Biomedical subjects

Patricia A Zapf

Publications and source records attributed to Patricia A Zapf.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

An investigation of the construct of competence: a comparison of the FIT, the MacCAT-CA, and the MacCAT-T.

The 1990s witnessed Supreme Court decisions in both Canada and the United States on issues of competence that went against longstanding case law, psychological research, and common sense. These decisions held that there is to be one standard for all types of criminal competencies. The present research attempts to investigate whether this is an appropriate assumption and thus tests whether there are one or more constructs that underlie different types of competence. Two divergent types of competence were examined, competence to stand trial (both Canadian and American conceptualizations) and competence to consent to treatment, to determine if these different types of competence share a common underlying construct. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test this question and results indicate that there is a common construct that underlies different types of competence.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Factor structure and validity of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication.

Examination of the available literature regarding the development of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA) reveals 2 theoretical factor structures on which the MacCAT-CA was based: one in which 3 lower-order constructs are proposed (understanding, reasoning, appreciation) and one in which 2 higher-order constructs are proposed (competence to assist counsel and decisional competence). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with the MacCAT-CA's original normative sample (N = 729) to test both the relative fit of these 2 theoretical factor structures and models that combine the 2 factor structures. Analyses were also completed to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the MacCAT-CA. Results are discussed in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the nomothetic nature of the MacCAT-CA.

Criminal Psychology↗

PubMed2003

Assessment of competency for execution: professional guidelines and an evaluation checklist.

The issue of whether mental health professionals should be involved in conducting evaluations of competency for execution is a topic that has elicited controversy and heated debate. This article picks up at a point beyond the controversy and addresses issues of professionalism and the objective assessment of competency for execution. Specifically, this article identifies professional standards for conducting competence for execution (CFE) evaluations, describes current practices in this area, and provides an interview checklist that can be used as an evaluation guide by involved professionals.

Capital Punishment↗

PubMed2003

Issues and considerations regarding the use of assessment instruments in the evaluation of competency to stand trial.

Since the early 1960s, a number of instruments, reflecting a broad range of assessment methods, have been developed to assist in the evaluation of competency to stand trial. These instruments have taken various forms including checklists, self-report questionnaires, sentence-completion tasks, and interview-based instruments with and without criterion-based scoring. This article reviews these assessment instruments with a specific focus on their contribution to the competency evaluation process. Furthermore, relevant issues and considerations regarding the use of these instruments are outlined, including a comparison of screening versus assessment applications of these instruments, balancing standardized approaches with individualized assessments, the integration of instrumentally derived data with other components of a competency evaluation, and the communication of results to the fact finder. Each of these issues is discussed in relation to specific competency assessment instruments. Overall, we argue that each of the competency assessment instruments developed to date can make a contribution to the competency evaluation process and this article serves to delineate those areas in which these contributions are made.

Crime↗

PubMed2003

Competency restoration: an examination of the differences between defendants predicted restorable and not restorable to competency.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Jackson v. Indiana (1972), examiners must determine if a defendant has "substantial" probability of regaining competency through treatment "in the foreseeable future." Previous research has indicated that, given the low base rate of defendants unable to be restored to competency, examiners are relatively poor at predicting which defendants will regain competency. Determining the characteristics of not restorable incompetent defendants and restorable incompetent defendants is a necessary first step toward improving examiners' ability to predict a defendant's likelihood of regaining competency. This study examined the competency evaluation reports of 468 defendants evaluated for competency to stand trial. Incompetent defendants significantly differed from competent defendants with regard to age, employment status, ethnicity, criminal charges, and psychiatric diagnosis. Few significant differences existed between defendants predicted restorable and those predicted not restorable by mental health examiners--the differences that did exist were related mainly to nonpsychiatric variables.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Predictor variables in competency to stand trial decisions.

Clinicians possess significant discretion in competency to stand trial assessment. Therefore, it is paramount to explore the contribution of individual variables to ensure that the decision-making process is devoid of bias and solely relates to the legal criterion. To test for the possibility of bias in clinical decision-making, we examined the predictive efficiency of clinical, criminological, and sociodemographic variables in a sample of 468 criminal defendants referred for competency evaluations. Only clinical diagnostic variables and employment status were significant predictors. This finding supports the idea that examiner decisions of competency appear to be unbiased and relate primarily to a defendant's functional ability.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

An examination of the relationship between competency to stand trial, competency to waive interrogation rights, and psychopathology.

This study compared the legal abilities of defendants (N = 212) with current primary psychotic disorders (n = 44), affective disorders (n = 42), substance abuse disorders (n = 54), and no diagnosed major mental illness (n = 72). Defendants with primary psychotic disorders demonstrated more impairment than did other defendants in their understanding of interrogation rights, the nature and object of the proceedings, the possible consequences of proceedings, and their ability to communicate with counsel. Psychosis was of limited value as a predictor however, and high rates of legal impairment were found even in defendants with no diagnosed major mental illness. Sources of within-group variance were examined to further explain this finding. Policy and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Interrater reliability of the Fitness Interview Test across 4 professional groups.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the interrater reliability of the Fitness Interview Test (FIT), revised edition, a semistructured interview that assesses fitness to stand trial. METHOD: Physicians, forensic psychologists, nurses, and graduate students in psychology were trained in the FIT, and they subsequently viewed 2 videotaped interviews of actual fitness assessments. Using the FIT, they rated the fitness of each defendant portrayed in the videotapes. RESULTS: For overall judgment of fitness, the average intraclass correlation based on the full samples of raters was found to be 0.98, and for most items on the FIT, intraclass correlations fell within the 0.80 s and 0.90 s. Reliability estimates were high across professional groups. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study provides further support for the psychometric properties of the FIT, as well as for the ability of various professionals to conduct reliable fitness assessments using the FIT.

Health Personnel↗