Treatment Effects on Forensic Psychiatric Patients Measured with the HCR-20 Violence Risk Assessment Scheme
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2002
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2002.10471158
Abstract
This study focuses on the foundational issue of change in violence risk factors in forensic psychiatric patients across multiple assessment periods using the HCR-20 scheme. HCR-20 assessments performed on 150 forensic psychiatric patients at two special (forensic) hospitals in Sweden were studied in relation to the patients' time at institution, with the aim to investigate a possible relation between level of risk and time at institution. A sub-group was followed across an 18-month period of institutionalization to investigate possible changes in risk factors over time. The latter patients were assessed with the HCR-20 three times, with six months between the assessments. Patients with longer treatment times had lower scores on the HCR-20 Clinical and Risk Management sub-scales, compared to patients who had been admitted to the hospitals for a shorter period of time. This finding was particularly evident on the cross-sectional analyses with respect to the R scale. The clinical risk factors in the C scale also dropped overall in connection with treatment time across both cross-sectional and prospective analyses, although not as substantially as the R scale. The results are consistent with and provide support for the HCR-20 system's proposition that the C and R scales are dynamic, or prone to change.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, v. 1, issue 1, p. 25-36
Scholar Commons Citation
Belfrage, Henrik and Douglas, Kevin S., "Treatment Effects on Forensic Psychiatric Patients Measured with the HCR-20 Violence Risk Assessment Scheme" (2002). Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications. 325.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/mhlp_facpub/325
