Evaluating the concurrent validity of the HCR-20 scales

Abstract

The Historical, Clinical and Risk Management (HCR-20) violence risk assessment scheme was constructed to be applicable to a variety of populations, including civil and forensic psychiatric patients and correctional offenders. Research has demonstrated that the HCR-20 is strongly linked to forensic hospital readmissions and to increased risk for future violence. However, few studies have examined the psychometric properties of the HCR-20; of particular interest, the HCR-20 clinical and risk management (RM) items have had little cross-validation with other measures using independent samples. The present study is an archival examination of offenders who have been assessed at a forensic outpatient clinic and for whom the HCR-20 was used as part of the assessment. Concurrent validity was explored by correlating the Historical, Clinical and RM scales and its items with theoretically relevant constructs as measured by other psychometric measures, including the personality assessment inventory. A series of analyses to investigate the validity of the HCR-20 are reported using a small community forensic sample originally assessed at the presentence stage in the legal process. This research provides a much needed investigation of the concurrent validity for the scales and items of the HCR-20.

Keywords:

• HCR-20
• forensic
• risk assessment
• concurrent validity
• psychometric measures

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Northern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Services and the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Research Office of Grant MacEwan University. We also thank the following for their support at various stages of this research: William Friend, Elizabeth Carlson, Michael Friesen, Renata Ruch and Shayla Stein.