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Goal attainment scaling: usefulness of a tool to measure risk in violent mentally disordered offenders

Amy Izycky (Rampton Hospital, Nottinghamshire, UK)
Louise Braham (Rampton Hospital, Nottinghamshire, UK)
Lisa Williams (Rampton Hospital, Nottinghamshire, UK)
Todd Hogue (Rampton Hospital, Nottinghamshire, UK)

The British Journal of Forensic Practice

ISSN: 1463-6646

Article publication date: 28 April 2010

198

Abstract

Measures of risk employed in mental health settings in the last 20 years have consisted of clinical scales that comprise both historical and clinical factors. Examples of such tools include the widely used HCR‐20 (Webster et al, 1997), SVR‐20 (Boer et al, 1997) and VRS (Wong & Gordon, 2000). Such tools are time‐intensive and, in the main, completed by an independent rater. At present there is a lack of systems to guide teams to investigate salient risk factors related to mental state and violent offending that inform treatment effectiveness, change and, ultimately, risk assessment decisions. This paper describes the application of such a system. The Standard Goal Attainment Scaling for Sex Offenders (GAS‐S) (Hogue, 1994) has been modified for use with violent offenders and is presented herewith. Application of the tool to the Violent Offender Treatment Programme (VOTP) is discussed, alongside its potential usefulness in informing risk assessment and the effectiveness of treatment intervention.

Keywords

Citation

Izycky, A., Braham, L., Williams, L. and Hogue, T. (2010), "Goal attainment scaling: usefulness of a tool to measure risk in violent mentally disordered offenders", The British Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 14-22. https://doi.org/10.5042/bjfp.2010.0182

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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