The Hare PSCAN and Its Relationship to Psychopathy in a Sample of Civilly Committed Sexual Offenders

摘要

Psychopathy is an important clinical construct in clinical, community, and forensic populations. In forensic populations, it has been found to be a consistent predictor of recidivism and aids in offender management and treatment decisions. Research supports routine assessment of the construct within criminal populations. As routine assessment with the “gold standard” PCL-R can be difficult due to institutional constraints, the need for a quick yet reliable measure has surfaced. The PSCAN, a 90 item rating scheme designed for use by non-psychologists, was developed to meet this need. This study examined the psychometric properties of the PSCAN as well as its relationship to the PCL-R and its utility as a screen for psychopathy. PSCANs were rated by master and doctoral level psychologists for residents in a sex offender civil commitment program. Results suggest the PSCAN has high reliability and may serve as an effective screening tool for psychopathy when administered by raters of various educational backgrounds. However, to maximize the PSCAN’s utility, preliminary results suggest raters should be familiar with the psychopathy construct. Limitations of this study and interpretations of the PSCAN as a screening tool are discussed.