title: Predictive validity of judgments of dangerousness in emergency civil commitment.
abstract: The authors investigated the predictive validity of judgments of dangerousness made in the context of emergency civil commitment. The medical charts of 101 consecutive patients involuntarily admitted to a university-based acute inpatient unit were reviewed for evidence of violence within the first 72 hours of hospitalization. More than two-thirds of the patients committed as a danger to others engaged in some type of violence, compared with fewer than one-third of other involuntary patients. The findings suggest that the emergency commitment situation permits judgments of dangerousness with a relatively high degree of short-term predictive validity.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D014754:Violence