|
Examining the Level of Agreement Between the Expert Opinions Issued by the Provincial Legal Medicine Commission Offices and the Central Legal Medicine Commission Office Regarding Cases of Financial Incapability Due to Dementia
|
Reza Hajmanouchehri1    , Azar Tabesh 2, Mojgan Nikpour1 |
1- Legal Medicine Research Center, Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran
2- Legal Medicine Research Center, Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran , tabeshazar@yahoo.com |
|
|
Abstract: (372 Views) |
Introduction: Considering the importance of issuing correct and valid legal medical expert opinions about the financial incapability due to dementia, This study aims to examine the level of agreement between the expert opinions issued by the provincial legal medicine commission offices and the central legal medicine commission office and the effect of the use of diagnostic criteria such as the psychological test (MMSE), the existence of the results of neuroimaging, external consultations and the presence of a neurologist in expert meetings has been done on the level of this agreement.
Methods: The present study was conducted on 122 cases of people claiming financial incapability due to dementia referred to the central medical commission from September 2022 to September 2023. To examine the level of agreement (reliability) of expert opinions issued by Cohen's kappa coefficient, to analyze data from descriptive statistics methods and to investigate the relationship between some diagnostic criteria on the level of agreement, logistic regression was used using SPSS 19 software.
Results: There is a good agreement with the Kappa coefficient of 0.626 between the expert opinions issued regarding the financial incapability or the financial capability in the last commission held in the provinces and the Central Commission, and there is a good agreement with the Kappa coefficient of 0.681 between the expert opinions issued regarding the time of onset of financial incapability. In 76.2% of cases, there was no test MMSE, 77.8% of external consultations, 24.6% of neuroimaging or related results. The three variables have a significant and positive effect on the level of agreements made.
Conclusion: Although the level of agreement in the expert opinions issued between the last commission held in the province and the central commission is good, the agreement between the interrater should be relied on as a reliable source when the interrater is made according to specific and standard diagnostic criteria. Therefore, the use of standard and same instruction, the use of new psychometric tools for more accurate diagnosis of the mental capacity of patients, and the continuous training of psychiatrists and psychologists are necessary. |
|
| Keywords: Dementia, Reliability, Financial incapability |
|
|
Full-Text [PDF 918 kb]
(204 Downloads)
|
Type of Article: Research Article |
Subject:
Forensic Psychiatry
Received: 2024/07/23 | Revised: 2025/01/15 | Accepted: 2024/10/21 | ePublished: 2024/12/7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Send email to the article author |
|
|
