Exploratory rasch analysis of a static-99R clinical cohort assessment.

Modern test theory supplements the more prevalent classic methods for assessing test properties. However, such an assessment of the commonly used sexual recidivism risk assessment instrument, Static-99R, has yet to be attempted. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of said instrument using Rasch analysis.

Loneliness and posttraumatic stress in U.S. adolescents: A longitudinal study.

Background: Loneliness and posttraumatic stress (PTS) are common in adolescence. However, there has been little longitudinal research on their association. To address this deficit, this study examined the longitudinal association between these phenomena in a sample of U.

VR-assisted aggression treatment in forensic psychiatry: a qualitative study in patients with severe mental disorders.

Introduction: Improvements in virtual reality (VR) have made it possible to create realistic, virtual settings for behavioral assessment and skills training that cannot otherwise be accessed in a safe way in forensic psychiatric settings. VR interventions are under development but little is known how forensic psychiatric patients with severe mental disorders experience VR-assisted assessments or treatments.

Methods: The present study aimed to help fill this knowledge gap via qualitative interviews with seven patients with severe mental disorders at a high-security forensic psychiatric clinic who had completed the newly revised Virtual Reality Aggression Prevention Training (VRAPT).

Virtual reality-assisted assessment of paranoid ideation in forensic psychiatric inpatients: A mixed-methods pilot study.

Background: Reliable and valid assessment of paranoia is important in forensic psychiatry for providing adequate care. VR technology may add to current assessment procedures, as it enables observation within realistic (social) situations resembling the complexity of everyday life. VR constitutes a promising tool within forensics, due to the restricted nature of forensic psychiatric hospitals and ethical challenges arising from observing potentially dangerous behaviors in real life.

Pinpointing change in virtual reality assisted treatment for violent offenders: a pilot study of Virtual Reality Aggression Prevention Training (VRAPT).

Preventing relapse into violence and its destructive consequences among persistent re-offenders is a primary concern in forensic settings. The Risk-Need-Responsivity framework models the best current practice for offender treatment, focused on building skills and changing pro-criminal cognitions. However, treatment effects are often modest, and the forensic context can obstruct the delivery of interventions.

A latent class analysis of mental disorders, substance use, and aggressive antisocial behavior among Swedish forensic psychiatric patients.

Background: Patients in the forensic mental health services (FMHS) with a mental disorder, a co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD), and high risk of aggressive antisocial behavior (AAB) are sometimes referred to as the 'triply troubled'. They suffer poor treatment outcomes, high rates of criminal recidivism, and increased risk of drug related mortality. To improve treatment for this heterogeneous patient group, more insight is needed concerning their co-occurring mental disorders, types of substances used, and the consequent risk of AAB.

Being Able to Be Yourself: The Lived Experience of Female Patients in Forensic Psychiatric Care.

People in Sweden who commit at least one crime and suffer from a severe mental disorder can be sentenced to forensic psychiatric care. The aim of this study was to describe and gain a greater understanding of the female patients' experiences of their life situation while being cared for in forensic psychiatric care. Interviews with 15 women were conducted and analyzed with a phenomenological hermeneutical method.

Forensic psychiatric patients' experiences of participating in administrative court proceedings concerning the continuation of forensic psychiatric care.

Introduction: Previous studies show that both staff and patients describe patient participation as a challenge in forensic psychiatry. One reason may be that the forensic psychiatric process is difficult to understand and is experienced as being slow and complex. The proceedings in an administrative court are a core element in forensic psychiatric care as it constitutes the legal authority that legitimizes the deprivation of liberty.

Exploring the psychometric properties of the externalizing spectrum inventory-brief form in a Swedish forensic psychiatric inpatient sample.

Background: The Externalizing Spectrum Inventory-Brief Form (ESI-BF) [1] is a 160-item self-report instrument designed for the assessment of externalizing psychopathology, yet few studies to date have evaluated its psychometric properties, structural fit, and criterion validity in forensic psychiatric settings.

Methods: Here, we investigated these aspects in a sample of forensic psychiatric inpatients (n = 77) from a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital in Sweden. We firstly investigated the reliability.

Healthcare utilization and psychiatric morbidity in violent offenders: findings from a prospective cohort study.

Purpose: Although persistent offenders with histories of imprisonment and violence have disproportionate high rates of psychiatric disorders, little is known of their psychiatric healthcare utilization (HCU) and HCU-associated factors. This study aimed to explore psychiatric HCU, psychiatric morbidity, and psychotropic prescription drugs in violent offenders with a history of incarceration.

Methods: Male offenders aged 18-25 (n = 266) imprisoned for violent and/or physical sexual offenses were clinically assessed in 2010-2012 and prospectively followed in Swedish national registries through 2017.

Adverse childhood experiences do not moderate the association between aggressive antisocial behavior and general disinhibition in a forensic psychiatric inpatient sample.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and high levels of disinhibition have been associated with a variety of negative outcomes such as aggressive antisocial behavior (AAB). However, forensic psychiatric populations remain an understudied group in this field of research. This study aimed to fill that gap by investigating associations between ACE, AAB, and disinhibition in a forensic psychiatric sample.

Implementing clinical guidelines for co-occurring substance use and major mental disorders in Swedish forensic psychiatry: An exploratory, qualitative interview study with mental health care staff.

Introduction: Patients with substance use disorders (SUD) and co-occurring mental disorders (COD) within forensic psychiatric care often suffer poor treatment outcomes and high rates of criminal recidivism, substance use, and psychiatric problems. This study aimed to describe the conditions for, and mental health care staff's experiences with, implementing integrated SUD-focused clinical guidelines, including assessment and treatment for patients with COD at a high-security forensic mental health services (FMHS) facility in Sweden.

Methods: Study staff conducted nineteen semi-structured interviews with health care staff experienced in administering the new SUD assessment and treatment.

Offending Trajectories in Violent Offenders: Criminal History and Early Life Risk Factors.

The understanding of offending, and thus its possible prevention, is expanded through longitudinal studies on criminal trajectories depicting early life risk factors. This longitudinal study aimed to explore criminal trajectories, criminal histories, and early life risk factors in a cohort of violent offenders. A Swedish nationally representative cohort of male violent offenders ( = 266), clinically assessed while imprisoned aged 18 to 25, was followed through national registers from age 15 to 25-34.

Use of Virtual Reality in Psychiatric Diagnostic Assessments: A Systematic Review.

Background: Technological developments such as Virtual reality (VR) provide new opportunities to extend and innovate mental healthcare. VR as a tool for clinical assessment has been described as promising, as it can enable real-time assessment within real-like environments or contexts as opposed to self-report and behavioral tasks in laboratory settings.

Objective: With this systematic review we aimed to provide an overview of recent studies using VR in the assessment of psychiatric disorders.

Prolonged NoGo P3 latency as a possible neurobehavioral correlate of aggressive and antisocial behaviors: A Go/NoGo ERP study.

Aggressive and antisocial behaviors are detrimental to society and constitute major challenges in forensic mental health settings, yet the associated neural circuitry remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated differences in aggressive and antisocial behaviors between healthy controls (n = 20) and violent mentally disordered offenders (MDOs; n = 26), and examined associations between aggressive and antisocial behaviors, behavioral inhibitory control, and neurophysiological activity across the whole sample (n = 46). Event-related potentials were obtained using EEG while participants completed a Go/NoGo response inhibition task, and aggressive and antisocial behaviors were assessed with the Life History of Aggression (LHA) instrument.

Early onset externalizing behaviors among forensic psychiatric patients: Identification in child and adolescent psychiatric services.

Forensic psychiatric patients constitute a heterogeneous patient group, with common comorbidity within the externalizing spectrum. Increased knowledge on early antecedents in the pathway to severe mental illness and criminality is needed. In this study, we investigated early onset externalizing behaviors in three groups of forensic psychiatric patients 1) patients without contact with child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP), 2) patients with CAP contact, and 3) patients with both CAP contact and institutional placement.

Dialectical behavior therapy-skills system for cognitively challenged individuals with self-harm: a Swedish pilot study.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment for self-harm and emotion regulation difficulties. A modified version, DBT-Skills System (DBT-SS), has been developed in the USA for individuals with cognitive difficulties. The present study is a pilot study, testing the DBT-SS in a Swedish context.