The Diagnostic Efficiency of the Extended German Brøset Violence Checklist to Assess the Risk of Violence

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The prevention of aggression and violence of patients is part of the challenge for the psychiatric inpatient care. Resources needed are a systematic risk assessment and taking preventive measures according to the risk. The extended Brøset Violence Checklist (BVC-CH) is an assessment instrument for the short-term assessment of the risk of violence for physical attacks toward medical staff and other patients. Until now, the instrument was only validated in the context of the development phase of the instrument. The aim of this study was to investigate how valid the BVC-CH scale is for adult psychiatry in acute inpatient care facilities. Methods: In a prospective cohort study, 232 consecutively admitted patients were assessed using the BVC-CH. The calculation of the predictive values was based on a contingency table. The discriminatory power of the instrument and the determination of the cutoff point were done using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Physical attacks were registered with the Staff Observation of Aggression Scale–Revised (SOAS-R). Results: The sensitivity was 58.8% and the specificity was 96.8% by a cutoff point of ≥7. By choosing a cutoff point of ≥6, the sensitivity was 64.7% and the specificity was 95.1%. A value of .93 was determined for the area under the curve receiver operating characteristic (AUCROC). Conclusions: Overall, the BVC-CH is a valid instrument for the short-term prediction of physical attacks. Further research of the BVC-CH is recommended but in particular for the cutoff point.