Screening for risk of inpatient violence

A screening checklist for assessing the risk of violence at the time of psychiatric hospitalization was developed. Checklist items and a cutoff point for low versus high risk of violence were selected based on a previous study of statistical prediction of violence. Application of the checklist to a new sample of 338 patients admitted to a university-based inpatient unit revealed promising results in identifying patients who later displayed aggressive behavior in the hospital, as indicated by its positive predictive value (59.0%), negative predictive value (70.6%), sensitivity (57.2%), specificity (70.0%), total predictive value (65.4%), and likelihood ratio (1.97). The results suggest the potential value of incorporating actuarial methods in the evaluation of violence risk.Funded in part by Biomedical Research Support Grant Program grant No. SO7-RR05775 from the Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. Portions of this paper were presented at the Biennial Conference of the American Psychology-Law Society/Division 41 of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA, March 12–14, 1992. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dale E. McNiel.