Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Aim: To improve the knowledge and documentation of risk on a medium secure ward byintroducing the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) Risk assessment tool.Methods: An audit was completed of the multidisciplinary team’s (MDT) knowledge anddocumentation of risk on a medium secure ward. Members of the MDT completed ananonymous questionnaire to establish their knowledge base of the patient’s risk assessments. TheSTART risk assessment tool was introduced into pre-admission assessments and wardhandovers. The audit was repeated 6 months later. A review of the correlation between riskassessments and care plans was conducted including a review of the risk incident forms. Results:Following the implementation of the START risk assessment tool the knowledge scores of staffimproved by an average of 6%. The most significant improvement was in the scores forawareness of relapse signatures which increased from 37% to 67%. A comparison of thepatient’s care plan with their risk assessment showed an increased correlation between identifiedrisks and care plan items. Conclusions: The START tool has improved the staff’s knowledge andawareness of risk. We continue to assess if START will enable the ward to better forecast riskincidents in the long term.147. Risk and Protective Factors Influencing Criminality forOffenders with Mental Disorders: Implications for InterventionsFactors Associated with Negative and Positive Outcomes for Higher RiskOffenders with Mental DisordersLynn A. Stewart, Correctional Service of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (StewartLA@csc-scc.gc.ca)Geoff Wilton, Correctional Service of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (WiltonGE@csc-scc.gc.ca)Offenders with major mental disorders (OMD) constitute a significant percentage of prisonpopulations, representing a group that poses a challenge to correctional administrators who aremandated to provide the specialized services many require. This research confirmed that adiagnosis for a mental disorder was a factor affecting correctional outcomes even when other riskfactors were controlled. Most importantly, offenders with co-occurring substance abuse andmental disorder had the worst outcomes suggesting that substance abuse is a primary enginedriving poor outcomes among this population. This presentation also examines protective factorsassociated with high risk and high need mentally disordered offenders who remained offencefreeafter one year of release.Preliminary Investigation of Pattern of Offending among Offenders with MentalDisordersBrian Grant, Correctional Service Canada, Ottawa, Canada (GrantBA@csc-scc.gc.ca)Kirsten Marko, Carleton University (kmarko@connect.carleton.ca)350