Citation

Eriksen BMS, Bjørkly S, Færden A, Friestad C, Hartvig P, Roaldset JO. Int. J. Forensic Ment. Health 2016; 15(2): 186-197.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Simon Fraser University - Mental Health, Law and Policy Institute, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14999013.2016.1170740

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this one-year prospective, naturalistic study in an acute psychiatric facility, we explored gender differences between 230 men and 284 women regarding the predictive validity of the Violence risk screening-10 (V-RISK-10). Hospital staff recorded violent incidents during hospital stays (range 1-176 days; median: 5.5 days) resulting in 50 men (22%) and 30 women (11%) being recorded for violence. The predictive validity was significant for both genders, with ROC-AUCs of.79 for males and.80 for females. Scoring at cut-off or beyond indicated a two-fold increased risk of becoming violent for men and a three-fold risk for women. A lower score indicated a five-fold decrease in risk for both genders. Estimates of explained variance for the prediction model were higher for men.

FINDINGS indicate gender differences for risk factors of violence and highlight the need of further research on this issue.