Sb. Billick et al., A CLINICAL-STUDY OF COMPETENCE IN PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS, Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 24(4), 1996, pp. 505-511
A 15-item questionnaire used to evaluate competency to consent to psyc
hiatric hospitalization was validated using a blind forensic psychiatr
ic interview. The statistical correlation was excellent with p < .001.
The questionnaire also correlated highly with the Mini-Mental State E
xam (p < .05), the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (p < .05), and the W
eschler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised vocabulary subtest (p < .01).
This questionnaire may be a useful instrument for preliminary screeni
ng of psychiatric patients for competency to consent to hospitalizatio
n and general psychiatric treatment.