LE3 .A278 2004

2004

Starzomski, Andrew
Potter, Susan

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Psychology

Psychology

Although there is a vast amount of research in the area of violence and risk assessments, the topic of imminent violence predictions within psychiatric facilities has been neglected. This study examined demographic and behavioural differences between violent and non-violent patients on a pre-trial assessment unit. Data were collected from the hospital charts of 35 randomly selected patients (15 charts belonged to patients who were violent while on the unit and 20 belonged to non-violent patients). Results indicated that the two groups differed very little demographically and in the mean number of appropriate behaviours displayed while on the unit; however, the two groups differed on Axis 1 diagnoses. The violent group was found to have a longer assessment period and also displayed a higher number of problematic behaviours than the nonviolent group, indicating that violent and non-violent patients differ on a number of behavioural variables.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:426