Videoconferencing and forensic mental health in Australia

Sullivan, Danny; Chapman, Murray; Mullen, Paul E.

doi:10.1002/bsl.815

Cited by 16 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…1 By 2008, Sullivan et al noted that, "Videoconferencing is in common use in Australian forensic mental health services" and that "videoconferencing technologies are critical to effective forensic mental health services in Australia." 12 In the United States, the assessment of adjudicative competence can involve the use of assessment tools in addition to clinical examination. There have been several reports comparing the validity and satisfaction of both psychiatrists and prisoners when using various assessment tools by videoconferencing or face to face.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It improves timely access to specialist skills 1,4,9,12,19,20 , reduces costly transportation and escort of prisoners to urban areas and specialist hospitals for assessment, or transport of specialists to correctional facilities 1,7,10,12,19 , reduces unnecessary or inappropriate admission to hospitals 12 , and reduces risk to psychiatrists by allowing them to perform assessments without having to enter prisons or secure hospitals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 Costs can be contained by using existing infrastructure for other activities such as education, administrative meetings, other judicial activities and other clinical services 4,9,10,12,15,22,23 and avoidance of establishing stand alone forensic telepsychiatry services. In the United Kingdom 4 , Australia 1,11 and in many states in the US 5 , courts and prisons already have videoconferencing facilities used for judicial purposes and advantage is taken of this.…”

Section: Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 What is needed is clear definition of these instances 25 and the development of guidelines for the practice of forensic telepsychiatry. The point is made that unless health professionals develop evidence based standards and practice guidelines for themselves, Government or other regulatory bodies will do so 25,26 and these may not necessarily be appropriate.…”

Section: Guidelinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The presence of correctional services personnel during consultation affects privacy and confidentiality as do poorly soundproofed rooms. 12,28 Some nuances like restless legs beneath the desk may be missed unless the clinician is skilled in the use of the pan, tilt and zoom features of videoconferencing cameras and the technology cannot provide smell. 1 There are concerns about technology failure during interviews.…”

Section: Guidelinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forensic telepsychiatry : a possible solution for South Africa?

Mars¹,

Ramlall²,

Kaliski³

2012

Afr. J. Psych

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Objective: South Africa has a shortage of facilities and psychiatrists to assess adjudicative competence of prisoners awaiting assessment under sections 77 to 79 of the Criminal Procedures Act of 1977. Various solutions have been proposed by the Department of Health. The recent linking of a Magistrate's court and a prison by videoconferencing offers the opportunity to implement a forensic telepsychiatry service. The literature on forensic telepsychiatry for assessment of adjudicative competence was reviewed. Method: The electronic databases, PubMed, Scopus, Cinahl and Google Scholar were searched for papers on forensic telepsychiatry. The inclusion criterion was papers reporting the use of videoconferencing for assessment of adjudicative competence or for assessment for referral out of the judicial system, by psychiatrists or psychologists. Results: 411 papers were found of which 13, published between 1997 and 2008 were relevant. The use of videoconferencing for forensic psychiatric assessment was reported from four countries. The courts in those jurisdictions have accepted the use of videoconferencing for assessment and no successful appeals have been mounted on the basis of the use of videoconferencing for assessment. User satisfaction has not been reported for assessing adjudicative competence. Forensic telepsychiatry has been found to be cost effective, improve access to scarce specialist skills and reduce transport of prisoners under guard to hospitals or psychiatrists to prisons. Conclusion: There is nothing in the literature to suggest that a forensic telepsychiatry service is not feasible in South Africa and a pilot project is being planned.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Guidelinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Guidelinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forensic telepsychiatry : a possible solution for South Africa?

Mars¹,

Ramlall²,

Kaliski³

2012

Afr. J. Psych

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Examiners' perceptions of forensic mental health assessments conducted via videoconferencing

Skala

Chavez²,

Anderson

et al. 2023

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to an acceleration in the adoption of videoconferencing (VC) for conducting forensic mental health evaluations (forensic mental health assessments [FMHA]). Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we administered a survey to 71 Minnesota-licensed forensic evaluators. Approximately two-thirds (65.7%) had started using VC for FMHA only after the pandemic, though a combined 84.5% reported performing FMHA via VC frequently at present. A striking 43.7% of respondents preferred VC for FMHA over in-person evaluation, and another 22.5% expressed no preference between modalities. Further, nearly 70% of respondents denied there were any populations for which they would never use VC to complete an FMHA. We conclude that the widespread adoption of VC for FMHA with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has induced a lasting change in the practice of FMHA. We postulate that with further advancements in technology and the development of testing instruments that can be administered online, the use of VC for FMHA will become standard practice.

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