Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version

Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICThe current study examined the psychometric properties (factor structure, reliability and validity) of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; Forth et al., 2003) in Spanish samples of male justice-involved youths between 15 and 22-years old. The PCL:YV was administered to two groups of youths who were incarcerated (n = 62; n = 95) and a sample of youth on probation (n = 122). Confirmatory factor analyses showed acceptable-to-good fit for three- and four-factor models. The four-factor hierarchical model with a second-order higher factor representing the whole psychopathy construct was considered for further analyses. PCL:YV scores showed high internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. Low-to-moderate convergence with other measures of psychopathic traits evinced an adequate convergent validity. Convergent and discriminant validity of the PCL:YV total scores were also confirmed considering several measures of psychopathology and personality traits. Importantly, the differential external correlates of the PCL:YV factors provide support for a multidimensional conceptualization of the psychopathy construct. Altogether, these results reveal adequate psychometric properties of the PCL:YV in Spanish population of justice-involved youths and justifies its use to assess psychopathic traits in this kind of populations

Professionals' perception of the needs of female victims of intimate partner violence:A vignette study

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has a high prevalence and serious consequences for the wellbeing of the victims. The impact of partner violence and the behavior of female victims continue to be poorly understood. Recently, a number of reviews have enhanced the understanding of the needs of female victims of IPV. These reviews improve the evidence base relating to IPV needs assessment and can enhance effectiveness of service provision. The aim of the current study is to review the currency of the knowledge used by social workers working with victims of IPV. We used a qualitative design in which 23 social workers from 10 IPV teams were asked to react to vignettes. Participants were asked what they perceived to be essential for understanding the women’s needs and determining an accurate treatment and guidance plan. Data were analyzed using open coding, followed by thematic analysis. Results indicate that in health services planning for battered women, service providers ask about the right domains, including: the characteristics of the relationship, social context, nature and pattern of abuse, characteristics of the female client, and—although to in a lesser degree—characteristics of the partner. Unfortunately, the sub themes within these domains are only partially considered, and sometimes superficially considered. Some topics that were not determined in the literature as relevant needs factors were seen as important by social workers, or assessed too soon, including the stay or leave question. These findings underline the realistic risk that staff members miss the actual reasons women stay with their partners or make certain choices in their help-seeking behavior. Incorrect needs assessments enhance the risk of female victims feeling unheard, and ineffective service provision, leading to care avoidance and low compliance with the services provided

Professionals' perception of the needs of female victims of intimate partner violence: A vignette study

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has a high prevalence and serious consequences for the wellbeing of the victims. The impact of partner violence and the behavior of female victims continue to be poorly understood. Recently, a number of reviews have enhanced the understanding of the needs of female victims of IPV. These reviews improve the evidence base relating to IPV needs assessment and can enhance effectiveness of service provision. The aim of the current study is to review the currency of the knowledge used by social workers working with victims of IPV. We used a qualitative design in which 23 social workers from 10 IPV teams were asked to react to vignettes. Participants were asked what they perceived to be essential for understanding the women’s needs and determining an accurate treatment and guidance plan. Data were analyzed using open coding, followed by thematic analysis. Results indicate that in health services planning for battered women, service providers ask about the right domains, including: the characteristics of the relationship, social context, nature and pattern of abuse, characteristics of the female client, and—although to in a lesser degree—characteristics of the partner. Unfortunately, the sub themes within these domains are only partially considered, and sometimes superficially considered. Some topics that were not determined in the literature as relevant needs factors were seen as important by social workers, or assessed too soon, including the stay or leave question. These findings underline the realistic risk that staff members miss the actual reasons women stay with their partners or make certain choices in their help-seeking behavior. Incorrect needs assessments enhance the risk of female victims feeling unheard, and ineffective service provision, leading to care avoidance and low compliance with the services provided

Supervision trajectories of male juvenile offenders: growth mixture modeling on SAVRY risk assessments

Background: Structured risk/need assessment tools are increasingly used to orientate risk reduction strategies with juvenile offenders. The assumption is that the risk/need items on these tools are sufficiently sensitive to measure changes in the individual, family and/or contextual characteristics of juvenile offenders. However, there is very little research demonstrating the capacity of these tools to measure changes in juvenile offenders. Congruent with the developmental and life-course criminology theories (DLC) the objective of this study is to explore the existence of heterogeneous trajectories of juvenile offenders across the juvenile justice system as measured through five empirical risk/need areas based on the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), one of the most widely applied risk assessment tools for juveniles. Methods: This longitudinal study included 5205 male juvenile offenders who transitioned through the Catalan juvenile justice system between 2006 and 2014. During intervention they received at least two, and a maximum of seven, consecutive SAVRY risk/need assessments over an 18-month period. The heterogeneity of latent class trajectories was explored through growth mixture modeling (GMM). The trajectory class membership was linked to covariates through multinomial logistic regression analyses. Results: Through GMM three to four heterogeneous trajectories, with high quality of separation, were identified in each of the risk/need areas. The trajectories with low risk/needs (45–77% of the sample) remained low and presented a very limited increase in risk/needs during the 18-month period. The high risk/need trajectories (20–37% of the sample) showed a limited decrease or no change. Between 5 and 13% of the sample had large reductions in their risk/needs levels, and approximately 5% showed a large increase in risk/needs. Conclusions: In line with the DLC theories this study shows that trajectories on criminogenic risk/needs can be heterogeneous and indicate distinct rates of change over time. The results of this study also may suggest a limited sensibility to measure change over time of SAVRY’s risk and protective items. Suggestions to improve the sensitivity of measuring change over time, such as shorter time frames or future-oriented time frames for the scoring of the items, are offered.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCPsychiatry, Department ofReviewedFacult

Profiles of SAVRY risk and protective factors within male and female juvenile offenders:A latent class and latent transition analysis

This longitudinal study explored the existence of, and the transition between, latent classes based on risk/need domains of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). The study included 4,267 male and 661 female justice-involved juveniles who had at least one SAVRY assessment completed between 2006 and 2011. A three-step approach was used for the latent class analyses (LCA): (1) A standard LCA estimated the classes; (2) the class-membership was determined; and (3) latent transition analyses estimated the likelihood of transition between the subgroups. For male adolescents, five latent classes were identified: (a) low risk/needs (36%); (b) low-moderate risk/needs (26%); (c) moderate risk/needs (11%); (d) moderate-high risk/needs (19%); and (e) high risk/needs (8%). For female adolescents, three subgroups were identified: (a) low risk/needs (30%); (b) moderate risk/needs (51%); and (c) high risk/needs (19%). Recidivism rates differentiated the subgroups, and the likelihood of transition within a 12-months timeframe was low

Towards overtreatment-free immunotherapy: Using genomic scars to select treatment beneficiaries in lung cancer

In advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), response to immunotherapy is difficult to predict from pre-treatment information. Given the toxicity of immunotherapy and its financial burden on the healthcare system, we set out to identify patients for whom treatment is effective using mutational signatures from DNA mutations in pre-treatment tissue. Analysis of single base substitutions, doublet base substitutions, indels, and copy number alteration signatures in the discovery set (m =101 patients) linked tobacco smoking signature (SBS4) and thiopurine chemotherapy exposure-associated signature (SBS87) to durable benefit. Combining both signatures in a machine learning model separated patients with a progression free survival hazard ratio of 0.40+0.28 −0.17 on the cross validated discovery set and 0.24+0.31 −0.14 on an independent external validation set (m = 56). This paper demonstrates that the fingerprints of mutagenesis, codified through mutational signatures, can be used to select advanced NSCLC patients who may benefit from immunotherapy, thus reducing unnecessary patient burden

Supervision trajectories of male juvenile offenders: growth mixture modeling on SAVRY risk assessments

Background: Structured risk/need assessment tools are increasingly used to orientate risk reduction strategies with juvenile offenders. The assumption is that the risk/need items on these tools are sufficiently sensitive to measure changes in the individual, family and/or contextual characteristics of juvenile offenders. However, there is very little research demonstrating the capacity of these tools to measure changes in juvenile offenders. Congruent with the developmental and life-course criminology theories (DLC) the objective of this study is to explore the existence of heterogeneous trajectories of juvenile offenders across the juvenile justice system as measured through five empirical risk/need areas based on the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), one of the most widely applied risk assessment tools for juveniles. Methods: This longitudinal study included 5205 male juvenile offenders who transitioned through the Catalan juvenile justice system between 2006 and 2014. During intervention they received at least two, and a maximum of seven, consecutive SAVRY risk/need assessments over an 18-month period. The heterogeneity of latent class trajectories was explored through growth mixture modeling (GMM). The trajectory class membership was linked to covariates through multinomial logistic regression analyses. Results: Through GMM three to four heterogeneous trajectories, with high quality of separation, were identified in each of the risk/need areas. The trajectories with low risk/needs (45-77% of the sample) remained low and presented a very limited increase in risk/needs during the 18-month period. The high risk/need trajectories (20-37% of the sample) showed a limited decrease or no change. Between 5 and 13% of the sample had large reductions in their risk/needs levels, and approximately 5% showed a large increase in risk/needs. Conclusions: In line with the DLC theories this study shows that trajectories on criminogenic risk/needs can be heterogeneous and indicate distinct rates of change over time. The results of this study also may suggest a limited sensibility to measure change over time of SAVRY's risk and protective items. Suggestions to improve the sensitivity of measuring change over time, such as shorter time frames or future-oriented time frames for the scoring of the items, are offered