| 1. |
- Berlin, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Self-report versus clinician-ratings in the assessment of aggression in violent offenders
- 2021
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Ingår i: Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health. - : Wiley. - 0957-9664 .- 1471-2857. ; 31:3, s. 198-210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The construct of aggression is central to work with violent offenders, but it is a broad construct that can be assessed by many different methods and instruments. Its measurement may, however, have profound implications for treatment planning. We need more knowledge about how different methods for assessing aggression relate to each other. Aims Our aims were to investigate, first, the convergence and concordance of two methods of assessing aggression: self-report and clinical assessment and, second, to determine the degree to which aggression can be discriminated from neighbouring constructs, such as hostility, anger and criminal behaviour. Methods A nationally representative Swedish cohort of 269 18-25-year-old incarcerated violent offenders was recruited. Data were collected through structured self-reports of aggression, anger and hostility traits (Aggression Questionnaire-Revised Swedish Version) and clinical assessments of lifetime prevalence of aggressive and antisocial behaviours (Life History of Aggression). Criminal records were retrieved from the Swedish National Crime Register. Results Self-ratings and clinician-ratings of aggression were highly convergent and concordant, especially regarding physical aggression. Violent offence records were weakly, if at all, correlated, while self-reported hostility was weakly, or not at all, correlated with self-reported or with clinician-rated aggression. There was an inverse relationship between aggression and criminal records of sexual offences. Conclusions and Implications Even though a combination of self-reports and clinician-ratings may provide a better overview of an individual's aggressive behaviours, our results indicate that they yield such similar information that either alone would be sensitive enough. Our results do not, however, support using one of these methods as a proxy for the other since choice of measure and accepted concordance between them depend on the context within which the assessment is conducted. We reconfirmed that official records of violent offending are unlikely to be adequate measures of outcome after interventions to reduce aggressive behaviours.
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| 2. |
- Björne, Petra, et al.
(författare)
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Organisational impact on the use of restrictive measures: The perspective of Swedish front-line managers
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. - 1360-2322 .- 1468-3148. ; 36:5, s. 1025-1033
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundRestrictive measures (RM) are prevalent in services for people with intellectual disabilities. This study investigates managerial awareness of RM and the nature of organisational supports required to reduce their use. MethodA survey asked front-line managers and staff what (RM) were used, their purpose, impact and importance (10-item Likert scales) and what organisational changes were required (free text). Responses were analysed using descriptive methods and content analysis. ResultsManagers reported a lower use of RM, compared with staff. According to managers, RM were mainly used to keep service users from harm, their use having a significant impact. Opportunities to change practices were limited by a lack of resources and organisational support. ConclusionFront-line managers seem to lack the capacity to address the use of RM due to organisational drift; limited manager time and opportunity to allocate resources; inadequate environments; and lack of skilled staff, knowledge and relevant professional input.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Djamnezhad, Dariush, et al.
(författare)
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Good behavior game - study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of a preventive behavior management program in a Swedish school context
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychiatry. - 1664-0640. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Early conduct problems and school failure are prominent risk factors for several adverse outcomes in later life. With the potential of reaching many children at early stages of their life, school-based interventions constitute a valuable approach to universal prevention. Good behavior game (GBG) is a promising school-based behavior management program, having shown immediate reductions in conduct problems along with several long-term positive effects. Adapting interventions to new contexts may however affect their effectiveness. The current study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a Swedish adaption of GBG under pragmatic conditions. The intervention is hypothesized to reduce conduct problems in the classroom (primary outcome). Secondary analyses will investigate changes in conduct problems in common school areas, classroom climate, teacher collective efficacy, on-task behavior, as well as investigating behavioral management practices, implementation, and barriers to implementation. Methods: This is a cluster-randomized trial with two parallel groups. Schools will be randomized (1,1, stratified by their areas sociodemographic index score) to be provided training in GBG or perform business-as-usual. The intervention and data collection lasts for a school year. Data will be collected at three time points: at baseline in the beginning of the school year (prior to training in GBG), after three months, and after nine months (at the end of the school year; primary endpoint). Data consists of teacher-rated measures of conduct problems, classroom climate, teacher collective efficacy, behavior management practices, and implementation factors, along with demographic factors. In addition, data will be collected by independent and blinded observers using corresponding measures in a subset of randomly chosen classrooms. Procedural fidelity will be rated and collected by GBG-trainers during nine observations throughout the school year. Statistical analysis will include frequentist intention-to-treat analysis, and comparisons of estimates with a corresponding Bayesian model using weakly informative priors. The study has currently completed data collection. Discussion: This study will provide knowledge in universal prevention and school-based interventions with high reach, as well as specific knowledge concerning the effectiveness of an adapted version of GBG under real-world conditions, along with factors affecting its implementation and effects.
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| 5. |
- Djamnezhad, Dariush, et al.
(författare)
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Social and Emotional Learning in Preschool Settings: A Systematic Map of Systematic Reviews
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Education. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2504-284X. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The preschool years presents an important opportunity to support children's social and emotional development. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in early childhood education and care (ECEC) have gained an increased interest due to its potential to improve child health and educational outcomes. We aimed to identify existing systematic reviews on universal, curriculum-based SEL interventions in ECEC settings (children aged 0 to 7 years), assess their risk of bias, synthesize the findings and identify knowledge gaps. We undertook a systematic literature search in seven different databases. Reviews of studies without control groups were excluded. Each abstract and full text article was assessed independently, and disagreements were solved in consensus. Relevant reviews were assessed for bias using the ROBIS tool. Of 4912 records identified through database searches, two systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. Both reviews were assessed as having a high risk of bias. The results were used to summarize existing knowledge and knowledge gaps. In conclusion, SEL interventions in preschool settings must be considered knowledge gaps. There is a need for more high-quality primary studies and further systematic reviews that adhere to strict scientific methods and address the overwhelming heterogeneity in field, in terms of interventions, settings and outcomes.
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| 6. |
- Espinosa, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Enhanced social learning of threat in adults with autism
- 2020
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Ingår i: Molecular Autism. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2040-2392. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Recent theories have linked autism to challenges in prediction learning and social cognition. It is unknown, however, how autism affects learning about threats from others "demonstrators"through observation, which contains predictive learning based on social information. The aims of this study are therefore to investigate social fear learning in individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to examine whether typically developing social cognition is necessary for successful observational learning. Methods: Adults with ASD (n = 23) and neurotypical controls (n = 25) completed a social fear learning (SFL) procedure in which participants watched a "demonstrator"receiving electrical shocks in conjunction with a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (CS+), but never with a safe control stimulus (CS-). Skin conductance was used to measure autonomic responses of learned threat responses to the CS+ versus CS-. Visual attention was measured during learning using eye tracking. To establish a non-social learning baseline, each participant also underwent a test of Pavlovian conditioning. Results: During learning, individuals with ASD attended less to the demonstrator's face, and when later tested, displayed stronger observational, but not Pavlovian, autonomic indices of learning (skin conductance) compared to controls. In controls, both higher levels of attention to the demonstrator's face and trait empathy predicted diminished expressions of learning during test. Limitations: The relatively small sample size of this study and the typical IQ range of the ASD group limit the generalizability of our findings to individuals with ASD in the average intellectual ability range. Conclusions: The enhanced social threat learning in individuals with ASD may be linked to difficulties using visual attention and mental state attributions to downregulate their emotion.
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| 7. |
- Hildebrand Karlén, Malin, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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A bad start: The combined effects of early onset substance use and adhd and cd on criminality patterns, substance abuse and psychiatric comorbidity among young violent offenders
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal for Person-Oriented Research. - : Journal for Person-Oriented Research. - 2002-0244 .- 2003-0177. ; 6:1, s. 39-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2020, Lundh Research Foundation. All rights reserved. Substance abuse, conduct disorder (CD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are all known risk factors for developing aggressive behaviors, criminality, other psychiatric comorbidity and substance use disorders (SUD). Since early age of onset is important for aggravating the impact of several of these risk factors, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether young adult violent offenders with different patterns of early onset externalizing problems (here: substance use < age 15, ADHD, CD) had resulted in different criminality profiles, substance use problem profiles and psychiatric comorbidity in young adult age. A mixed-method approach was used, combining a variable-oriented approach (with Kruskal Wallis tests) and a person-oriented approach (with Configural frequency analysis). Overall, this combined approach indicated that persons with combined ADHD+CD and persons with CD + early onset of substance use had a more varied history of violent crimes, a more comprehensive history of aggressive behaviors in general, and more psychiatric comorbidity, as well as more varied SUD and destructive substance abuse in adult age, than persons without ADHD, CD or early SU. Results are in line with previous variable-oriented research, but also indicate that individuals in this group with heavy problem aggregation early in life have a wider spectrum of problems in young adult age. Importantly, among these young violent offenders, problem aggregation was the overwhelming norm, and not the exception, as in studies of the general population. This emphasizes the need for early coordinated interventions, but also that treatment within correctional facilities in adult age needs to be comprehensive and take individual patterns of comorbidity into account.
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| 8. |
- Hofvander, Björn, et al.
(författare)
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Autism Spectrum Disorders in forensic psychiatric investigations-patterns of comorbidity and criminality
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychiatry. - 1664-0640. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThere are contradictory research findings regarding whether individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are more or less likely to commit crimes. The aims of the current study were to: (1) Describe psychiatric and crime-related characteristics of a large group of offenders with ASD who had undergone a Forensic Psychiatric Investigation (FPI). (2) Identify clinical subgroups among this group of offenders. (3) Investigate associations between the identified clinical subgroups and (a) psychiatric comorbidity (b) types of crimes and (c) criminal responsibility. MethodsThe study cohort consists of all subjects (n = 831) who received an ASD-diagnosis at an FPI between 2002 and 2018 in Sweden. Descriptive and clinical, as well as crime related variables were obtained from the FPIs. Non-parametric (Pearson & chi;(2), Fisher's exact and Mann-Whitney U-test) inferential statistics were used for analyses of between-group differences and effect sizes were reported. A Latent Class Analysis was used to identify homogeneous subgroups (or classes) from categorical characteristics. ResultsThe cohort consisted of 708 men and 123 women, aged 18 to 74 yrs. Two-thirds (66.7%) of the cohort had at least one other psychiatric diagnosis, the most prevalent was substance use disorder (SUD). A severe mental disorder, equivalent to lack of criminal responsibility, was most often reported among offenders with a comorbid diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The most common type of crime was violent crime. Three person-oriented clinical subgroups were identified; (1) ASD with few other diagnoses; (2) ASD and very high levels of SUDs, plus moderate levels of other externalizing disorders and psychotic psychopathology and (3) ASD and moderate to high levels of personality disorders (other than ASPD) and SUDs. ConclusionOur results highlight the importance of all parts of the CJS to be prepared to handle offenders with ASD, often with high levels of additional psychiatric problems. Traditional approaches in treatment or other psychosocial interventions for ASD may need to be adapted to at least three general clinical profiles- one with mainly neurodevelopmental problems, one with a spectrum of externalizing problems and one with complex personality related difficulties.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Jönsson, Anette, et al.
(författare)
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In old men Scheuermann's disease is not associated with neck or back pain: a Swedish cohort study
- 2023
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Ingår i: Acta Orthopaedica. - 1745-3674. ; 94, s. 236-242
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and purpose - Scheuermann's disease is characterized by kyphosis and frequently mild back pain. As the level of kyphosis may progress over time, also the level of pain may increase. We evaluated the prevalence of Scheuer-mann's disease, and their pain, in Swedish elderly men. Patients and methods - The Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study Sweden (n = 3,014) is a population -based prospective observational study of community-living men aged 69-81 years. At baseline, participants answered a questionnaire including history of neck/back pain during the preceding year and characteristics of any pain (severity, sciatica, and neurological deficits). Lateral thoracic/lumbar spine radiographs were taken of 1,453 men. We included the 1,417 men with readable radiographs. Scheuermann's dis-ease was defined as 3 or more consecutive vertebrae with > 5 & DEG; wedging with no other explanation for the deformity. Results - 92 of the 1,417 men (6.5%, 95% confidence interval 5.3-7.9) had Scheuermann's disease. 31% of men with and 31% without Scheuermann's disease reported neck pain (P = 0.90) and 51% with and 55% without the disease reported back pain (P = 0.4). Among men with Scheuer-mann's disease and back pain, none reported severe pain, 57% moderate, and 43% mild, compared with 7%, 50%, and 44% in those without Scheuermann's disease (P = 0.2). In those with Scheuermann's disease 63% reported no sciatica, 15% sciatica without neurological deficits, and 22% sciatica with neurological deficits, compared with 56%, 16%, and 28% in those without the disease (P = 0.6). Conclusion - The prevalence of Scheuermann's disease in elderly Swedish men is between 5.3% and 7.9%. The con-dition seems at this age not to be associated with neck or back pain.
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