The Behavioural Status Index: testing a social risk assessment model in a high security forensic setting

The Behavioural Status Index model suggests that 'social risk' tends to vary inversely with an individual's insight and capacity to perform key communication and social skills. The aim of this study was to describe emergent trends in data related to the risk, insight, and communication and social skills subscales used in the model. Data were collected from 503 patients in two high security mental health hospitals. Although a distinct factorial structure emerged suggesting groupings of behaviours, results provide little support for the overall model proposed.