Intra-rater and Interrater Reliability of the Violence Assessment Tool©

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine interrater and intra-rater reliability of the Violence Assessment Tool © (VAT © ) for identifying patients at risk for aggressive/violent behavior in 4 patient care settings: acute care, emergency department, ambulatory care, and home care. Background: There is a lack of evidence evaluating the psychometric properties of violence risk assessment tools used outside of the behavioral health setting. Methods: This psychometric study, using standardized patient vignettes to assess the interrater and intra-rater reliability of the VAT © , was conducted at a large healthcare system in the Midwest and its affiliated simulation center. Results: Intraclass correlations indicated good interrater reliability (0.75 or higher) for the overall VAT © score in each of the study settings and good intra-rater reliability looking at the VAT © score-based risk category. Conclusions: Based on this study, the VAT © is a reliable instrument for assessing the risk for violent behavior of patients outside the behavioral health setting.