The Broset Violence Checklist (BVC) assesses confusion, irritability, boist
erousness, verbal threats, physical threats, and attack; on objects as eith
er 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 perf
ormed at the time of admission and three times a day for each patient-once
for each working shift. Interrater reliability was adequate. Thirty-four se
parate incidences of violence occurred Comparisons between ratings performe
d in the 24-hour interval before the incident and all other ratings suggest
ed moderate sensitivity and good specificity of the instrument. It is concl
uded 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.