title: The diagnostic efficiency of the extended German Brøset Violence Checklist to assess the risk of violence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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 > or = 7. By choosing a cutoff point of > or = 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 (AUC(ROC)).
  
  
  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.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rechenmacher
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abderhalden
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schulc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001317:Austria; D057189:Checklist; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014754:Violence / Q000145:classification* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology