Violence Risk Assessment of Civil Psychiatric Patients with the HCR-20: Does Gender Matter?

Abstract

Over the past three decades, much has been learned about risk factors associated with violence. Subsequently, significant advances have occurred in terms of the conceptualization as well as the communication of violence risk; in particular, numerous risk assessment measures have been developed in order to inform violence prevention efforts. However, most such instruments have been validated predominantly in male populations and research examining their application across genders is scarce. This study investigated the performance of one of the most established violence risk assessment schemes—the Historical/Clinical/Risk Management-20 (HCR-20)—in a sample of 52 men and 48 women receiving short-term inpatient psychiatric care. Results indicated that the HCR-20 as well as its components predicted both the occurrence and imminence of violent outcomes and gender did not moderate those relationships. Exploratory analyses revealed gender differences in the baseline item and scale ratings. Additionally, the HCR-20 demonstrated an association with violent victimization.

Keywords:

• Violence risk assessment
• gender
• HCR-20
• violent victimization
• male female

Notes

¹ Although de Vogel and colleagues (2012) are currently testing a set of women-particular additional guidelines for existing violence risk measures, to our knowledge, only one structured professional assessment instrument has been developed specifically for the assessment of violence risk in females: The Early Assessment Risk List for Girls (EARL-21G; Levene, Augimeri, Pepler, Walsh, Webster, & Koegl, 2001).

2 Details of all relevant analyses are available upon request.