The impact of psychological autopsies on medical examiners' determination of manner of death

This study evaluated the impact of psychological information on medical examiners' determination of manner of death in equivocal cases. Ten cases, a typical and equivocal case for each of five case types (single car, child, autoerotic, psychotic, and Russian roulette death) were evaluated for manner of death by 195 medical examiner subjects. From this sample 95 control subjects received 10 cases made up of physical and circumstantial evidence, while 100 experimental subjects received the same 10 cases expanded with brief psychological autopsies. Psychological information was shown to have a statistically significant impact on subjects' determination (and certainty) of manner of death is equivocal cases and even in some typical cases.     

The psychological impact of burglary

Abstract

The GHQ-12 and POMS-BI questionnaires were administered to 20 victims of residential burglary and 20 matched control participants at two points in time. When assessed between one and two weeks after the crime, victims were more anxious, hostile, depressed, tired and confused, and experienced more psychological distress, in comparison with controls. When assessed for a second time one month later there was a general improvement in victims' psychological well-being but their scores still differed significantly from those of controls on almost all sub-seales of the questionnaires. The data suggest that the psychological impact of burglary is considerable and may last for an extended period of time.     

The psychological impact of stalking on female undergraduates.

This study examined the psychological impact of stalking upon female undergraduates, a population previously determined to experience a surprising stalking prevalence rate. Despite common understanding that stalking has deleterious effects, there have been no previous efforts to systematically assess them with standardized measures. Thirty-six female stalking victims were compared with 43 females who had been harassed and 48 controls. Psychological impact was assessed with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale, the Symptom Checklist-90-R, and the Self-Report Interpersonal Trust Scale. Stalked subjects endorsed significantly more PTSD symptoms and with greater severity than the harassed or control subjects. Stalked subjects also had significantly higher scores on several subscales of the SCL-90, and had significantly higher positive symptom totals and distress indices.     

心理信息污染案件的心理测试分析与实践

目的 心理信息污染案件的检测纠偏.方法 综合分析了心理信息污染的产生来源,对其进行科学分类,并针对各类污染制定详实的测试纠偏编题方法及测试图谱评判原则.结果 每一部分论述里都结合了具体的案件办理实践,对污染案件心理信息案件的检测起到了良好的纠偏效果.结论 使用正确的方法可对心理信息污染案件进行纠偏.     

The emotional and psychological impact of mass casualty incidents on forensic odontologists

Motivated by the findings of a previous research project, 38 forensic odontologists with known occupational experience of mass casualty incidents completed a questionnaire designed to elicit both quantitative and qualitative data. The questionnaire sought to provide an insight into the psychological and emotional impact of conducting work of this nature. Two psychometric scales were included in the questionnaire, The Positive and Negative Affect scale (PANAS) and the Impact of Events Scale (IOE). In addition, a number of open-ended questions relating to the personal experiences of the respondent during the mass casualty incident were also included. Quantitative findings indicate that on the whole mass casualty incidents resulted in a positive experience for the respondents, although over a third reported being distressed, upset or irritable at some time during the event. Sense of achievement and camaraderie were among the qualitative themes elicited that help explain the positive reactions. Working conditions, politics and the ictims were cited as sources of negativity.     

一起精神病人住院期间致人伤残案的民事责任分析

精神病人住院期间致人伤残,医院应不应该承担责任,应该承担什么样的责任,这是一个比较敏感的社会话题,也是一个严肃的法律命题.本文作者通过具体案件的剖析,有理有据地认真分析和回答了上述问题.     

一起精神病人住院期间致人伤残案的民事责任分析

精神病人住院期间致人伤残 ,医院应不应该承担责任 ,应该承担什么样的责任 ,这是一个比较敏感的社会话题 ,也是一个严肃的法律命题。本文作者通过具体案件的剖析 ,有理有据地认真分析和回答了上述问题。     

The impact of disability on partnership formation in Sweden during 1990-2009

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that disability negatively affects people’s propensity to find a partner. Persons with disabilities that eventually find a partner do so later in life compared to the average population. There is a lack of studies on the differences in partnership opportunities for persons with disabilities compared to those without disabilities in Sweden. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of disability on partnership formation and to assess whether partnership formation varies as a function of individual demographic and socio-economic factors. We use nationwide data available in the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in Social and Medical Sciences (Umeå SIMSAM Lab). We follow persons born from 1973 to 1977 when they were from 16 to 37 years of age and analyze their data using logistic regression. Our findings indicate that regardless of whether a person started to receive a disability pension at an early age or later, it was associated with lower odds for partnership formation. For persons who started receiving disability pension from 16 to 20 years of age, chances for partnership formation reduced with increase in age of partnership. Individuals that started to receive disability pension later were more likely to form partnership prior to receiving disability pension. Partnership formation was less likely among persons born outside Sweden, in persons with mothers born outside Sweden, in individuals born by unmarried mothers and in persons, whose mothers had a high level of education. Partnership was high among women and among persons who had many maternal siblings. In conclusion, receiving disability pension was associated with reduced chances for partnership formation. Receiving disability pension might imply financial constraints that negatively influence partnership formation supporting Oppenheimer’s theory on the economic cost of marriage and the uncertainty hypothesis.     

The impact of bullying and coping strategies on the psychological distress of young offenders

Abstract

This study investigated the involvement in bullying, the psychological distress, and the coping strategies of 99 males in an English young offenders institution. The Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC; Ireland, 1998 Ireland, J. L. 1998. Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC), Lancashire, , UK: University of Central Lancashire.  [Google Scholar]), the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995 Lovibond, P. F. and Lovibond, S. H. 1995. The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) with the Beck depression and anxiety inventories. Behaviour Research Therapy, 33: 335–343. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the 48-item Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ; Roger et al., 1993 Roger, D., Jarvis, G. and Najarian, B. 1993. Detachment and coping: The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 15: 619–626. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) were administered. Over 60% of prisoners were involved in bullying (as a victim or bully), as indicated by responses on the DIPC. Emotional and avoidance coping were significantly related to psychological distress. Bully/victims were significantly more depressed than prisoners not involved in bullying, and being a bully/victim was a significant predictor of higher stress scores. Significant correlations were observed between all psychological distress measures and the number of bullying behaviours experienced by prisoners. These findings are discussed in relation to their implications for prisoner care and avenues for future research are proposed.     

Intellectual disability and mental illness in the NSW criminal justice system

There has been increasing international, national and local recognition of the need for more appropriate responses and services for individuals who come in contact with the criminal justice system and who have an intellectual disability and mental health issues. This article provides an overview of prevalence data that indicates a significant over representation of people with intellectual disabilities in correctional facilities and reviews the problems facing this population. Findings from two specific evaluation studies undertaken by the Centre for Developmental Disability Studies are presented, along with recommendations for future provision based on these results. One of these projects trialled a case management approach to supporting offenders with an intellectual disability upon their release from prison. The 20-month follow-up found that a number of serious barriers were encountered within the overall system of provision for this population; the most serious of which related to lack of adequate accommodation upon release. The second project involved a two-stage evaluation of one model of provision for individuals with intellectual disabilities who are sex offenders, only some of whom were on parole. This service provided both residential and therapy services in a small group home located in the community. Residents were found to have high levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties, in addition to offending behaviour, that continue to require support and supervision. Critical issues, including guardianship involvement, restrictive practices and retrieval, therapy provision, and risk management issues are discussed in relation to overall clinical and lifestyle outcomes.     

The impact of mental health services on arrests of offenders with a serious mental illness

This study examines the impact of mental health services on arrests of offenders with a serious mental Illness (SMI) by assessing changes in associations between receipt of outpatient and emergency room/inpatient services and arrests one, two, and three quarters later. A variety of data sets were used for identifying 3,769 offenders who were in the Pinellas County Florida jail between 7/1/2003 and 6/30/ 2004, and 7,755 offenders who were in the Harris County Texas jail between 10/1/2005 and 9/30/2006. Arrests, out-patient and emergency room/inpatient services were assigned to one of 16 ninety-day periods between 7/1/2002 and 6/10/2006 in Pinellas County and one of 12 such periods between 10/1/2004 and 9/15/2007 in Harris County. Generalized estimating equations were used. Covariates were age, gender, race, diagnosis, and homelessness. The results were also adjusted for exposure to arrests. In Pinellas County, outpatient services significantly reduced the risks of arrests 1 quarter later by 17% (odds ratio [OR] = 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78-0.87, p < .001), two quarters later by 11% (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.84-0.94, p < .001), and three quarters later by 9% (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.86-0.96, p = .001). In Harris County, these services reduced the risk of arrest 1 quarter later by 5% (OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91-0.99, p = .028), but not two and three quarters later. In Pinellas County, ER/inpatient services increased the risk of arrests by 22% (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.15-1.30, p < .001), 8% (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02-1.15, p = .010) and 11% (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02-1.16, p = .001) one, two, and three quarters later. In Harris County, these services increased the risk of arrest only 1 quarter later (OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.11-1.22, p < .001). Results suggest that service receipt and its timing may have had some impact on the arrests of adults with a SMI and criminal justice involvement.