Citation

Roaldset JO, Hartvig P, Bjørkly S. Eur. Psychiatry 2011; 26(2): 85-91.

Affiliation

Psychiatric Department, Alesund Hospital, 6026 Alesund, Norway; Faculty of Medicine, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7489 Trondheim, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2010.04.002

PMID

20619612

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Current violence risk assessment instruments are time-consuming and mainly developed for forensic psychiatry. A paucity of violence screens for acute psychiatry instigated the development and validation of the V-RISK-10. The aim of this prospective naturalistic study was to test the predictive validity of the V-RISK-10 as a screen of violence risk after discharge from two acute psychiatric wards. METHODS: Patients were screened with V-RISK-10 before discharge, and incidents of violence were recorded 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after discharge. A total of 381 of the 1017 patients that were screened completed the follow up. RESULTS: The ROC-AUC values for any violent behaviour were 0.80 and 0.75 (p<0.001) for the 3 and 12 months follow-up periods, respectively, and significant for both genders. The most accurate risk estimates were obtained for severe violence. For persons without a known history of violence prior to the screening, AUCs were 0.74 (p=0.004) and 0.68 (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the V-RISK-10 is a valid and clinically useful screen for violence risk after discharge from acute psychiatry, and even significant for patients without a known previous history of violence.

Language: en