Reliability of the Brazilian version of HCR-20 Assessing Risk for Violence.
OBJECTIVE
Assessing risk for violence is a complex task often based on not objective or structured clinical evaluations. HCR-20 Assessing Risk for Violence has been used in several countries to increase the accuracy of this exam. The purpose of this study was to inform on central aspects of this instrument, as well as the results of the reliability assessment of the HCR-20 Assessing Risk for Violence in a Brazilian inpatient criminal population.


METHODS
Two examiners independently assessed a random sample of 30 patients that were under criminal commitment at the Mauricio Cardoso Forensic Psychiatric Institute


RESULTS
Mean consensus values means were as follows: Historical = 13.1; Clinical = 4.8 and Risk management = 5.8. The value of the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient for the score of subscale Historical was 0.97, for subscale Clinical it was 0.94, and for subscale Risk management, 0.96. As to the individual items of the HCR-20 Assessing Risk for Violence, the result of the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was good to excellent (mean = 0.97; interval, from 0.60 to 0.99).


CONCLUSIONS
The interrater reliability of the Brazilian version of the HCR-20 Assessing Risk for Violence scale was similar to the results of studies in other countries.
Mauricio Cardoso Forensic Psychiatric Institute, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. lisieux@telles.med.br
Lisieux Elaine de Borba
LE
Telles
Vivian Peres
VP
Day
Jorge Oscar
JO
Folino
José Geraldo Vernet
JG
Taborda
D001938:Brazil; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*