a psychotic illness, had an increased number of psychiatric comorbidities, had a history of aggression, and used greater numbers of substances. They also had experienced homelessness, were case managed, and were managed as involuntary patients. Predictors were similar, and included involuntary legal status, greater number of substances used, greater numbers of comorbid psychiatric illnesses, polysubstance use, an absence of self- harm history, shorter duration of admission and male sex. This study has implications for the identification of those who are at greater risk of absconding from an inpatient unit. Through enhanced understanding, greater measures can be taken to minimise absconding and its associated risks. Keywords Absconding . Public . Psychiatric inpatient unit . Mental health . Predictors . Risk Introduction Absconding is defined as failing to return from designated unescorted leave within a specified period or otherwise defined as taking unauthorized liberty during leave outside the perimeter of the unit/hospital by breaking away from the supervision of staff (1). It is a serious cause of Psychiatric Quarterly https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09788-5 * Sonja CABARKAPA sonjaac3@gmail.com Extended author information available on the last page of the article