Risk for Suicide and Risk for Violence: a Case for Separating the Current Violence Diagnoses

The aim of this study was to identify accurate descriptive terms for risk for violence & risk for suicide & to provide operational definitions for these terms. The Delphi technique, with two rounds, was used to differentiate the operational definitions. The expert panel consisted of 23 healthcare professionals. In addition, a control group participated to assess content validity. 36 definitions were agreed upon for suicide, 39 for violence; these represent the basic distinctions between the two behavioural manifestations. (34 refs.)