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JOURNAL OF PSICOPATHOLOGY

Assessment and instruments in psychopathology

Issue 2 - June 2022

Reliability of the “Parma Scale” for forensic psychiatric treatment evaluation: preliminary findings in a sample of prisoners with mental disorder

Authors

Lorenzo Pelizza , Davide Maestri , Cecilia Paraggio , Ilaria De Amicis , Elena Mammone , Melania Scarci , Emanuela Leuci , Giuseppina Paulillo , Pietro Pellegrini

Key words: reliability, forensic psychiatry, treatment evaluation, routine outcome monitoring, prison, Italy
DOI: 10.36148/2284-0249-456
Publication Date: 2022-06-15

Abstract

Objectives
Routine monitoring of treatment outcomes has been poorly implemented in Italian forensic psychiatric practice. This is also for lacking of reliable tools. Thus, the “Parma Scale” (Pr- Scale) was developed. The specific aim of this study was to examine the reliability of the Pr-Scale as preliminary investigation on its psychometric properties.
Methods
Test-retest and interrater reliability was assessed in a sample of prisoners with mental disorder using Intra-Class Correlation (ICC) and stability coefficients. Internal consistency for the Pr-Scale total score was also calculated using the Cronbach alpha statistic.
Results
Thirty male adult inmates with mental illness were recruited within the Parma Penitentiary Institute (PPI). Our results showed good to excellent interrater and test-retest reliability for the Pr-Scale scores, as well as an acceptable internal consistency for the Pr-Scale total score.
Conclusions
The findings of this study seem to support the administration of the Pr-Scale in forensic psychiatric settings as reliable tool for routine monitoring of treatment outcomes. However, future studies to carefully investigate other crucial psychometric properties of the Pr-Scale (e.g. concurrent validity, sensitivity to measure scores’ longitudinal changes, predictive validity for recidivism risk) are needed.

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Authors

Lorenzo Pelizza - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

Davide Maestri - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

Cecilia Paraggio - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

Ilaria De Amicis - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

Elena Mammone - Department of Humanities, Social Science and Cultural Industries, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy

Melania Scarci - Department of Humanities, Social Science and Cultural Industries, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy

Emanuela Leuci - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

Giuseppina Paulillo - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

Pietro Pellegrini - Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda USL di Parma, Parma, Italy

How to Cite
[1]
Pelizza, L., Maestri, D., Paraggio, C., De Amicis, I. , Mammone, E., Scarci, M., Leuci, E., Paulillo, G. and Pellegrini, P. 2022. Reliability of the “Parma Scale” for forensic psychiatric treatment evaluation: preliminary findings in a sample of prisoners with mental disorder. Journal of Psychopathology. 28, 2 (Jun. 2022). DOI:https://doi.org/10.36148/2284-0249-456.
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