A total of 64 psychiatric patients were tested with the Italian version of the Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile in order to investigate interobserver and test-retest reliability. The mean inter-observer agreement coefficients (rho) ranged from 0.75 to 0.80 with less experienced psychiatrists, while the mean rho value was higher (0.96) with more experienced raters. Test-retest values were good, ranging from 0.53 to 0.93. Overall, reliability was comparable with that reported in the original Swedish study.
A six-item predictive scale for parasuicide repetition was retested on a second sample of Italian parasuicides. All the patients firstever admitted after a deliberate self-harm to the psychiatric department of a general hospital during the period April 1973-March 1976 were interviewed and followed-up after an interval of 1 year. The scale showed the same predictive power found in the first sample (1970-73) and gave a range of probability of repetition within 1 year of 15% at a score of 0 up to 44.8% at the scores 3, 4, 5, and 6. Moreover it discriminated between repeaters and non-repeaters at a significant level. Only two items (diagnosis of sociopathy and change of domicile in the last year) of the five items which discriminated repeaters from non-repeaters in the first study were still significantly associated with repetition, while four additional items (previous in-patient psychiatric treatment; previous parasuicide resulting in hospital admission; unemployment; criminal record) appeared as new discriminating factors. In spite of these changes the rate of repetition remained constant over the years at around 26%.
Results remained unaltered when investigating recessive and dominant models. Conclusions 5HTTLPR does not seem to be associated with ED in general, or with AN or BN in particular. Future studies in ED should explore the role of ethnicity and psychiatric comorbidity as a possible source of bias.
A six-point prodictive scale for parasuicide repetition developed by Buglass and Horton (1974a) was tested on a group of patients admitted for parasuicide to a psychiatric ward of one of the city hospitals of Verona. The scale gave a range of probability of repetition within 12 months of 15 per cent at a score of o up to 45-5 per cent at the scores 3, 4, 5 and 6. Moreover the scale discriminated significantly between repeaters and non-repeaters. Items significantly associated with repetition in the Italian sample, which are not represented by the six-point scale were: previous parasuicide not admitted to hospital, violence received, alcohol taken at time of act, less than one year at the present address.
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