Screening for personality disorder in incarcerated boys

Personality disorder screening in incarcerated boys
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Personality disorder screening in incarcerated boys
Personality disorder screening in incarcerated adolescent boys: preliminary validation of an adolescent version of the standardized assessment of personality – abbreviated scale (SAPAS-AV), 2012, by Mickey Kongerslev, Paul Moran, Sune Bo and Erick Simonsen.
Overview
Personality disorder or PD is linked to major functional injury or impairment, as well as a high risk of suicidal and/or violent behavior, and its occurrence among populations of young offenders is probable to be high. Previous research indicates an excessively elevated pervasiveness of mental illnesses or disorders in younger offenders in relation to community youth or adult prison populations, and nearly 75 per cent of incarcerated young offenders meet the criterion for at least one mental disorder (Kongerslev et al., 2012). Moreover, earlier research has also shown that there are high levels of suicide as well as suicide attempts, high levels of untreated and undiagnosed physical disorders, and high rates of mortality associated with premature death due to unnatural causes. Such findings necessitate the development and implementation of standardized as well as validated regular screening instruments within juvenile prison/correctional facilities. This is to ensure that the mental health care requirements of juvenile offenders are not ignored but treated (Kongerslev et al., 2012). This empirical journal article effectively highlights the urgent need for an immediate diagnostic assessment of adolescent boys’ personality at the time of their incarceration. The article also clearly states its goal is to benefit researchers and clinicians who work in juvenile justice settings.
This article review will analyze the goals and methods of research; and discuss the probable impact the research results will have on the criminal justice process. Description of the Research Problem Clinicians and researchers who work in juvenile settings understand the importance of a proper diagnosis in order to treat juveniles before they become violent criminal adult offenders. American judges place the greatest blame for the delinquency of juveniles on family breakdown and drugs (Inciardi, 2010). However, criminologists believe the roots of such delinquency most often can be explained by personality disorders that the sooner diagnosed the sooner the appropriate treatment can begin and be effective. Without proper diagnosis, many judges incarcerate juveniles without ordering further psychological testing. This empirical article attempts to address the gap between diagnosis and treatment; and show how scientifically based mental health assessments given at critical times can prevent juveniles from becoming violent criminal adult offenders.Description of the Research Problem
The researchers designed and carried out a prospective study in order to explore the psychometric characteristics, as well as the diagnostic precision of the adolescent account of SAPAS (SAPAS-AV) within a trial or sample size that consists of incarcerated juvenile boys. The major objective was to conduct an examination and observe SAPAS-AV’s discriminatory performance against definite criteria diagnosis of any type of PD, on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II PDs (SCDI-II), which included estimating specificity and sensitivity for dissimilar cut-score (Kongerslev et al., 2012). The scope and focus of the article’s research is intended to take the data collected and begin a scientific process of creating better assessment tools for juveniles in incarcerated settings. There has been limited data available for this specific demographic and the data regarding adults versus adolescents only reveals the need for further study of personality disorders and assessment tools (Biggs, 2011).
Research Methodology
The researchers adopted a rapid screen for identifying PD in adults. They applied Standardized Assessment of Personality – Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS-AV) for use with adolescent boys from the Danish version of SAPAS. SAPAS-AV is simply a mini-interview that consists of no more than eight items that are dichotomously rated, and correspond to descriptive statements concerning an individual. In essence, it covers the domain of DSM-IV PDs, which is wide and multidimensional. The specific items are worded as questions intended for no or yes answer. Interpretation is not placed on the response on behalf of the interviewer, and the responses/answers are summed to give an overall score that ranges from zero to eight. The screen can be completed in less than six minutes (Biggs, 2011). Preliminary improvement of the language applied in SAPAS-AV occurred after piloting the SAPAS on 10 juvenile girls and boys from a secure and safe institution as well as a psychiatric outpatient health center. The objective of the pilot was to find out whether or not the participants understood the questions asked and found the interview appropriate and acceptable (Kongerslev et al., 2012).
Specifically, participants who were sentenced or remanded boys aged 15-18 years, were enlisted from three safe institutions and one penitentiary ward for juvenile offenders in Denmark. The eligible participants were approached by staff when the principle investigator, Kongerslev was visiting the sites. The adolescents who had an interest in participating were provided with both verbal and written information concerning the study aims and procedures, before they decided on whether they wished to...