Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:35:51.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Biopsychosocial Assessment of Impulsivity in Persons With Severe Mental Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2015

Timothy N. Tansey
Timothy N. Tansey*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at El Paso, United States of America. tntansey@utep.edu
*
*Address for Correspondence: Timothy N. Tansey, Associate Professor and Program Director of the Rehabilitation Counseling Program, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 1101 N. Campbell St. #716, El Paso, TX 79902, USA.
Get access

Abstract

The efficacy of institutional and community-based treatment services is crucial in maintaining the health, safety, and quality of life of persons with psychiatric illness. A factor limiting the success of community interventions is the rehospitalisation of persons with mental health disorders due to behavioural concerns, particularly aggression toward self and others. Understanding impulse control, a construct commonly thought to have a relationship to aggressive behaviour, may provide psychologists with insights into individual behaviour in novel or unpredictable environments. This study examines the validity of biopsychosocial assessment of impulsivity in understanding inpatient behaviour in 53 individuals currently residing in a State psychiatric facility. Using three separate measures of impulsivity, a regression analysis was used to determine the predictive value of these measures in relation to institutional behaviour. Support was found for using impulsivity assessment as a predictor of institutional behaviour. Discussion and suggestions for utilising biopsychosocial assessment of impulsivity in inpatient and community settings is provided.

Keywords

impulse controlmental illnessassessment
Type
Articles
Information
The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , 01 September 2008 , pp. 69 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)