Figure 2. The Violence Screening and Assessment of Needs (VIO-SCAN) ^a.

^aThe VIO-SCAN is not an actuarial tool or a complete risk assessment of violence. Instead, it provides a rapid procedure for 1) prompting clinicians to consider at least five empirically supported risk factors; 2) guiding clinicians to investigate individual or combinations of risk factors in greater detail to gauge level of clinical concern; 3) identifying veterans who may be at high risk of violence; 4) prioritizing referrals for a comprehensive violence risk assessment; and 5) assessing needs and dynamic factors to develop a plan to reduce risk. The VIO-SCAN should neither be used alone nor replace fully informed clinical decision making that investigates risk and protective factors beyond the five items in the screen. The screen does not designate whether a veteran is at low, medium, or high risk. Rather, the VIO-SCAN can structure a part of the evaluation of longer-term violence risk, not imminent danger. The screen does not have perfect accuracy, so false negatives and false positives will occur. A veteran with a score of 5 may never be violent, and one with a score of 0 may be violent. Please note that the VIO-SCAN needs to be replicated in other samples by other researchers and may be modified in the future as new research emerges.