Psychiatric Bulletin (2005) 29: 334-338. doi: 10.1192/pb.29.9.334
© 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Birmingham, L.
Right arrow Articles by Mullee, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Birmingham, L.
Right arrow Articles by Mullee, M.
Psychiatric Bulletin (2005) 29: 334-338
© 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Development and evaluation of a screening tool for identifying prisoners with severe mental illness

Luke Birmingham, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry

University of Southampton, Ravenswood House, Knowle, Fareham, Hampshire PO17 5NA, e-mail: l.birmingham{at}soton.ac.uk

Mark Mullee, Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics

School of Medicine, University of Southampton

Declaration of interest

The study was supported by a grant from the North and Mid Hants Health Authority.

AIMS AND METHOD

To develop and evaluate a screening tool based on the observational skills of prison officers to identify adult male prisoners with severe mental illness. The tool was developed from open-ended interviews with officers and diagnostic interviews with prisoners. A case-comparison study was used to evaluate the tool. Fifty prisoners identified using the tool and 50 randomly selected prisoners underwent diagnostic interviews to determine the proportion in each group with severe mental illness.

RESULTS

Five behavioural indicators of severe mental illness were identified and incorporated into the tool. In the evaluation, 19 out of 50 (38%) of the cases identified were found to have severe mental illness compared with none in the comparison group.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The simple tool shows promise for the identification of prisoners with severe mental illness by prison officers. It does require further evaluation in other prison settings.