title: Development of a measure to predict short-term violence in psychiatric populations: The Imminent Risk Rating Scale.
abstract: The prediction of near-term violence among psychiatric inpatients has become an important goal in recent years. The Imminent Risk Rating Scale (IRRS) is a screening tool that has been designed to enhance clinicians' knowledge of their patients' risk of violence in the hours and days following evaluation. Drawing on the imminent-violence literature, the instrument includes 7 items touching on personal, interpersonal, and environmental variables that are uniquely predictive of short-term violence. The present study reports on the findings of a small-scale test of the effectiveness and psychometric properties of the IRRS among a sample of psychiatric inpatients (N = 121) undergoing pretrial forensic psychiatric evaluations. The measure has desirable interrater reliability, demonstrates robust improvement over chance in identifying which patients will engage in violence over a subsequent 2-week period, and is especially effective in identifying individuals who are not violent during that time period.
authors: Department of Psychology, East Coast Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Starzomski
authors: Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, Dalhousie University.
authors: Kevin
authors: K
authors: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult