Determining the role and responsibilities of the community epilepsy nurse in the management of epilepsy.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study is to enhance the understanding of the core elements and influencing factors on the community-based epilepsy nurse's role and responsibilities.

Background: Internationally, epilepsy nurse specialists play a key role in providing person-centred care and management of epilepsy but there is a gap in understanding of their role in the community.

Design: A national three-stage, mixed-method study was conducted.

Extreme Stress Events in a Forensic Hospital Setting: Prevalence, Impact, and Protective Factors in Staff.

The current research explored the prevalence of stressful events in a forensic hospital setting, and their impact on staff. A systematic review of the literature on responses following exposure to extreme stress comprised 46 articles. This was followed by a Delphi study of professionals based in a forensic hospital ( = 43) to explore views on the factors that affect responses to extreme stress.

Understanding Factors Relevant to Self-Injurious Behavior in a High-Risk Secure Psychiatric Sample: Developing the Theory-Driven Measure of Self-Injurious Behavior Engagement.

A measure for the assessment of self-injurious behavior is developed. Commencing with a Delphi composed of 33 experts: detached experts (academics), experts by exposure (staff), and experts by experience (patients), the Theory-driven Measure of Self-Injurious Behavior Engagement is outlined. This is then examined in two samples: high-secure psychiatric male patients (n = 76) and high-secure psychiatric nursing staff (n = 100; 50 men, 50 women).

Course and impact of sleep disturbance in newly diagnosed epilepsy: A prospective registry study.

Objective: To determine the course of sleep distrurbance (insomnia symptoms and short sleep duration) after a diagnosis of epilepsy and their associations with seizure control, mood, disability, and quality of life.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and sixty-nine adults were drawn from the Sydney Epilepsy Incidence Study to Measure Illness Consequences (SEISMIC), a prospective, multicenter, community-wide study in Sydney, Australia. Socio-demographic, psychosocial, clinical characteristics, and information on sleep disturbance were obtained early (median 48 [IQR15-113] days) after a diagnosis of epilepsy, and at 12 months.

Psychopathy and trauma: Exploring a potential association.

This research presents a series of linked studies exploring the association between psychopathy and trauma. It comprises a systematic review (n = 58), followed by an expert Delphi (n = 19), and patient file trawl using a male forensic psychiatric patient sample (n = 66). An association between psychopathy and developmental trauma was predicted.

Predicting security incidents in high secure male psychiatric care.

Purpose: The contribution of environmental and organisational factors in predicting security incidents within a high secure male psychiatric setting is considered using a series of connected studies; a systematic literature review comprising 41 studies and five inquiries (Study 1) to identify core themes of likely importance; application of these themes to incident data through assessment of the ward culture, as perceived by 73 male psychiatric patients and 157 staff (Study 2); and detailed examination of noted relevant factors in the form of interpersonal style, meaningful activity and physical environmental characteristics in a study comprising 62 patients and 151 staff (Study 3). It was predicted that security incidents would be identified through inclusion of environmental and organisational factors.

Results: The systematic review demonstrated the importance of accounting for staff characteristics, patient interactions, physical environment and meaningful activity.

Disability patterns over the first year after a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Objective: To determine the patterns and predictors of disability over the first 12 months after a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Patients And Methods: The Sydney Epilepsy Incidence Study to Measure Illness Consequences (SEISMIC) was a prospective, multicenter, community-based study of people with newly diagnosed epilepsy in Sydney, Australia. Disability was assessed using the World Health Organization's, Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.

Return to driving after a diagnosis of epilepsy: A prospective registry study.

Objective: To determine the frequency and predictors of return to driving within 1 year after a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Methods: SEISMIC (the Sydney Epilepsy Incidence Study to Measure Illness Consequences) was a prospective, multicenter, community-wide study of people of all ages with newly diagnosed epilepsy in Sydney, Australia. Demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical characteristics and driving status were obtained as soon as possible after baseline registration with a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Frequency and predictors of psychological distress after a diagnosis of epilepsy: A community-based study.

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the frequency and predictors of psychological distress after a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Methods: The Sydney Epilepsy Incidence Study to Measure Illness Consequences (SEISMIC) was a prospective, multicenter, community-based study of people of all ages with newly diagnosed epilepsy in Sydney, Australia. Analyses involved multivariate logistic regression and multinomial logit regression to identify predictors of psychological distress, assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), as part of structured interviews.

Initial development of the Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA) across populations.

Three studies describe development of the Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA). Study one outlines a literature review and Expert Delphi (n=32) to develop the initial PAPA. Study two validates the PAPA with 431 participants (121 male prisoners and 310 university students: 154 men, 156 women), also using the Levenson Self Report Psychopathy scale and a measure of cognitive schema and affect.

An Australian nationwide survey on medicinal cannabis use for epilepsy: History of antiepileptic drug treatment predicts medicinal cannabis use.

Epilepsy Action Australia conducted an Australian nationwide online survey seeking opinions on and experiences with the use of cannabis-based products for the treatment of epilepsy. The survey was promoted via the Epilepsy Action Australia's main website, on their Facebook page, and by word of mouth. The survey consisted of 39 questions assessing demographics, clinical factors, including diagnosis and seizure types, and experiences with and opinions towards cannabis use in epilepsy.

Predicting hospital aggression in secure psychiatric care.

Background: Risk assessment instruments have become a preferred means for predicting future aggression, claiming to predict long-term aggression risk.

Aims: To investigate the predictive value over 12 months and 4 years of two commonly applied instruments (Historical, Clinical and Risk Management - 20 (HCR-20) and Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG)).

Method: Participants were adult male psychiatric patients detained in a high secure hospital.

Exploration of emotion regulation experiences associated with borderline personality features in a non-clinical sample.

Background: Emotion dysregulation is a core feature associated with borderline personality features (BPF). Little research has explored how individuals with high levels of BPF regulate their emotions. This study aimed to explore how individuals with high versus low levels of BPF compare on the strategies they use to regulate emotions and in their experiences of emotion regulation.

Sleep and its association with aggression among prisoners: Quantity or quality?

Objective: The current paper aims to examine the association between self-reported sleep quality and quantity and how these relate to aggression motivation and hostile cognition in a male prisoner sample. The cognitive component of sleep, namely perception, is consequently a variable of particular interest and one neglected by previous research.

Methods: Two independent studies are presented.

Initial development of an implicit and explicit approach to assess psychopathy.

Four studies outline the ACL (Affective, Cognitive and Lifestyle) assessment, a new means of assessing psychopathy capturing implicit and explicit functioning. Studies 1 and 2 comprised students (Study 1, n=42, 14 men, 28 women; Study 2, n=50 men), Study 3 comprised 80 young prisoners (men) and Study 4, 40 forensic psychiatric patients (men). It was predicted that the ACL affective, cognitive and interpersonal components would positively correlate with the interpersonal factor of another measure of psychopathy (PCL-SV), whereas the ACL Lifestyle component would correlate with the criminal history/lifestyle component of the PCL-SV.

Personality structure among prisoners: how valid is the five-factor model, and can it offer support for Eysenck's theory of criminality?

Background: Research with offenders has tended to use a categorical system of diagnosis or a three-factor model. There is growing evidence among non-offending groups that a five-factor model (FFM), which is more holistic and emphasises strengths as well as limitations, may be more clinically useful.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to test the validity of the FFM of personality in a sample of adult male prisoners.

The Violence Intervention and Prevention team (VIP): results of an action research evaluation.

Background/objectives: This paper describes a school-based youth violence prevention program and challenges encountered during efforts to evaluate it. Members of a community partnership team helped to shape the quantitative and qualitative data collection and to interpret results.

Methods: 48 youth participants in the violence prevention program completed a survey soliciting information about violence-related risk and protective factors, including employment readiness, school connectedness, association with delinquent peers, and violence-related attitudes, intentions, and behaviors.

Creating a community coalition to address violence.

Building a community-wide coalition to address violence evolved out of a five-year federally funded project on abuse during pregnancy. The setting for this coalition building is Haverhill, Massachusetts, a city of about 60,000, located northeast of Boston in the Merrimack River Valley. For nearly eight years, representatives of more than 30 agencies and institutions have been meeting monthly and creating programs and strategies to address violence in homes, schools, and neighborhoods, and designing interventions for children witnessing this violence.

Intra-group aggression among prisoners: bullying intensity and exploration of victim-perpetrator mutuality.

A new multiple indicator method of assessing bullying behaviour is employed (Direct and Indirect Prisoner behaviour Checklist - Scaled version [DIPC-SCALED]) with 605 adult prisoners (487 men and 118 women). The study explores if the DIPC-SCALED is a reliable method comprising of identifiable aggression factors; if prisoners can be classified into groups based on behavioural frequency; and if there is evidence for mutual victim/perpetrator groups. The DIPC-SCALED proved reliable, comprising of a number of aggression factors.

Coping style and distress in newly incarcerated male adolescents.

Purpose: To research relations between coping style and well-being in adolescent prisoners; previous research suggests that the stress of incarceration may be moderated by coping style in adult prisoners.

Methods: This research examined links between coping style and distress in 133 male adolescent prisoners on two occasions over a six-week period shortly after the commencement of their imprisonment.

Results: Anxiety and depression both declined over this period, with T1-T2 depression reduction negatively associated with T1 emotion-based coping and positively associated with T1 detachment.

Coping style and psychological health among adolescent prisoners: a study of young and juvenile offenders.

The current study explores the role of coping styles as a predictor of poor psychological health among adolescent offenders. It presents the first study to compare young and juvenile offenders. Two hundred and three male offenders took part: 108 young (18-21 years) and 95 juvenile (15-17 years) offenders.