Risk factors associated with inpatient violence during medium security treatment

Inge Jeandarme*, Ciska Wittouck, Freya Vander Laenen, Claudia Pouls, T. I. Oei, Stefan Bogaerts

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Violence is a common phenomenon both in regular and forensic psychiatric settings, and has a profound impact on staff and other patients. Insight into the individual risk factors associated with violence in forensic psychiatric settings is rare and is therefore the subject of this research. A retrospective file study in three medium security units in Flanders was conducted to compare non-violent inpatients with inpatients who engaged in (verbal and physical) violent behavior. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine which variables contributed independently to the risk of violence. The results showed that absconding during treatment was independently associated with physical violence. A personality disorder diagnosis and general non-compliance with treatment were associated with verbal violence. Both types of violence predicted early termination of treatment. Contrary to previous research, the results from the risk assessment tools were not associated with inpatient violence. Clinical implications are discussed and include, among others, that clinicians should remain vigilant for early warning signs of non-compliance during treatment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3711-3736
JournalJournal of Interpersonal Violence
Volume34
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • aggression
  • violence
  • risk factors
  • forensic
  • medium security
  • OBSERVATION AGGRESSION SCALE
  • PREDICTIVE-VALIDITY
  • ASSAULTIVE BEHAVIOR
  • STAFF
  • CLASSIFICATION
  • INTERRATER
  • INSTRUMENT
  • CHECKLIST
  • APPRAISAL
  • ACCURACY

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