The Brøset Violence Checklist

TLDR

The Brøset Violence Checklist evaluates six observable behaviors—confusion, irritability, boisterousness, verbal threats, physical threats, and attacks on objects—as present or absent. The study tests whether exhibiting two or more of these behaviors predicts violent incidents within the following 24 hours. Researchers assessed 109 consecutive psychiatric inpatients across four acute units over two months, recording BVC scores at admission and three times per shift. The checklist showed adequate interrater reliability, moderate sensitivity, good specificity, and successfully identified 34 violent episodes, confirming its utility and satisfactory psychometric properties.

Abstract

The Brøset Violence Checklist (BVC) assesses confusion, irritability, boisterousness, verbal threats, physical threats, and attacks on objects as either present or absent. It is hypothesized that an individual displaying two or more of these behaviors is more likely to be violent in the next 24-hour period. All 109 consecutive referrals to four psychiatric inpatient acute units during a 2-month period were included in the study. Ratings were performed at the time of admission and three times a day for each patient—once for each working shift. Interrater reliability was adequate. Thirty-four separate incidences of violence occurred. Comparisons between ratings performed in the 24-hour interval before the incident and all other ratings suggested moderate sensitivity and good specificity of the instrument. It is concluded that the BVC is a useful instrument in predicting violence within the next 24-hour period and that the psychometric properties of the instrument are satisfactory.