Theresa A. Gannon1, Mark E. Olver2, Emma Alleyne3, Helen Butler4, Victoria Lister5, Caoilte Ó Ciardha6, Katie Sambrooks7, Nichola Tyler8
1Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, CT2 7NP, 2Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, 3Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, CT2 7NP, 4Mind, London, UK, 5Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, CT2 7NP, 6Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, CT2 7NP, 7School of Psychology, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK, ST5 5BG, 8Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, 1/582 Heidelberg Road, Alphington, VIC, 3078,
Abstract:
This presentation will describe a series of studies focused on the development and evaluation of a new measure to examine fire-specific constructs relevant to fire misuse called the Firesetting Questionnaire. Using un-apprehended and apprehended samples of adults who had engaged in deliberate firesetting from the UK, the first study tested a large pool of theoretically informed questionnaire items. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested an eight-factor measure with broader coverage of theoretically informed risk factors, relative to previous measures. The new measure showed overall psychometric robustness. In a second study, we examined predictions of firesetting based on risk cut off scores produced by the total score of the Firesetting Questionnaire. Our results suggest that the Firesetting Questionnaire has the potential to be a useful clinical tool for highlighting fire-specific treatment needs and informing clinical formulation and associated risk management.