Perceived relevance of factors for violence risk assessment: A survey of clinicians

Although there has been extensive research on violence risk assessment in the past decade, it has not been examined whether clinicians in actual practice consider violence risk factors that researchers suggest should be utilized. The purpose of this study was to investigate clinicians’ perceptions of factors derived from research on violence risk assessment. One hundred thirty-four clinicians from four psychiatric facilities completed surveys in which they rated the relevance of research risk factors as well as additional behavioral variables. The analyses indicated that while clinicians perceived research risk factors to be relevant, they perceived behavioral variables not subjected to empirical scrutiny as significantly more relevant for violence risk assessment. The findings have implications for dissemination of risk assessment research and the development and implementation of risk assessment measures.