Title
Who repeats? A follow-up study of state hospital patients' firesetting behavior
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry
Publication Date
1992-01-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Female; Firesetting Behavior; Follow-Up Studies; Hospitals, State; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; Patient Admission; Prevalence; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Disciplines
Health Services Research | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Psychiatry | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
The authors report on a population of psychiatric patients who were studied over a 6.75 year period to determine the occurrences of firesetting behavior noted in their psychiatric inpatient records. Two groups of 50 patients each were drawn from an earlier study and were matched by sex, age, and diagnoses. One group of patients had prior firesetting behavior; the other did not. Firesetting behavior was found not only in patients originally identified as having previously engaged in this behavior, but also in those with no documented history of this act prior to the period of the study. Patients having firesetting behavior in their past psychiatric record set more actual fires. Total number of episodes of firesetting behavior, however, was not significantly different between the two groups. Results are discussed in terms of the communicative function of firesetting and the dilemma of clinical prediction.
Source
Psychiatr Q. 1992 Summer;63(2):143-57.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The Psychiatric quarterly
Related Resources
PubMed ID
1488459
Repository Citation
Geller, Jeffrey L.; Fisher, William H.; and Bertsch, Gregory, "Who repeats? A follow-up study of state hospital patients' firesetting behavior" (1992). Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center Publications and Presentations. 172.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_cmhsr/172
