<p> A diagnosis of malingering is a method by which a defendant is sentenced to serve his/her sentence at a forensic psychiatric facility instead of general population. Malingering as a means to commute a sentence has grown exponentially with the last few decades. There has become a need to develop additional assessment tools to evaluate whether or not a defendant is malingering. The problem that has arisen, even with additional assessment tools available, is that malingering in the forensic setting has not decreased. It was therefore the purpose of this quantitative study to examine three components that may have an impact on an accurate diagnosis of malingering. The three components are the location of the assessment, the combination of administered assessment tools, and whether or not the education and experience in the field of the assessors impacts the accurate diagnosis of malingering. The participants in this study were adults credentialed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) of Florida to administer a Competent to Stand Trial (CST) assessment, specifically in Dade, Broward, and Duval counties. The research for the study was conducted using the survey method by Email. The data was analyzed by ANOVA, correlation, and MANOVA methodology. One component was to determine if the administration of assessment tools differs between 3 counties in South Florida. The results of this question in the study found that there is not a significant difference between the assessment tools administered in Dade, Broward, and Duval counties. The next question was whether or not the combination of assessment tools impacted an accurate diagnosis of malingering. The results of this question found that there is no correlation between the combination of assessment tools and an accurate diagnosis of malingering. The last question in this study was whether or not the education and experience in the field impacted an accurate diagnosis of malingering. The findings revealed that there is no relationship in the level of education and experience in the field that leads to a diagnosis of malingering.</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10976196 |
| Date | 20 November 2018 |
| Creators | Overton, Shada Elisabeth |
| Publisher | Northcentral University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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