Assessing normative approaches to communicating violence risk: a national survey of psychologists.

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 x 2 x 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).