Violence Risk Assessment in Individuals With Substance Use Disorders

Most studies show that individuals who abuse psychoactive substances (PAS) have an increased risk of aggressive behavior and the degree of increased risk varies depending on the type of PAS. This study aimed to determine the risk and level of risk for committing violence among individuals dependent on alcohol and other PAS.

A cross-sectional study was carried out, including a sample of N = 100 respondents with alcohol dependence and other PAS dependence. The Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20, Version 3 (HCR-20V3) was used to assess the risk of committing violence.

This study found no significant difference in the overall scores of the HCR-20V3 scale between the examined groups regarding the risk of committing violence [the historical section - presence (p = 0.253) and relevance (p = 0.379); the clinical section - presence (p = 0.549) and relevance (p = 0.191); the risk management section - presence (p = 0.506) and relevance (p = 0.788)]. The results obtained for certain elements of the HCR-20V3 (violence, violent behavior, and violent ideation) showed statistical significance between the examined groups: the presence of violence risk (p = 0.042), violent ideation (p < 0.001) and violent behavior (p = 0.016) and relevance of violence risk (p = 0.009) and violent ideation (p < 0.001) was more pronounced in the alcohol dependent group.

Our data confirm that respondents with alcohol dependence exhibit a higher risk of committing violence compared to respondents with other PAS dependence. Findings show that conducting risk assessment for committing violence among respondents with alcohol dependence and respondents with other PAS dependence is crucial, as both the healthcare system and outpatient services should focus on maintaining established abstinence and preventing relapse in terms of potential repeated violence-related behaviors.