The process of violence risk assessment: A review of descriptive research

In the past decade, research on violence risk assessment has aimed to establish empirically validated risk factors. Although a number of papers have reviewed what clinicians should use when assessing violence risk (prescriptive research), less attention has been devoted to what clinicians actually do when assessing violence risk in practice (descriptive research). In this paper, three areas of descriptive research on the process of violence risk assessment are reviewed: cue utilization, clinical reliability, and clinician decision-making. Implications for the transfer and implementation of risk assessment technology into clinical practice are discussed. It is maintained that research at the interface of prescriptive and descriptive studies is needed in order to facilitate development of decision-making models that have both empirical validation and clinical utility. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Author Eric Bradley Elbogen Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Medicine & Neur ...