The factor structure of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (expanded version) in a sample of forensic psychiatric patients.
Severe behavioral problems, aggression, unlawful behavior, and uncooperativeness make the forensic psychiatric population both hard to treat and study. To fine-tune treatment and evaluate results, valid measurement is vital. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-Extended (BPRS-E) is a widely used scale for assessing psychiatric symptoms, with a stable factor structure over various patient groups. For the first time, its usefulness for forensic psychiatric patients was studied by means of an exploratory factor analysis on 302 patients in a penitentiary psychiatric center. A five-factor solution fitted the data best and showed large overlap with previous research done in both in- and outpatient populations with schizophrenia and mixed diagnoses. Around 45% of the patients did not fully comply. Items relying most on self-report caused the most non-adherence, possibly because of difficulty with verbalizing distress. These items loaded on the factors psychosis and affect. The BPRS-E is a suitable instrument for forensic use. Future research and clinical practice should focus on alignment with forensic patients to improve measurement, understanding, and eventually therapeutic interventions.
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands j.vanbeek@ggz-nhn.nl.
Janneke
J
van Beek
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Pieter Jelle
PJ
Vuijk
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Joke M
JM
Harte
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Bettine L
BL
Smit
Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Altrecht Aventurijn, Den Dolder, The Netherlands.
Henk
H
Nijman
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Erik J A
EJ
Scherder
D000328:Adult; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics
BPRS-E; factor analysis; forensic psychiatry