Identifying Violent Behavior Using the Oxford Mental Illness and Violence Tool in a Psychiatric Ward of a German Prison Hospital

Conclusions: In our opinion, the risk assessment tool OxMIV succeeded in predicting violent behavior in imprisoned psychiatric patients. As a result, it may be applicable for identification of patients with special needs in a prison environment and, thus, improving prison safety.IntroductionViolent behavior in individuals with severe mental disorders has been widely reported. Several studies and reviews from the United States (1, 2) and Europe (3–5) can verify this, and especially, two groups of patients (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) are at higher risk of committing a violent crime compared to the general population (6, 7). This opinion is not agreed upon by all experts in the field, due to the vast majority of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia never committing any act of violence (8).Analyzing data of more than 24,000 cases of schizophrenia and related disorders, Fazel et al. pointed out that the adjusted odds ratio of adverse outcomes, including violent behavior, was 7.5 in men and 11.1 in women compared to the general population. They concluded that schizophrenia and related disorders are associated with increased rates of violent crime (5). In patients with bipolar disorders, the odds ratio for violent crime was 5 (6). Recent surveys have determined a variety of risk factors for aggressive behavior and violent crime in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, such as substance use disorder (SUD) (4, 7), young age (9), previous violent crime ...
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research