Publications by authors named "Henk Nijman"

Introduction: Forensic psychiatric patients receive treatment to address their violent and aggressive behavior with the aim of facilitating their safe reintegration into society. On average, these treatments are effective, but the magnitude of effect sizes tends to be small, even when considering more recent advancements in digital mental health innovations. Recent research indicates that wearable technology has positive effects on the physical and mental health of the general population, and may thus also be of use in forensic psychiatry, both for patients and staff members.

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A minority of psychiatric patients are unfit for general psychiatric care due to offensive behavior that renders them at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system. In the absence of criminal proceedings, these patients find themselves in the "gray zone" between general and forensic psychiatric care. To accommodate these patients, we established a "transforensic" ward.

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Background: The adaptive ability performance test (ADAPT) was developed to assess adaptive skills in individuals with intellectual disabilities and borderline intellectual functioning, with or without mental disorders. As a follow-up to earlier research on the ADAPT, a factor analytic study was conducted.

Method: One thousand and sixty six ADAPTs from clients with (suspected) intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning and 129 ADAPTs from participants from the general population were collected along with other characteristics (e.

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Purpose: Little is known about the associations between mild intellectual disability (MID), borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) and aggressive behaviour in general mental health care. The study aims to establish the association between aggressive behaviour and MID/BIF, analysing patient characteristics and diagnoses.

Method: 1174 out of 1565 consecutive in-and outpatients were screened for MID/BIF with the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) in general mental health care in The Netherlands.

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Background: Elucidating the influence of mild intellectual disability (MID; IQ 50-70)/borderline intellectual functioning (BIF; IQ 70-85) and (comorbid) post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the quality of life of patients with serious mental illness (SMI) could improve their mental health care.

Method: This study comprises a prospective longitudinal cohort study using routine outcome monitoring data. The cohort comprised 601 patients who had undertaken at least one Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA).

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Objective: In the Netherlands, seclusion of patients with a psychiatric disorder is a last-resort measure to be used only in the event of (imminent) severe danger or harm. Although aggressive behavior is often involved, seclusions not preceded by aggression also seem to occur. We sought insight into the non-aggressive reasons underlying seclusion and investigated the factors associated with it.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate if multivitamin, mineral, and n-3 fatty acid supplements could lower aggression levels in long-stay psychiatric in-patients.
  • Data from 176 participants were analyzed using a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled design over six months, focusing on the frequency of aggressive incidents.
  • Results indicated no significant difference in aggressive behavior between those receiving the supplements and those on placebo, concluding that nutritional supplementation did not impact aggression in this population.
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Between 2006 and 2012 the Dutch government funded a nationwide program for reducing the use of seclusion. Although an initial first trend study showed that the reported number of seclusions declined during the program, the objective of a 10% annual decrease was not met. We wished to establish whether the decline had continued after funding ended in 2012.

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The associations between physiological measures (i.e., heart rate and skin conductance) of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and severe antisocial spectrum behavior (AB) were meta-analyzed.

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Background: The use of wearable biosensor devices for monitoring and coaching in forensic psychiatric settings yields high expectations for improved self-regulation of emotions and behavior in clients and staff members. More so, if clients have mild intellectual disabilities (IQ 50-85), they might benefit from these biosensors as they are easy to use in everyday life, which ensures that clients can practice with the devices in multiple stress and arousal-inducing situations. However, research on (continuous) use and acceptance of biosensors in forensic psychiatry for clients with mild intellectual disabilities and their caretakers is scarce.

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Background: It has been suggested that people with intellectual disabilities have a higher likelihood to develop psychiatric disorders, and that their treatment prognosis is relatively poor.

Aims: We aimed to establish the prevalence of intellectual disability in different mental healthcare settings, and estimate percentage of cognitive decline. We hypothesised that the prevalence of intellectual disabilities increases with intensity of care.

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Background: Since the DSM-5, adaptive functioning has taken a prominent place in the classification of intellectual disability (ID). The ADAPT was developed to assess adaptive skills in individuals with ID.

Method: A total of 2,081 ADAPTs from clients with suspected ID or borderline intellectual functioning and 129 ADAPTs from people from the general population (non-ID) were collected, along with background characteristics.

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Purpose: The Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) was developed to measure negative symptoms of schizophrenia. However, the Dutch translation of this instrument, called the "Korte Schaal voor Negatieve Symptomen" (KSNS), has not yet been validated. This study investigates the validity and reliability of this Dutch version of the instrument.

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The Externalizing Spectrum Inventory aims at assessing personality features that underlie externalizing disorders such as substance abuse and antisocial behaviors. The objective was to replicate the psychometric properties of the 160-item Externalizing Spectrum Inventory in Dutch clinical and non-clinical samples. First, Cronbach's alpha, test-retest reliability and the factor structure were analyzed on a mixed sample of inpatients (n = 149), undergraduates (n = 227), and community participants (n = 178).

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Background: Attributions are cognitive variables that influence a person's behaviour. Although a large volume of research has been conducted on the attributions of support staff with regard to challenging behaviour (CB) exhibited by people with intellectual disabilities (ID), studies on patterns of attributional dimensions (i.e.

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Aggressive behavior of inpatients threatens the safety and well-being of both mental health staff members and fellow patients. It was investigated whether heart rate and electrodermal activity can be used to signal imminent aggression. A naturalistic study was conducted in which 100 inpatients wore sensor wristbands during 5 days to monitor their heart rate and electrodermal activity while staff members recorded patients' aggressive incidents on the ward.

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Background: The reliability and validity of the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) are unknown in a population of outpatients with severe mental illness. The prevalence of mild or borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID); an umbrella term for people with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) and mild intellectual disability (MID) in this population is also unknown.

Methods: A total of 625 patients were screened with the SCIL, 201 of which also had IQ test results.

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Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is one of the most detrimental behaviors for the person showing it, as well as for their environment. Nevertheless, structured clinical assessments of SIB are scarce. Staff completed a Self-Harm Scale (SHS) every time they witnessed SIB in clients with an intellectual disability (ID) and co-occurring psychopathology ( = 33).

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Unlabelled: WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Client aggression in forensic psychiatry is associated with burnout symptoms in nursing staff. It is unclear what mechanisms contribute to this relationship. The type and severity of aggression might be of importance in the association between client aggression and burnout symptoms, but also the personality characteristics and emotional intelligence of nursing staff.

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Burnout in nursing staff is a major cause for turnover and absenteeism. Identifying risk and protective factors may be helpful in decreasing burnout symptoms. Moreover, research indicates that ambulatory assessments of the autonomic nervous system might be helpful in detecting long-term stress and burnout symptoms.

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Findings from an increasing number of studies suggest that incorporating systematic short-term risk assessments in treatment planning could lead to safer practice on psychiatric admissions wards. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between the scores of three structured observation tools - the Kennedy Axis V (K-Axis-V), the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and the Social Dysfunction and Aggression Scale (SDAS) - and seclusion. In total, 1840 weekly risk assessments with these observation scales were collected over 2342 admission weeks.

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Psychopathy is often described as a constellation of personality characteristics encompassing features such as impulsivity and antisociality, and a lack of empathy and guilt. Although the use of self-reports to assess psychopathy is still debated, there are distinct advantages to such measures and recent research suggests that they may not be as problematic as previously thought. This study further examined the reliability and validity of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) in a community sample ( = 496) and forensic psychiatric patient sample ( = 217).

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Background: Failure to detect psychiatric patients' intellectual disabilities may lead to inappropriate treatment and greater use of coercive measures.

Aims: In this prospective dynamic cohort study we screened for intellectual disabilities in patients admitted to psychiatric wards, and investigated the use of coercive measures with these patients.

Methods: We used the Screener for Intelligence and Learning disabilities (SCIL) to screen patients admitted to two acute psychiatric wards, and assessed patient characteristics and coercive measures during their stay and over the last 5 years.

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This study aims at detecting and categorizing early warning signs of aggressive behavior in child psychiatric units. We analyzed 575 violent incident report forms and developed a coding scheme consisting of 16 warning signs. From the 575 incident report forms, a total of 1087 signs were coded.

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Background: Many clients in contact with social services and (mental) health care have mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID). Yet, administering a full intelligence test may not be feasible.

Method: In 318 adults and 305 juveniles, the scores on 14 questions that comprise the screener for intelligence and learning disabilities (SCIL) were analysed in relation to the IQs of the participants.

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