Estimation of Latent Variable Scores with Multiple Group Item Response Models: Implications for Integrative Data Analysis.

Integrative data analysis (IDA) involves obtaining multiple datasets, scaling the data to a common metric, and jointly analyzing the data. The first step in IDA is to scale the multisample item-level data to a common metric, which is often done with multiple group item response models (MGM). With invariance constraints tested and imposed, the estimated latent variable scores from the MGM serve as an observed variable in subsequent analyses.

Results of the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen Across Repeated Jail Bookings.

Objective: The Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) is widely used at intake in county jails to identify detainees who may have serious mental illness and who should be referred for further mental health evaluation. The BJMHS may be administered multiple times across repeated jail bookings; however, the extent to which results may change over time is unclear. To that end, the authors examined the odds of screening positive on the BJMHS across repeated jail bookings.

Methodological limitations in the measurement and statistical modeling of violence among adults with mental illness.

Objectives: Methodological limitations of extant research hinder the development of effective violence risk screening, assessment, and management strategies for adults with mental illness. This study quantifies the effects of three common limitations: (a) insensitive measurement of violence that results in violence classification with high levels of information bias, (b) use of cross-sectional data, and (c) use of data lacking spatiotemporal contiguity.

Methods: We utilize secondary data (N = 3,000 participants; N = 10,017 observations) and parametric and nonparametric bootstrap simulation methodologies.

Performance and clinical utility of a short violence risk screening tool in U.S. adults with mental illness.

Risk assessment instruments are typically long, costly, and resource-intensive. Thus, a short, easily administered preliminary screening tool can increase the efficiency of the subsequent violence risk assessment process. A preliminary tool can identify those at low risk of violence so that they can be screened out of the process of further violence risk assessment.

Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorders, and Any Mental Health Condition Among U.S. Soldiers and Marines, 2001-2011.

Understanding mental health disorder diagnosis and treatment seeking among active-duty military personnel is a topic with both clinical and policy implications. It has been well documented in military populations that individual-level military experience, including deployment history and combat exposure, influences mental health outcomes, but the impact of unit-level factors is less well understood. In the current study, we used administrative longitudinal data to examine a comprehensive set of unit- and individual-level predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), non-PTSD anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and overall mental health diagnoses among Army and Marines Corps personnel.

Trends in mental health outcomes and combat exposure among US marines returning from Iraq, Afghanistan or other deployments, 2004-13.

Background: As of 2015, more than 2.7 million US military Veterans have served in support of the Global War on Terror. The negative sequelae associated with deployment stressors and related traumas are well-documented.

Jail-to-community treatment continuum for adults with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Adults with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders (CODs) are overrepresented in jails. In-custody barriers to treatment, including a lack of evidence-based treatment options and the often short periods of incarceration, and limited communication between jails and community-based treatment agencies that can hinder immediate enrollment into community care once released have contributed to a cycle of limited treatment engagement, unaddressed criminogenic risks, and (re)arrest among this vulnerable and high-risk population. This paper describes a study that will develop research and communication protocols and adapt two evidence-based treatments, dual-diagnosis motivational interviewing (DDMI) and integrated group therapy (IGT), for delivery to adults with CODs across a jail-to-community treatment continuum.

Preventing and De-escalating Aggressive Behavior Among Adult Psychiatric Patients: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.

Objective: The project goal was to compare the effectiveness of strategies to prevent and de-escalate aggressive behaviors among psychiatric patients in acute care settings, including interventions for reducing use of seclusion and restraint.

Methods: Relevant databases were systematically reviewed for comparative studies of violence prevention and de-escalation strategies involving adult psychiatric patients in acute care settings. Studies (trials and cohort studies) were required to report on aggression or seclusion or restraint outcomes.

Reliability and Validity of START and LSI-R Assessments in Mental Health Jail Diversion Clients.

Risk assessment instruments are increasingly used in mental health jail diversion programs. This study examined the reliability and validity of Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) and Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) assessments overall and by client race. Research assistants completed START and LSI-R assessments for 95 diversion clients.

Effects of sample size and distributional assumptions on competing models of the factor structure of the PANSS and BPRS.

Factor analytic work on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) has yielded varied and conflicting results. The current study explored potential causes of these discrepancies. Prior research has been limited by small sample sizes and an incorrect assumption that the items are normally distributed when in practice responses are highly skewed ordinal variables.

A longitudinal analysis of the overlap between violence and victimization among adults with mental illnesses.

Prior research suggests considerable overlap of violence perpetration and victimization among adults with mental illnesses. However, there has been no examination of how the likelihood of being a victim and/or perpetrator of violence may change over time, nor consideration of clinically-relevant factors affecting these transitions. In a pooled sample of adults with mental illnesses (N=3,473) we employed latent transition analysis to: (a) determine prevalence of four violence and victimization classifications (i.

Visualization of Categorical Longitudinal and Times Series Data.

Plotting growth curves is a powerful graphical approach used in exploratory data analysis for continuous longitudinal data. However, plotted growth curves for multiple participants rapidly become uninterpretable with categorical data. Categorical data define specific states (e.

The latent structure of psychiatric symptoms across mental disorders as measured with the PANSS and BPRS-18.

Raw data were used from five studies of adults with mental illnesses (N=4,480) in an attempt to identify a psychiatric symptoms factor structure, as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale or the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, that was generalizable across participant characteristics. First, the fit of four extant models was tested via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), then exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted with a 50% random sample, followed by a CFA with the remaining 50% to confirm the EFA factor structure. Measurement invariance of the factor structure was also examined across diagnosis, sex, race, age, and hospitalization status.

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science : Seattle, WA, USA. 24-26 September 2015.

Introduction to the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration: advancing efficient methodologies through team science and community partnerships Cara Lewis, Doyanne Darnell, Suzanne Kerns, Maria Monroe-DeVita, Sara J. Landes, Aaron R. Lyon, Cameo Stanick, Shannon Dorsey, Jill Locke, Brigid Marriott, Ajeng Puspitasari, Caitlin Dorsey, Karin Hendricks, Andria Pierson, Phil Fizur, Katherine A.

Proximal Risk Factors for Short-Term Community Violence Among Adults With Mental Illnesses.

Objective: This study examined the role of static indicators and proximal, clinically relevant indicators in the prediction of short-term community violence in a large, heterogeneous sample of adults with mental illnesses.

Methods: Data were pooled from five studies of adults with mental illnesses (N=4,484). Follow-up data were available for 2,579 participants.

Getting less of what you want: reductions in statistical power and increased bias when categorizing medication adherence data.

Medication adherence is thought to be the principal clinical predictor of positive clinical outcomes, not only for serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or depression, but also for physical conditions such as diabetes. Consequently, research on medication often looks not only at medication condition (e.g.

Mental health correlates of drug treatment among women who use methamphetamine.

Background And Objectives: Women comprise over one-third of people who use methamphetamine in the United States and have a higher prevalence of negative mental health consequences of methamphetamine use than men. Yet, few studies have investigated the mental health correlates of drug treatment among this population. We examined the relationship between mental disorders, mental health treatment, and drug treatment among women who use methamphetamine.

Treatment adherence in schizophrenia: a patient-level meta-analysis of combined CATIE and EUFEST studies.

The Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) obtained a sample of 1493 chronic schizophrenia patients. The European First Episode Schizophrenia Trial (EUFEST) studied a sample of 498 patients. We have combined these two samples to study the predictors and correlates of adherence to treatment.

Latent class analysis of discordance between results of drug use assessments in the CATIE data.

Objective: The primary aim is to examine concordant/discordant results of drug use assessments in adults with schizophrenia.

Methods: Latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression were used to examine concordance/discordance between drug use measures and identify characteristics differentiating participants across classes.

Results: Four classes - non-users, users, probable users, and RIA discordant - fit best.

From Risk Assessment to Risk Management: Matching Interventions to Adolescent Offenders' Strengths and Vulnerabilities.

Though considerable research has examined the validity of risk assessment tools in predicting adverse outcomes in justice-involved adolescents, the extent to which risk assessments are translated into risk management strategies and, importantly, the association between this link and adverse outcomes has gone largely unexamined. To address these shortcomings, the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model was used to examine associations between identified strengths and vulnerabilities, interventions, and institutional outcomes for justice-involved youth. Data were collected from risk assessments completed using the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) for 120 adolescent offenders (96 boys and 24 girls).

Treatment participation and medication adherence: effects on criminal justice costs of persons with mental illness.

Little empirical research has directly examined the extent to which early and consistent participation in outpatient services and adherence to prescribed psychotropic medications after a psychiatric hospitalization can help people with serious mental illnesses avoid arrest and incarceration and what impact this might have on state and local costs. The authors examined effects of medication adherence in the first 90 days after a psychiatric hospitalization among 1,367 adults with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder served by the public behavioral health systems of Miami-Dade County and Pinellas County in Florida. Better adherence was associated with lower subsequent criminal justice costs and greater use of treatment services.

A typology of community violence perpetration and victimization among adults with mental illnesses.

The primary objective of this article was to evaluate the overlap between community violence perpetration and victimization in a large, heterogeneous sample of adults with mental illnesses (N = 4,474). We also explored participant characteristics differentiating four categories of perpetration and victimization: non-victim/non-perpetrators, victims only, perpetrators only, and victim-perpetrators. Results indicated that adults with mental illnesses were unlikely to report violent outcomes but, when they did, were more likely to report perpetration and victimization, rather than perpetration alone.

Community violence perpetration and victimization among adults with mental illnesses.

Objectives: In a large heterogeneous sample of adults with mental illnesses, we examined the 6-month prevalence and nature of community violence perpetration and victimization, as well as associations between these outcomes.

Methods: Baseline data were pooled from 5 studies of adults with mental illnesses from across the United States (n = 4480); the studies took place from 1992 to 2007. The MacArthur Community Violence Screening Instrument was administered to all participants.