| Literature DB >> 35280154 |
Jacob Hvidhjelm1, Mette Brandt-Christensen2, Christian Delcomyn2, Jette Møllerhøj3, Volkert Siersma4, Jesper Bak1.
Abstract
The assessment and formulation of the risk of violence and other unwanted behaviors at forensic psychiatric facilities have been attempted for decades. Structured professional judgment tools, such as the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START), are among the recent attempts to overcome the challenge of accomplishing these goals. This study examined the effect of implementing START in clinical practice for the most serious adverse events among the target group of severely mentally ill forensic psychiatric inpatients. Results were based on the use of mechanical restraints as an outcome. This study is a pragmatic, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized controlled trial and was conducted over 5 years. It included eight forensic psychiatric units. Fifty out of 156 patients who had a basic aggression score of more than 0 were included in the study. We found that the rate of mechanical restraint use within the START period were 82% [relative risk (RR) = 0.18], lower than those outside of the START period. Patients evaluated within the START period were also found to have a 36% (RR = 0.64) lower risk of having higher Brøset Violence Checklist scores than patients evaluated outside the START period. Previous studies on START have primarily focused on validation, the predictive capability of the assessment, and implementation. We were only able to identify one study that aimed to identify the benefits and outcomes of START in a forensic setting. This study showed a significant reduction in the chance for inpatients in a forensic psychiatric facility to become mechanically restrained during periods where the START was used as risk assessment.Entities:
Keywords: Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability; coercion; forensic; mechanical restraint; mental health; psychiatry; risk assessment
Year: 2022 PMID: 35280154 PMCID: PMC8907583 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.822295
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Front Psychiatry ISSN: 1664-0640 Impact factor: 4.157
Figure 1Flowchart for the stepped wedge inclusion of units.
Figure 2Flowchart of participants.
Descriptive statistics of background variables of the whole population.
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| Age when the patient was included in the study | |||||||
| <27 years | 28 | 26.4% | 16 | 32.0% | 44 | 28.2% | 0.47 |
| 28–35 years | 34 | 32.1% | 11 | 22.0% | 45 | 28.8% | 0.20 |
| 36–45 years | 25 | 23.6% | 13 | 26.0% | 38 | 24.4% | 0.74 |
| >45 years | 19 | 17.9% | 10 | 20.0% | 29 | 18.6% | 0.76 |
| Diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (F20–F29) | 80 | 75.5% | 42 | 84.0% | 122 | 78.2% | 0.23 |
| Length of hospitalization before the patient were included in the study (<1 year) | 55 | 51.9% | 29 | 58.0% | 84 | 53.8% | 0.48 |
| Diagnoses of psychoactive substance use, primary or secondary (F10–19) | 68 | 64.2% | 32 | 64.0% | 100 | 64.1% | 0.99 |
BAE (Basic Aggressive Episodes) = the sum of SOAS-R scorings above 8, the first month the patient were in the study. Patients with at least one BAE (BAE > 0) was included in the study. χ.
Descriptive statistics of the background variables of the START group and the control group.
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| Age when the patient was included in the study | |||||||
| <27 years | 11 | 26.2% | 26 | 27.7% | 37 | 27.2% | 0.86 |
| 28–35 years | 9 | 21.4% | 19 | 20.2% | 28 | 20.6% | 0.87 |
| 36–45 years | 12 | 28.6% | 28 | 29.8% | 40 | 29.4% | 0.89 |
| >45 years | 10 | 23.8% | 21 | 22.3% | 31 | 22.8% | 0.85 |
| Diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (F20–F29) | 39 | 92.9% | 82 | 87.2% | 121 | 89.0% | 0.33 |
| Length of hospitalization before the patient were included in the study (<1 year) | 13 | 31.0% | 51 | 54.3% | 64 | 47.1% | 0.01 |
| Diagnoses of psychoactive substance use, primary or secondary (F10–19) | 25 | 59.5% | 57 | 60.6% | 82 | 60.3% | 0.53 |
A START period is the day and time of the START rating plus 6 months. A control period is all other periods where the patient is hospitalized. The 50 patients (BAE > 0) had a total of 136 periods and all patients in the START group also was a part of the control group. 22 patients only participated in the control group with 29 periods. χ.
p ≤ 0.05.
Effect of START on the outcome variables: mechanical restraint use, total coercion and BVC episodes.
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| MR | 0.03 | 0.10 | 0.18 | 0.39 | 0.18 | 0.08 | 0.41 | 0.00 | 0.17 | 0.08 | 0.37 | 0.00 | 0.04 |
| Duration in minutes of MR | 274 | 1652 | 609 | 1950 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.01 |
| Total coercive episodes | 0.12 | 0.32 | 0.39 | 0.94 | 0.37 | 0.19 | 0.74 | 0.01 | 0.33 | 0.19 | 0.60 | 0.00 | 0.01 |
| Number of BVC | .96 | 1.38 | 1.42 | 1.72 | 0.64 | 0.44 | 0.91 | 0.01 | 0.60 | 0.43 | 0.86 | 0.01 | 0.08 |
Negative Binominal Regression, Offset = log. to the length of the period, Repeated Subject = Patient ID, Adjusted for Units (cluster effect).
Further adjusted for: Age, Diagnoses, Length of hospitalization, and Psychoactive substance use.
Proportion of fit attributable to “unit” = the proportion of R2 with and without units (clusters).
Mechanical Restraint.
Total coercive episodes = number of physical restraint episodes, episodes of acute forced medication, episodes of one to one observation (without patient consent) and mechanical restraint episodes.
BVC, Brøset Violence Checklist.
p ≤ 0.05.
p ≤ 0.01.