Poster #174 - Profiles of Criminogenic Needs and Mental Health Symptoms among People with Serious Mental Illness

• In Event: ASC Poster Session II

Abstract

People with serious mental illness (SMI) are involved in the legal system more and recidivate at faster rates than people without SMI. Although the community has been dubbed the “ultimate intercept” for intervening and reducing continued criminal legal involvement (CLI) in this population, community-based interventions are lacking. In fact, little is known about the treatment needs of people with SMI and CLI to prevent future legal involvement. As part of pilot randomized control trial of a new community-based group psychotherapy intervention, we enrolled 45 people with MI at risk for continued legal contact. We conducted latent profile analyses using pre-treatment measures of impulsivity, antisocial attitudes, and aggression, and identified three groups: participants with low (n=13; Mimpulsivity=59.7; Mattitudes=13.1; Maggression=19.6), medium (n=24, Mimpulsivity=66.8; Mattitudes=18.9; Maggression=33.1) and high (n=8, Mimpulsivity=81.7; Mattitudes=27.6; Maggression=54.9) criminogenic needs. We tested differences in psychopathology between the three profiles, finding that compared to the low criminogenic needs group, the medium and high groups exhibited significantly more psychiatric symptoms. These results highlight overlap and differences in the unique constellations of treatment needs for people with MI and CLI. Understanding these needs can inform the design and delivery of community-based interventions aimed at reducing CLI in this population.

Authors

• Faith Scanlon, Massachusetts General Hospital

• Jonathan Phillips, University of Minnesota Duluth

• Anna Parisi, George Mason University

• Natalie Bonfine, Northeastern Ohio Medical University

• Robert D. Morgan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

• Amy Blank-Wilson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill