Trauma and institutional risk in a secure developmental disorder service: does the SAVRY inflate risk in adolescents exposed to ACEs?

Purpose Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly prevalent in people with developmental disorders who engage in offending behaviour. Many violence-based risk assessment tools include items pertaining to ACEs, and may inflate risk scores in trauma-exposed groups. This paper aims to explore the relationships between ACEs, risk assessment scores, incidents of risk and restrictive practices, in adolescents with developmental disorders in a forensic inpatient setting. Design/methodology/approach Secondary analysis was conducted on clinical data for 34 adolescents detained to a developmental disorder service. Data were extracted for Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) risk scores and risk behaviours and restrictive practices, as measures of observed risk. Findings Participants exposed to more ACEs had higher SAVRY risk scores (p < 0.001, two-tailed), with elevations specifically on the historical subscale (p < 0.001, two-tailed). Neither ACEs nor risk scores were associated with the frequency of risk behaviours. Nevertheless, participants exposed to four or more ACEs were secluded more frequently (p = 0.015, two-tailed), indicating a potential association between trauma and risk severity. Those with more complex developmental disorders experienced fewer ACEs (p = 0.02, two-tailed) and engaged in self-harm behaviours less frequently (p = 0.04, two-tailed). Research limitations/implications The inclusion of ACEs in risk assessment tools may lead to the inadvertent stigmatization of trauma-exposed individuals. Further investigation is necessary to offer clarity on the impact of early adversity on risk assessment accuracy and levels of institutional risk, and the role of developmental disorders in this relationship. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the relative associations between ACEs, risk assessment scores and observed institutional risk and does so in a highly marginalized population.

The health of children and adolescents in foster care: a scoping review

Providing healthcare to foster minors is challenging, given the family and institutional risk factors. This scoping review aimed to identify characteristics of articles on these minors’ health, published in PubMed from 2010 to 2020, following the Joanna Briggs model. The research question was developed with the PCC acronym. Half of the 252 articles were from the United States; most were from the Health Sciences, then multidisciplinary ones, and from the Human Sciences. Under Health, Medicine published the most, then Dentistry, Public Health, Nursing, Nutrition, and Pharmacy. Psychology represented the Human Sciences. In Medicine, there were studies from Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Endocrinology, and Parasitology. The participation of Pediatrics, Psychology/Psychiatry, and Dentistry increased over time. The types of care (of which, foster care and child welfare system were the most prevalent) associated with continents, reflecting a deinstitutionalization in America, Europe, and Oceania. The most approached health topics were mental, physical, and oral health, and the need for health services. The increased number of health publications, predominantly in developed countries and addressing various problems, confirms this group’s vulnerability, evidencing the need for public policies.

Kirchner attack raises institutional risk in Argentina

Headline ARGENTINA: Kirchner attack raises institutional risks

Institutional Risk Preference and Asymmetric Role of Institutional Distance: An Examination on the OFDI of China

With the implementation of the “Going Out” policy and the “Belt and Road” initiative, Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the countries along the “Belt and Road” increased substantially in the past decade. This paper analyzes the impact of institutional distance on Chinese OFDI and whether Chinese OFDI exhibits institutional risk preferences, using data on Chinese OFDI in 41 countries along the “Belt and Road” for the period from 2003 to 2018. We find that political institutional distance and economic institutional distance are both positively related to China’s OFDI scale, while cultural distance has a negative impact on the investment scale. We also find that institutional distance has an asymmetric effect on China’s OFDI. In particular, the worse the host country’s political environment, the larger the Chinese OFDI, indicating that Chinese OFDI exhibits the political institutional risk preference. On the other hand, Chinese multinational enterprises are more willing to invest in host countries with high economic freedom. Culture institution environment of the host country has a positive but insignificant impact on the Chinese OFDI scale, indicating that Chinese OFDI shows the characteristics of cultural distance proximity.

“Good People with Good Intentions”: Deconstructing A Post-Secondary Institution’s Sexual Violence Policy Construction

This exploratory study investigates the bodies tasked with constructing sexual violence policies within a post-secondary institution (PSI). Our findings indicate that allocated committees prioritize institutional risk management, normalize confusion, and most members have little or no understanding of the intersectionality of violence. These findings contextualize PSI's failure to address structural violence. Our recommendations urge PSIs to include subject experts, consult with existing service providers, and integrate research on the intersectionality of sexualized violence within their policy and program construction.

Institutional risks of financial inclusion

The article presents the results of a research on the current processes of financial inclusion, substantiates the concept of financial inclusion and its world level, and systematizes the existing theoretical-methodological and empirical approaches to determining its role for sustainable development. Based on the analysis of fundamental conditions and current factors of intensification of financial inclusion, the author substantiates the real purpose and consequences of the introduction of digital financial inclusion in national economies and in the global economy and shows the role of global financial institutions in these processes. Particular attention is paid to the impact of financial inclusion on solving the problems of poverty and inequality in society. It is shown that modern financial inclusion does not serve the interests of the majority, but rather the interests of a clearly limited circle of representatives of the global economic and financial elite by creating conditions for the invariance of financial inclusion for ordinary economic agents. The author argues that the main long-term institutional risk of global financial inclusion and non-cash circulation is the consent to the loss of financial freedom by market participants in the face of growing uncertainty in economic and social life and poverty.