DSH - Patton: Internships - Research Program

The Patton State Hospital training programs have an active research program that involves interns, postdoctoral fellows, practicum students, and research assistants from local graduate schools and undergraduate programs. We currently have several IRB-approved research projects being conducted within our department (all of our research is approved by the California Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects). Consistent with our training tracks, the two broad research areas at Patton include forensically oriented research and research on the neuropsychological functioning of individuals with severe mental illnesses. Within the forensic domain, our primary research areas include malingering assessment, violence risk assessment, competency to stand trial, cultural considerations in forensic assessment, and the use of psychological tests such as the MMPI-2-RF and PAI in forensic settings. Within the neuropsychological domain, our primary research areas include establishing normative neuropsychological profiles of psychiatric inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, neuropsychological assessment of Spanish-speaking psychiatric patients, cognitive performance validity assessment, and understanding risk factors for neuropsychological deficits among psychiatric inpatients. Many research topics cross the domains of neuropsychology and forensic psychology. For example, our neuropsychology service has published research investigating the utility of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) for predicting length of stay and treatment needs for patients adjudicated as incompetent to stand trial. Relatedly, one of our forensic research groups is currently looking at the association between intellectual abilities and trial competence.

Trainees at all levels are involved in all aspects of research (including study design, data collection/entry, statistical data analysis, and manuscript writing) depending on their interest level and research skills. Our interns are allotted 10% of their workweek to work on research projects and our fellows are allotted up to 30% of their workweek to work on research. Several of our internship and fellowship alumni have continued to collaborate on projects at the end of their training. In recent years, Patton trainees have presented research at multiple conferences including the American Psychological Association, the American Psychology-Law Society, the National Academy of Neuropsychology, and the Society of Personality Assessment among others. Many interns and fellows have been either primary authors or co-authors on publications resulting from our research. Our department’s recent publications are listed below (the abstracts for most of our publications can be found on ResearchGate by looking up the publication authors):

Recent Patton Psychology Department Publications
(Names in bold indicate that author was an intern, fellow, or student research assistant at the time of the research project)

• Wood, M. E., Anderson, J. L., & Glassmire, D. M. (In Press). The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication: Factor structure, interrater reliability, and association with clinician opinion of competence in a forensic inpatient sample. Psychological Assessment.


• Romero, I. E., Toorabally, N., Burchett, D., Tarescavage, A. M., & Glassmire, D. M. (In Press). Mapping the MMPI-2-RF substantive scales onto the internalizing, externalizing, and thought dysfunction dimensions in a forensic inpatient setting. Journal of Personality Assessment.


• Tarescavage, A. M., Glassmire, D. M., & Burchett, D. (In Press). Introduction of a conceptual model for integrating the MMPI-2-RF into HCR-20V3 violence risk assessments and assoications between the MMPI-2-RF and institutional violence. Law and Human Behavior.


• Glassmire, D. M., Jhawar, A., Burchett, D., & Tarescavage, A. M. (In Press). Evaluating item endorsement rates for the MMPI-2-RF F-r and Fp-r scales across ethnic, gender, and diagnostic groups with a forensic inpatient sample. Psychological Assessment, Advance Online Publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000366


• Tarescavage, A. M., & Glassmire, D. M. (In Press). Differences between Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) and SIRS-2 sensitivity estimates among forensic inpatients: A criterion groups comparison. Law and Human Behavior. Advance Online Publication. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000191


• Glassmire, D. M., Tarescavage, A. M., & Gottfried, E. D. (In Press). Likelihood of obtaining Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) and SIRS-2 elevations among forensic psychiatric inpatients with screening elevations on the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test. Psychological Assessment. Advance Online Publication. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000289


• Gottfried, E., & Glassmire, D. (In Press). The relationship between psychiatric and cognitive symptom feigning among forensic inpatients adjudicated incompetent to stand trial. Assessment. Advance Online Publication. DOI:10.1177/1073191115599640


• Glassmire, D. M., Tarescavage, A. M., Burchett, D., Martinez, J., & Gomez, A. (In Press). Clinical utility of the MMPI-2-RF SUI items and scale in a forensic inpatient setting: Association with interview self-report and future suicidal behaviors. Psychological Assessment. Advance Online Publication. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000220


• Alexander, A., Welsh, E., & Glassmire, D. M. (In Press). Underdiagnosing of posttraumatic stress disorder in a forensic hospital setting. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice.


• Glassmire, D. M., Toofanian Ross, P., Kinney, D. I., & Nitch, S. R. (2016). Derivation and cross validation of cutoff scores for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders on WAIS-IV Digit Span-based performance validity measures. Assessment, 23(3), 292-306. DOI: 10.1177/1073191115587551


• Toofanian Ross, P., Padula, C, B., Nitch, S. R., & Kinney, D. I. (2015). Cognition and competency restoration: Using the RBANS to predict length of stay for patients deemed incompetent to stand trial. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 29, 150-165. doi: 10.1080/13854046.2015.1005678.


• Glassmire, D. M., Toofanian Ross, P., Kinney, D. I., & Nitch, S. R. (2015). Derivation and cross-validation of cutoff scores for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders on WAIS-IV Digit-Span-based performance validity measures. Assessment. Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1177/1073191115587551.


• Bader, S., Evans, S. E., & Welsh, E. (2014). Aggression among psychiatric inpatients: The relationship between time, place, victims, and severity ratings. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 20, 179-186. Doi: 10.1177/1078390314537377.


• Love, C. M., Glassmire, D. M., Jordan Zanlioni, S., & Wolf, A. (2014). Specificity and false positive rates of the Test of Memory Malingering, Rey 15-Item Test, and Rey Word Memory Test among forensic inpatients with intellectual disabilities. Assessment, 21 618-627. Doi: 10.1177/1073191114528028.


• Welsh, E., Bader, S., & Evans, S. E. (2013). Situational variables related to aggression in institutional settings. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 18, 792-796.


• Baile, J. M., King, L. C., Kinney, D., & Nitch, S. R. (2012). The relationship between self-reported neuropsychological risk factors and RBANS test performance among forensically committed psychiatric inpatients. Applied Neuropsychology, 19, 279-286. doi: 10.1080/09084282.2012.670146.


• King, L. K., Baile, J. M., Kinney, D. I., & Nitch, S. R. (2012). Is the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status factor structure appropriate for inpatient psychiatry? An exploratory and higher-order analysis. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 27, 756-765. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acs062.


• Bader, S. M., Welsh, R., & Scalora, M. J. (2010). Recidivism among female child molesters. Violence and Victims, 25, 349-362.


• Glassmire, D. M., Welsh, R. K., & Clevenger, J. K. (2007). The development of a substance abuse treatment program for forensic patients with cognitive impairment. Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling, 27, 66-81.