Psychological Services

The soft underbelly of system change: The role of leadership and organizational climate in turnover during statewide behavioral health reform.
This study examined leadership, organizational climate, staff turnover intentions, and voluntary turnover during a large-scale statewide behavioral health system reform. The initial data collection occurred 9 months after initiation of the reform, with a follow-up round of data collected 18 months later. A self-administered structured assessment was completed by 190 participants (administrators, support staff, providers) employed by 14 agencies. Key variables included leadership, organizational climate, turnover intentions, turnover, and reform-related financial stress (“low” vs. “high”) experienced by the agencies. Analyses revealed that positive leadership was related to a stronger empowering climate in both high- and low-stress agencies. However, the association between more positive leadership and lower demoralizing climate was evident only in high-stress agencies. For both types of agencies, empowering climate was negatively associated with turnover intentions, and demoralizing climate was associated with stronger turnover intentions. Turnover intentions were positively associated with voluntary turnover. Results suggest that strong leadership is particularly important in times of system and organizational change and may reduce poor climate associated with turnover intentions and turnover. Leadership and organizational context should be addressed to retain staff during these periods of systemic change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
Implementation and evaluation of an integrated care program in a VA medical center.
The integration of mental health services within primary care settings has received major attention recently. This project describes the development and implementation of an integration program at a Veterans Affairs medical center. An additional goal was to conduct a practical program evaluation demonstrating the ability of the program to be implemented within an already existing primary care clinic while still meeting important goals of integration. Despite challenges, the present project demonstrates that this is a feasible goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
A revised measure of occupational stress for firefighters: Psychometric properties and relationship to posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance abuse.
The Sources of Occupational Stress scale (SOOS; Beaton & Murphy, 1993) is a 57-item self-report measure designed to assess the different sources of occupational stress faced by firefighters. The objective of the present research was to develop and evaluate an abbreviated version of the SOOS in order to reduce respondent burden. The revised 14-item version of the SOOS was evaluated in 2 independent samples of firefighters (N = 408) along with measures of job outcomes, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance abuse. The SOOS-14 exhibited good internal consistency, good factor structure, and good validity coefficients across samples. Although additional studies are needed to replicate and expand on these results, the findings from the present research indicate that the SOOS-14 is a practical, reliable, and valid measure of occupational stress for firefighters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
Identifying predictors of recidivism in a large sample of United Kingdom sexual offenders: A prognostic model.
This study uses prognostic modeling to identify the best static and dynamic predictors of sexual and violent recidivism for a sample of 3,773 sexual offenders who received treatment in a correctional establishment in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2006. The use of individual static items was found to predict recidivism better than a modified version of a risk score produced from the static risk assessment Risk Matrix 2000/sexual dimension (RM2000/s) (Thornton et al., 2003). The best predictors of recidivism were age at release, number of sexual appearances, and number of criminal appearances. Pre- and post-psychological measures did not remain in the model in the presence of these three static variables. Further exploratory analyses found that pretreatment scores on measures related to the socioaffective domain were the most predictive of the dynamic risk domains, but did not add to the predictive power of the static variables. An overall score for deviance was calculated and this score did remain in a model with individual static items. The potential explanations for these findings are discussed along with implications for the assessment of risk in this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
Prosecutor pretrial attitudes and plea-bargaining behavior toward veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Prosecutors are handling increasing numbers of criminal cases concerning veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How these prosecutors handle such cases may reflect their attitudes toward veterans or offenders with PTSD. In turn, their attitudes may affect perceptions of blameworthiness, as well as negotiations about sentencing during the pretrial stage. The present study investigated the effect of a defendant's military experience and mental health status (i.e., PTSD) on prosecutors' offers at the pretrial stage and their ratings of the defendant's blameworthiness. Prosecutors' offers were more lenient to stress-disordered veterans; specifically, they were offered more diversion programs as compared with veterans without PTSD and to other offenders with PTSD. Prosecutors also perceived veterans and those with PTSD as less criminally culpable; they also empathized and identified more with veterans and those with PTSD than nonveterans and offenders without PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
Evaluating conditional release in female insanity acquittees: A risk management perspective.
Research focusing on insanity acquittees released into the community has been growing at an exponential rate to reflect the policy and practice of placing these individuals in the community under supervision. Research on females placed on conditional release has lagged behind studies on males. Data on 76 females ( M age = 42.76) found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and conditionally released over a 7-year time period were evaluated. Fifty-two females (68.4%) maintained their conditional release and 24 (31.6%) had their conditional release revoked for rule violations or criminal behavior; however, there were no revocations for violent behavior. Required hospitalization to treat emerging symptoms of mental illness was related to revocation of release. Likelihood of a subsequent revocation increased after an initial revocation. Implications for treatment and policy are discussed, with emphases on risk management and program development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
Clinical practice in corrections: Providing service, obtaining experience.
Clinical practice experiences involving the delivery of psychological services in correctional and forensic settings can improve quality of care for underserved populations. The systematic study of how and where these experiences are obtained is also an integral yet empirically unexplored aspect of developing a workforce uniquely qualified for clinical practice in corrections. This study examines the clinical services provided by psychological practicum students to offenders in corrections, the clinical expertise they gain from doing so, and selected aspects of the training programs that place them in correctional settings. Eighty-eight chief psychologists from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP; response rate = 95%) provided information on psychology services delivered as part of practicum training. Twenty-six institutions were identified as hosting doctoral level psychology students. The most frequent clinical services provided were in individual therapy, group therapy, and assessment. More than a third of the institutions had students on site for 16 hours or more per week. Among the 26 institutions, urban and Mid-Atlantic correctional institutions were most likely to be guiding students to provide services and obtain experience. As students gain and refine their clinical practice skills in corrections, it is hoped that these skills will later be applied in criminal justice systems to the benefit of both offenders and the staff responsible for their custody and care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
Clinics-in-common: Creating uncommon professionals.
Most professional educational programs develop specialized experts who view problems from the perspectives of their own disciplines. Yet, our most pressing social problems are rarely limited to a single disciplinary approach. Instead of providing future professionals with the tools necessary for solving problems that cross disciplines, many professional training programs inadvertently stifle multidisciplinary communication and collaboration by isolating students from students in other disciplines. Practitioners are trained to manage societal problems rather than to solve them within varied communities. This article describes an innovative multidisciplinary clinic model based at the University of Hawai'i's William S. Richardson School of Law that focuses specifically on the needs of children who have entered or are at risk of entering the foster care system. It also discusses a medical–legal partnership within a community health center based on principles learned and experiences gained from this unique model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Services - Vol 8, Iss 4