Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Forensic Practice, Volume 15, Issue 1
Welcome to the latest edition of the Journal of Forensic Practice,which provides a range of papers relating to both assessment and intervention within the area of forensic practice. Our title has recently undertaken a modification to reflect the increasing range of international papers that we now receive, and which further promotes our focus on developing a more global image. We felt removing “British” from the title allowed for this, and reflected the journal more accurately.
As such, we start this issue with an internationally invited paper by Professor Corine de Ruiter which presents a case study pertaining to a forensic mental health assessment of a man who killed his wife and two young daughters. The case study integrates forensic information with psychological assessment and literature relevant to the field of enquiry. Linking together theory and practice, the case study highlights the value of semi-structured interviews for diagnosis, the use of literature review to increase understanding of a case, and the importance of looking “beyond” the criminal offence itself. Reflecting on the case, Professor de Ruiter concludes that since there is so much at stake for the assessed in a criminal investigation, the importance of reliability and accuracy of diagnosis cannot be overestimated. It is concluded that forensic mental health experts serve the court best by integrating findings from structured assessment instruments, file information and empirical research on comparable offender types.
The following publication by Alan Meaden, David Hacker and Kerry Spencer explores the utility, validity and reliability of an adapted early warning signs methodology for dynamic risk assessment. Within this research, support was found for the reliability of staff ratings of the relevance of identified early warning signs relating to high risk behaviours in inpatients with schizophrenia. The paper concludes that adopting a structured early warning signs of risk methodology shows promise in monitoring acute risk and providing staff with a reliable procedure for identifying and addressing potential signs of risk and thus reducing inpatient aggression. However, the authors note that caution is required as the methodology does generate a high number of false positive predictions. It is proposed that a dynamic risk assessment methodology to assess changes in risk for inpatients would benefit both staff and inpatients.
Tina Perry, Michael Barkham and Chris Evans’ paper follows and explores staff and patient opinions relating to the acceptability, feasibility, and utility of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluations – Outcome Measure(CORE-OM). In this study patients and nurses from high, medium and low secure hospitals participated in semi-structured interviews after completing the CORE-OM or the CORE-OM:SV (Staff version). It is argued that the measure must be complemented by formal risk assessment and should support, not replace,therapeutic alliance building between patient and staff. However, the authors note that based on their research, the CORE-OM is acceptable to patients and staff in secure settings and appears feasible as a patient reported outcome measure (PROM) for such settings.
The remaining papers focus on the area of intervention and this starts with a paper by Susan Kearney and Joselyn Sellen focusing on motivating young people to change institutional behaviour in a prison setting. The paper reports on the adaptation of the personal aspiration and concerns inventory for offenders(PACI-O) for use with young people aged between 15 and 17 in prison. The paper therefore explores the motivational effect of the PACI-O-YPV (Young Person’s Version) on this population. The findings demonstrate that those young prisoners completing the inventory displayed an improved prison regime status, thus indicating improved behaviour whilst in prison and increased “satisfaction with life” when compared to a control group. Whilst research is required using a larger sample, the findings suggest that short client-centred goal based motivational interventions can be utilised to improve institutional behaviour in young people in prison. Such interventions may also have implications for treatment engagement; although further research is required.
The next paper by Clive Long explores the delivery of effective cognitive behavioural group treatments for female clients in mental health settings. The current literature on cognitive behavioural therapy, as applied to women in secure settings, is reviewed to highlight best practice. Obstacles to effective delivery are identified. It is proposed that group CBT is a treatment of choice for women in secure settings; although effectiveness requires services to acknowledge and address common obstacles to treatment delivery and also address a range of “need” and “environmental” factors that are also outlined in the paper. It is proposed that managerial support, treatment evaluation, and maximising the therapeutic potential of the built and natural environment also contributes to treatment outcomes.
The final paper by Isabel Brunton and Tom Hartley presents two studies which aim to investigate whether the enhanced thinking skills (ETS) programme (Clark,2000) might reduce antisocial behaviour if delivered to school-aged children. The results showed an association between antisocial behaviour and poor executive function in both offenders and schoolchildren, with offenders displaying less antisocial behaviour following the ETS course. Executive function and antisocial behaviour measured before the ETS course predicted reduction in antisocial behaviour following the course for offenders. Whilst it was not possible to investigate the effect of the programme in schoolchildren,it is suggested that the results indicate that further research may be of benefit. There is also some suggestion that the ETS programme might be effective outside of criminal justice settings as an early intervention with schoolchildren aimed at preventing later offending. Further investigation relating to the possibility that an adapted ETS programme might lead to a reduction in antisocial behaviour in schoolchildren is proposed.
Dr Carol A. Ireland, Neil Gredecki
