Inpatient aggression in forensic psychiatric patients with autism spectrum disorder: the role of risk and protective factors

Purpose Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are overrepresented in forensic samples. However, research on risk assessment in forensic patients with ASD is scarce. The purpose of this paper was to examine the prevalence of short-term inpatient aggression and explore the risk and protective factors for aggression in forensic psychiatric patients with ASD (N = 32). Design/methodology/approach The association between two commonly used violence risk assessment instruments (HKT-R and SAPROF) and physical aggression during ten weeks of inpatient stay was examined in a Dutch forensic psychiatric hospital. Findings Results showed no significant association between HKT-R and SAPROF and incidents of physical aggression. This suggests that the commonly used assessment instruments may be of limited use for assessing the risk of short-term inpatient aggression in patients with ASD. Originality/value To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to directly examine the prevalence of inpatient aggression of forensic psychiatric patients with ASD and its association with risk and protective factors.