The association between specific competence-related abilities and competence restoration treatment |
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| Authors: | Mary Elizabeth Wood Jaime L. Anderson Marie L. Gillespie Apryl A. Alexander Tamika Backstrom-Sieh David M. Glassmire |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA;2. Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, USA;3. Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA;4. Graduate School of Professional Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA;5. The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, Houston, Texas, USA;6. Department of Psychology, Patton State Hospital, Patton, California, USA |
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| Abstract: | Inpatient competence restoration treatment comes with enormous costs in terms of civil liberties, but also significant financial costs to the state/institution responsible for providing the treatment. The present investigation was designed to evaluate the utility of a commonly used competence assessment instrument, the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool – Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA), in identifying individuals who may require more tailored, lengthier, and/or more intensive treatment. The sample included 93 men and women who were administered the MacCAT-CA during an inpatient hospitalization for competence restoration treatment in the United States. All of the patients were restored to competence within the study period, ranging from 3 to 32 months of inpatient hospitalization. Results suggest that performance on the MacCAT-CA was associated with hospitalization length, with total scores as the greatest predictor of response to treatment. Sensitivity and specificity estimates are discussed in terms of their utility in identifying patients most at-risk for extended hospitalization, with the authors arguing that instruments like the MacCAT-CA can be used in a practical manner of identifying patients who might require greater or more intensive treatment. |
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| Keywords: | Adjudicative competence restoration treatment specificity |
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