CANFOR Portuguese version: validation study

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Miguel Xavier¹  Miguel Talina¹  Jose M Caldas de Almeida¹  Ana Cardoso¹  Pedro Aguiar²  Stuart Thomas³ 

[1] CEDOC, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campo Mártires da Pátria, 1169-056, Lisbon, Portugal;Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;School of Psychology & Psychiatry, Monash University, and Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;

关键词: Forensic psychiatry;    Needs assessment;    Mental disorders;    Mentally disordered offenders;    Prisoners;    Prison;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-13-157

 received in 2012-05-28, accepted in 2013-04-09,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe increase in prisoner population is a troublesome reality in several regions of the world. Along with this growth there is increasing evidence that prisoners have a higher proportion of mental illnesses and suicide than the general population. In order to implement strategies that address criminal recidivism and the health and social status of prisoners, particularly in mental disordered offenders, it is necessary to assess their care needs in a comprehensive, but individual perspective. This assessment must include potential harmful areas like comorbid personality disorder, substance misuse and offending behaviours. The Camberwell Assessment of Need – Forensic Version (CANFOR) has proved to be a reliable tool designed to accomplish such aims. The present study aimed to validate the CANFOR Portuguese version.MethodsThe translation, adaptation to the Portuguese context, back-translation and revision followed the usual procedures. The sample comprised all detainees receiving psychiatric care in four forensic facilities, over a one year period. A total of 143 subjects, and respective case manager, were selected. The forensic facilities were chosen by convenience: one prison hospital psychiatric ward (n=68; 47.6%), one male (n=24; 16.8%) and one female (n=22; 15.4%) psychiatric clinic and one civil security ward (n=29; 20.3%), all located nearby Lisbon. Basic descriptive statistics and Kappa weighted coefficients were calculated for the inter-rater and the test-retest reliability studies. The convergent validity was evaluated using the Global Assessment of Functioning and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores.ResultsThe majority of the participants were male and single, with short school attendance, and accused of a crime involving violence against persons. The most frequent diagnosis was major depression (56.1%) and almost half presented positive suicide risk. The reliability study showed average Kappa weighted coefficients of 0.884 and 0.445 for inter-rater and test-retest agreement, respectively. The convergent validity study presented highly significant correlations between unmet needs scores, GAF and BPRS scores.ConclusionsThe CANFOR Portuguese version revealed similar psychometric properties to the original English version. Moreover, the results of the reliability and validity studies indicate that the tool is appropriate for individual care needs assessment and as a guide for the mental health and social interventions in forensic psychiatric services.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Talina et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013