Noncompliance with family court mandated evaluations in a juvenile justice clinic. G. Kaplan, D. Pannullo, D. Brodzinsky and J. C. Hitt

Noncompliance with family court mandated evaluations in a juvenile justice clinic.

G. Kaplan, D. Pannullo, D. Brodzinsky and J. C. Hitt,
Bull. Amer. Acad. Psychiatry & the Law 22(1): 31-8, 1994.

This study identified factors correlating with noncompliance with family court ordered evaluations. Ninety charts from a juvenile justice clinic were reviewed. Subject noncompliance was defined as failure to attend three consecutive appointments. Patient, family, and environmental factors were analyzed. Forty-two percent of the subjects were noncompliant. Five variables discriminated compliant from noncompliant subjects: parental cooperation, prior criminal charge, school behavior problems, treatment at another facility, and disruptive behavior disorder. Utilizing these predictors, only 13 percent of subjects were misclassified as noncompliant in a discriminant analysis. It is concluded that a Court order by itself does not guarantee compliance with a mental health evaluation. However, the findings suggest that the risk for noncompliance may be assessed at the outset of the evaluation utilizing the above identified factors.