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Selected AbstractsExcessive violence and psychotic symptomatology among homicide offenders with schizophreniaCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2006Taina Laajasalo Background,It is not currently known how psychotic symptoms are associated with the nature of violence among homicide offenders with schizophrenia, or, more specifically, whether different psychotic symptoms are differentially linked with excessive violence. Aim,To identify factors associated with the use of excessive violence among homicide offenders with schizophrenia. Methods,Forensic psychiatric examination statements and Criminal Index File data of 125 consecutive Finnish homicide offenders with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were analysed. Results,Nearly one-third of the cases in this sample involved extreme violence, including features such as sadism, mutilation, sexual components or multiple stabbings. Excessive violence was a feature of acts when the offender was not the sole perpetrator or when there was a previous homicidal history. Positive psychotic symptoms, including delusions, were not associated with the use of excessive violence. Conclusions,These results highlight the importance of variables other than clinical state when examining qualitative aspects of homicidal acts, such as the degree and nature of violence, by offenders with schizophrenia. Further study is needed with a more specific focus on the qualities of the violence among different subgroups of offenders, but inclusive of those with psychosis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] How Much Is Postacute Care Use Affected by Its Availability?HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin Objective. To assess the relative impact of clinical factors versus nonclinical factors,such as postacute care (PAC) supply,in determining whether patients receive care from skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) or inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) after discharge from acute care. Data Sources and Study Setting. Medicare acute hospital, IRF, and SNF claims provided data on PAC choices; predictors of site of PAC chosen were generated from Medicare claims, provider of services, enrollment file, and Area Resource File data. Study Design. We used multinomial logit models to predict PAC use by elderly patients after hospitalizations for stroke, hip fractures, or lower extremity joint replacements. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. A file was constructed linking acute and postacute utilization data for all medicare patients hospitalized in 1999. Principal Findings. PAC availability is a more powerful predictor of PAC use than the clinical characteristics in many of our models. The effects of distance to providers and supply of providers are particularly clear in the choice between IRF and SNF care. The farther away the nearest IRF is, and the closer the nearest SNF is, the less likely a patient is to go to an IRF. Similarly, the fewer IRFs, and the more SNFs, there are in the patient's area the less likely the patient is to go to an IRF. In addition, if the hospital from which the patient is discharged has a related IRF or a related SNF the patient is more likely to go there. Conclusions. We find that the availability of PAC is a major determinant of whether patients use such care and which type of PAC facility they use. Further research is needed in order to evaluate whether these findings indicate that a greater supply of PAC leads to both higher use of institutional care and better outcomes,or whether it leads to unwarranted expenditures of resources and delays in returning patients to their homes. [source] The Effects of Fraud and Going-concern Risk on Auditors' Assessments of the Risk of Material Misstatement and Resulting Audit ProceduresINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 3 2007Allen D. Blay This study uses audit file data to analyze the association between the auditors' preliminary assessments of going-concern and fraud risk and the planning and performance of the financial statement audit. We analyze the association between the above risks and the auditor's assessment of the risk of material misstatement (RMM) within the revenue cycle, and examine whether going-concern and fraud risk assessments have an effect on the persuasiveness, timing and extent of audit evidence gathered. Our results indicate that both fraud risk and going-concern risk are significantly related to RMM. Our results also indicate that although the effect of fraud risk is fully mediated by the RMM, moderate going-concern risk remains significantly related to our proxies for the persuasiveness and timing of audit evidence, even after controlling for RMM. [source] Agreement between administrative databases and medical charts for pregnancy-related variables among asthmatic women,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 4 2008Anne Vilain MSc Abstract Purpose To determine the validity of pregnancy variables recorded in administrative databases of Quebec using patient medical charts as the gold standard among asthmatic pregnant women. Methods Three administrative databases were linked and provided information on maternal, pregnancy and infant characteristics for 726 pregnant asthmatic women who delivered in 1990,2000. Algorithms were developed to measure variables that were not recorded directly in the databases or to minimize the number of missing values for variables recorded in two or more databases. Medical file data were collected by two trained research nurses in 43 hospitals. The validity of categorical variables was assessed with sensitivity, specificity, predictive positive values (PPVs) and predictive negative values (PNVs), whereas the validity of continuous variables was assessed with Pearson correlation using the medical chart as the gold standard. Results The sensitivity of the sex of the baby, previous live birth and previous pregnancy ranged from 0.97 to 0.99. Corresponding figures were 0.92,0.98 for specificity. We also found high correlation coefficients, ranging from 0.875 to 0.999 for the length of gestation, dates of last menstruation and delivery, maternal age and birth weight. Conclusion Pregnancy-related variables recorded in administrative databases or derived from algorithms based on two or more databases were found to be highly valid as compared to the medical chart among asthmatic women. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] How to Put the Community in Community-Based Justice: Some Views of Participants in Criminal Court DiversionTHE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 2 2004Tammy Landau Individuals charged with criminal offences who meet strict criteria are diverted from the criminal process in exchange for performing a community sanction. Under this model, direct community involvement is critical to ,success'. This study is an evaluation of these projects, combining file data with the results of interviews with the main participants. Results suggest that the projects are highly successful, and that involved communities are highly supportive of the current form and structure of post-charge diversion. [source] | ||||||||||