Offender personality disorder pathway screening tools evaluation

Abstract

Purpose

The offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway faces the difficult task of identifying individuals who are eligible for their service from the entire probation caseload. The offender assessment system personality disorder (OASys PD) screen is a national screening tool used by the pathway to help with this task. This paper aims to describe an evaluation of the effectiveness of this plus an additional screening tool currently used to identify eligible individuals for the OPD service in the South of England. Recommendations for improvements were made as necessary.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed methods design used a quantitative analysis of data on the effectiveness of the OASys PD for correctly identifying individuals and a thematic analysis of a focus-group conducted with clinicians within the service.

Findings

The analysis revealed a positive predictive value of the OASys PD screen of 72% and a negative predictive value of 91%. Key themes from the focus-group revealed what worked well about the screening process, what was difficult and what needed to be improved.

Practical implications

The OASys PD performed better than the clinicians had expected. It was recommended that the service continued to use the combination of the screening tool and the interviews with minor adjustments.

Originality/value

This is the first research study of its kind on the effectiveness of the OASys Personality Disorder Screening tool. Using such a tool with some caution (the addition of consultation) creates a useful and effective process for tackling the very difficult task of identifying people for the community component of the Offender Personality Disorder Service. This research provides some evidence for the validity of such a process that is currently used throughout the National Probation Service in England and Wales.

Citation

Mawby, Z., Newman, A. and Wilkinson-Tough, M. (2020), "Offender personality disorder pathway screening tools evaluation", The Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 199-211. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-09-2019-0043