Premium
Assessing normative approaches to communicating violence risk: a national survey of psychologists
Author(s) -
Heilbrun Kirk,
O'Neill Melanie L.,
Stevens Tomika N.,
Strohman Lisa K.,
Bowman Quinten,
Lo YiWen
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.570
Subject(s) - normative , psychological intervention , context (archaeology) , risk assessment , psychology , applied psychology , risk management , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , social psychology , style (visual arts) , suicide prevention , risk perception , medicine , environmental health , computer security , computer science , psychiatry , business , geography , political science , perception , archaeology , finance , neuroscience , law
There is growing attention to the importance of violence risk communication, and emerging empirical evidence of how evaluating clinicians who conduct risk assessments communicate their conclusions about the risk of violence toward others. The present study addressed the perceived value of different forms of risk communication through a national survey of practicing psychologists ( N = 1,000). Responses were received from a total of 256 participants, who responded to eight vignettes in which three factors relevant to risk communication were systematically varied in a 2 × 2 × 2 within‐subjects design, counterbalanced for order: (i) risk model (prediction oriented versus management oriented), (ii) risk level (high risk versus low risk), and (iii) risk factors (static versus dynamic). Participants were asked to rate the value of six styles of risk communication for each of eight vignettes. The most highly valued style of risk communication involved identifying risk factors applicable to the individual, and specifying interventions to reduce risk. These results were consistent with findings from several previous studies in this area, and reflect an emerging trend in preferences for style and context of risk communication of violence. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.