Citation

Combalbert N, Bazex H, Andronikof A. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2011; 34(1): 44-48.

Affiliation

Laboratoire IPSé, UFR SPSE, Université de Paris X, 200 avenue de la République, 92001 NANTERRE, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2010.11.007

PMID

21168914

Abstract

This study deals with the frequency with which expert psychiatrists and psychologists make structural or nosographic diagnoses within the context of expert assessment. Thus, the rates of concordance between psychiatrists and psychologists in both types of diagnoses will be assessed. To do so, the level of inter-observer agreement on diagnoses between 1990 and 2003 was studied retrospectively in France through psychiatric and psychological assessments of 505 male offenders. The assessment of the correlation rates was carried out using the Kappa coefficient. The results show a range of 0.55 to 0.71 in inter-observer (psychiatrists vs psychologists) agreement for structural diagnoses, and 0.51 to 0.89 for nosographic diagnoses. In addition, a marked correlation between psychiatrists and psychologists may be noted regarding abstention in both structural (k=66) and nosographic (k=73) diagnoses. In fact, recommendations are made for improvement in the consistency of offender assessment in the psycho-legal French context.

Language: en