Designing Community Services for People With Borderline Personality Disorder to Reduce Hospitalizations.

Previous evaluations of interventions for borderline personality disorder have focused on psychotherapies. This study (N=42 patients), conducted in Liverpool, United Kingdom, reviewed the effect on out-of-area treatments (OATs) and hospital admissions of establishing a local case management team and a combined day treatment and crisis service for patients who are too dysregulated to access typical office-based psychotherapy. Data from 12, 24, and 36 months postintervention were compared with baseline data. All patients in OATs were repatriated to the local community. No new patients were sent to OATs. Admissions decreased (at 12 months, 49%; 24 months, 64%; 36 months, 74%), achieving savings in hospitalization costs. Moderate increases in the use and costs of some other services were observed.

Intimate partner violence: Are the risk factors similar for men and women, and similar to other types of offending?

We studied intimate partner violence (IPV) within a framework of other violent and nonviolent offending, to explore whether the risk factors for offending were similar across the different offense categories, and also for men and women. A comprehensive measure of offending behavior was administered to 184 men and 171 women, together with measures of anger, self-control, and psychopathic traits. The measure, the nonviolent and violent offending behavior scale (NVOBS), assesses IPV, general violence, and nonviolent offending behavior. Men perpetrated higher levels of general violence and nonviolent offenses than women, whereas women perpetrated significantly more IPV than men. Regression analyses showed that the predictors of offending behavior are generally similar for men and women, with the exception of IPV, where self-control was a better predictor of IPV for men and anger was a better predictor of IPV for women. Limitations of the present sample and suggestions for future work are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 42:404-412, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development and confirmatory factor analysis of the non-violent and violent offending behavior scale (NVOBS).

The purpose of this research was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of violent and non-violent offending, suitable for both male and female participants in general (non-forensic) samples. Potential items were selected from existing measures. A sample of 653 British university students completed all items, and their responses were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and validated with confirmatory factor analysis. There were five separate factors (general violence, drug-related offenses, partner violence, theft, and criminal damage), which were confirmed with acceptable fit indices. The five-factor model applied to both males and females. Each subscale demonstrated good internal consistency, with alphas for each factor ranging from moderate to good. This new measure is a potentially valuable research tool for investigating people's involvement in violent and non-violent offending. The importance of examining the psychometric properties of scales, and confirming the category groupings using CFA of the items is outlined.

Prevalence of women's violent and nonviolent offending behavior: a comparison of self-reports, victims' reports, and third-party reports.

This study assessed women's violent and nonviolent offending, using data from two online student samples (men and women: n = 344), reporting on either being a perpetrator and witness (women) or being a victim and witness (men). A comprehensive measure of general violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), and nonviolent offending was collected. From women's self-reports, 59.9% reported perpetrating general violent offenses, 58.1% reported perpetrating IPV offenses and 85.6% reported perpetrating nonviolent offenses. Correlations showed that women were involved in a variety of offenses and demonstrated the interrelatedness of general violence and IPV, and of violent and nonviolent offenses. Regression analysis confirmed the close association between partner and general violence, and found that drug offenses were also related to the former and criminal damage to the latter. Overall, the prevalence data demonstrated women's involvement in all types of offending, and a similar pattern of offending was supported across data sources. Limitations of the sampling method and measures are discussed.

Adaptive and maladaptive personality traits as predictors of violent and nonviolent offending behavior in men and women.

The aim of this study was to assess both violent and nonviolent offending behavior in a single, mixed-sex population. The rationale for this is that the two types of offending are usually researched separately, despite evidence that they overlap. A comprehensive measure of general violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), and nonviolent offending behavior was administered to 116 men and 181 women, together with measures of personality and personality disorder (PD) traits, to investigate whether predictors of violent and nonviolent offending were similar or different for men and women. Men were found to perpetrate higher levels of general violence and nonviolent offenses than women, but women perpetrated significantly more IPV than men. Cluster B PD traits predicted all three offense types for women and also men's general violence and nonviolent offending. Women's general violence and men's non-violence also had one unique risk factor each, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness, respectively. The main difference was for IPV, where men's IPV was predicted by cluster A PD traits, indicating that men's and women's risk factors for IPV may be different, although their risk factors for the other offense types were fairly consistent.