General Users Guide to the WAVR-21 V3 and the WAVR-21 Threat Assessment App
Stephen G. White, Ph.D., & J. Reid Meloy, Ph.D.
Welcome to the WAVR-21 Threat Assessment App ("WAVR-21 App") – the digital version of the WAVR-21 V3, a structured professional judgment guide for the assessment of workplace and campus violence risk – and a component of Resolver’s enterprise software application.
Workplace violence, including campus violence, remains a recurrent issue for employers, administrators, their managers, and the specialists charged with keeping the members of their work communities safe. As an evidence-based structured professional judgment guide, or “SPJ”, the WAVR-21’s acceptance and use continues to grow.
With Resolver’s electronic version, users have the WAVR-21 tools in more accessible, dynamic formats, and the advantage of record-keeping and enhanced communication that digital programs provide. The WAVR-21 App offers many features. Various “help” guides within the app assist users with coding, investigative and procedural steps, and to readily find risk-related topics in the manual.
The WAVR-21 App includes the following content in the WAVR-21 V3:
Third Edition Manual
Published in 2016, the V3 manual has been extensively revised and updated from the V2 edition. The Table of Contents provides an overview. Most significantly, the WAVR has been expanded to encompass the risk assessment issues at institutions of higher learning. As an educational resource the manual is highly valuable to users at all levels of competence.
Intake and Documentation Questionnaire
This new, comprehensive form has been extensively revised and expanded beyond the V2 Intake Form which it replaces. The queries on the form address all the factors on the revised V3 Worksheet. The form documents risk-relevant investigative information but without coding the data. The advantage is that users who are not designated threat assessors or coders can still have a tool for collecting pertinent information.
Worksheet
The V3 Worksheet and its item coding scheme have been updated to reflect more recent research, the continuing case experience of the authors and other professionals, and the inclusion of more specific campus-related criteria. It is intended for use by all professionals in threat assessment roles, regardless of discipline, with the caveat that users remain within the boundaries of their experience and training, and have available to them sufficient consulting relationships with threat assessment experts. The item coding categories are absent, present, and prominent. A factor or item can also be coded for recent change. If there are not enough data at a given point in time to code an item, then it is marked as insufficient information. It is important to keep in mind that insufficient information is not the same as having investigated a factor adequately enough so that an assessor can reliably state that a risk factor is “absent” in a given case.
Grid
The V3 Grid is a one-page summary of the Worksheet, consisting of the titles of the 21 WAVR factors and item coding columns.
Some Precautions
- Employers and administrators should remain keenly aware of whom in their organization is authorized to use and have access to these materials, and the sensitive case information they generate.
- Training in using the WAVR-21 to assess and manage violence risk is highly recommended; in fact it is essential for most users. Such complementary training to using the eWAVR app is not provided through Resolver, but may be obtained in various ways. We, the author-developers of the WAVR-21, offer a two-day intensive training available to individual organizations, and periodically in public formats that individual users may attend. We are also producing an online training that will soon be available. Please go to wtsglobal.com or wavr21.com [links] for more information on these options. We each integrate WAVR-21 training into the threat assessment services we provide for individual client organizations. Additionally, several individuals within our professional group are designated to conduct WAVR-21 training for organizations.
- All threat assessment teams functioning in organizational contexts should establish relationships with an assessment expert (or experts) with whom the team may consult at any time, but especially for more complex or apparently serious risk scenarios.
- Users should always be mindful that their level of experience and training is sufficient for the threat management duties they undertake. Peer support within an organization’s team benefits those with less experience. As threat assessment teams are by design multi-disciplinary, its members need a common, readily understandable behavioral knowledge base for carrying out their critical duties. In line with this operational principle, our intention with the WAVR-21 is to present and explain violence risk and threat assessment criteria in a style as free as possible from unnecessary jargon. Any clinical or diagnostic terms are explained and examples offered. Although many “incidents of concern” can be fairly readily identified as not presenting a potentially serious risk of harm, there is no avoiding the realization that gaining sufficient competence in conducting threat assessments takes time and requires practice. A universal practice standard for mental health and other professionals is to seek consultation when one is faced with behavioral, or for that matter any risk of harm issues, that are beyond their level of experience and training.
Using the WAVR-21 App
Ideally the WAVR-21 App is used from the beginning and throughout a workplace or campus threat management case. Case data, assessment opinions and actions taken can all be documented – including changes over time in apparent levels of risk or concern – consistent with the dynamic flow of threat management in organizational settings. Individual users can identify themselves and the dates and sources of their entries, and navigate easily among the forms and case files.
.Helpful information on using the forms, pertinent data sources, investigation and interview strategies, and documentation considerations is also available in the Basic Procedures section at the beginning of chapter 4 in the manual.
The following describes the general steps in case management using the WAVR-21 App, and recommended guidelines for proceeding:
Home Page
Users will see the following categories on the left column of the home page:
- Home: This shows the user’s tasks, work flow status and other “dashboard” information.
- Report Incident: This provides users with the “Report a Concern” entries that come into the app through the portal available to the members of the organization’s members.
- Case Files: This includes the “New Case Queue” and “Active Cases” files for the individual user.
- Assessment Worksheets: This includes the case worksheets that are “In Progress,” “Under Review,” and “Completed” in the individual user’s files. The user may also access these forms from his or her case files.
- Reference Information: This section provides reference material and standard reports. Included here is the WAVR-21 V3 manual in its entirety for quick reference. In addition, access to the entire database of “Persons,” “Employees,” or “Students”, who may or may not be involved in cases, not just solely “individuals of concern.” This can be used to load and check employee and student records that could be used to link to cases. Finally, as standard reports are released, they can be executed from this area. Entire case files or person-centric timelines are located here.
Report Incident
A case typically begins when a member of the organization uses the “Report a Concern” about violence on the app’s portal. Concerns may also come to team representatives, of course, by other avenues or outside sources.
Notification
An email notification is sent to the team’s or organization’s designated screener or screeners of all reported concerns from the portal.
Screening
Designated screeners review the incident report or concern and should enter an Incident Report Summary in Section A of the Intake and Documentation Form. Any of the five key indicators of risk that are deemed present are checked, and a priority level for response is selected by the screener(s). Screeners may have discretion to dismiss or redirect reports by certain criteria established by the team, keeping in mind the basic principle of, “When in doubt, confer.” (See FAQ #1 below for further explanation)
Case Intake and Documentation
When deemed appropriate or if the screener has any doubt, the case is “forwarded” to the team or team members in the role of case assessors and managers. Additional, continuing data are gathered and entered into the Intake and Documentation Questionnaire commensurate with the apparent level of concern about risk of harm. Interventions and responses undertaken are also recorded. Theoretically, data are never “complete,” but as more information is developed throughout the course of the case it should be entered into this form, and/or into the Worksheet.
Worksheet Data Entry and Coding
The team, or its members designated to do so, begin to fill in the “Notes” sections of the Worksheet and the coding of the 21 factors. Date stamps allow for documenting how coding may change over time and circumstances. The app readily accesses coding criteria for each item.
Continuing case assessment and management actions
Record ongoing entries for assessment and case management actions and related events using the WAVR-21 App forms.
FAQs
What is the distinction between screening for risk and conducting a violence risk assessment?
Screening is the gross or general determination, based on a review of initially presented or available information, of whether or not a particular individual or scenario should be viewed as generating a concern for violence, and therefore should be treated under an organization’s threat management protocol. The presence or not of key indicators associated with risk will serve as guides for those conducting screening. In Section A (“Incident Report Summary”) of the WAVR-21 V3’s Intake and Documentation Questionnaire, five such indicators are listed:
- Threats or expressed ideas to harm self or others
- Behaviors that cause concern for violence to self or others
- Subject has access to weapons or is attempting to gain access
- Bizarre thinking, irrational suspiciousness unsupported by facts
- Circumstances/anticipated events that might affect likelihood of violence
Screeners using the form then assign a priority level to the scenario:
Priority Level: ___Low ___ Moderate ___High ___Urgent
Violence risk assessment is formally defined as the investigative and analytical process followed by threat assessment professionals—qualified by education, training, or experience—to determine the nature and level of violence risk presented by an individual or a scenario, and viable actions that could be taken to respond to and mitigate any possible risk of harm. A key point then is what qualifies an individual to conduct assessments; and further, what standard or criteria will an organization and its threat assessment team establish for conducting its own internal “assessments,” versus engaging recognized external assessment experts. This is an important decision for organizations to recognize and to make. New and inexperienced teams will or should turn to experts regularly. Learning from their enlisted consultants will gradually increase a team’s collective competence. Teams with increasing experience may assess and manage scenarios more frequently without expert help. Still, even experienced teams may engage their designated experts for a “second opinion” to check their own work, or to include, when appropriate, a formal direct assessment in their due diligence. In general, it is advisable for teams to turn to mental health threat assessment experts when certain risk factors are apparent. These include serious mood disorders, psychosis , severe narcissism, and psychopathy.
Who and how many team members should do the documenting of case data?
This is a matter to be decided by individual teams. At least one member should be responsible for collating and documenting the team’s (and organization’s) assessments and actions, and the accompanying rationale for how it responded to and managed any case. This is a principle of due diligence practice, which the WAVR-21 App facilitates more easily and comprehensibly than just the usual communications found in emails and other reports and case documents (Note that case-related documents can be attached to the WAVR-21 App case files). It is advantageous for the team members from different disciplines to enter information, especially actions, related to their specialty. For example, a security manager may enter the specifics of a protection plan enacted for a certain case or his or her communications with law enforcement. An attorney may enter the legal issues that were identified and addressed, or legal actions taken. A licensed mental health professional may document specific symptoms or previous diagnoses. A risk assessment expert may document his or her opinion of the implications of a subject’s delusions.
To what degree should investigators pursue information, and how much should they document?
This is not actually a question about how to use the app, but about case management judgment. The answer to this common and important question is the often used, “It depends.” Sufficiently broad sources of collateral information, where possible and appropriate, are essential to conducting reliable violence risk assessments. Corroboration of observations strengthens hypotheses about the level of concern a case poses, and further informs intervention decisions. An issue is how readily and reasonably available risk-relevant information is. If a coworker reports that another employee uttered a threat, the informant is presumably easily available to be interviewed in most circumstances. If a former student is sending voluminous psychotic emails to members of a campus, and he is only known to “live in some foreign country,” remedies and resources will be limited to locate him and thus gather further information. If someone is actively stalking a target, it is prudent to conduct a thorough background check for any criminal and civil records. A team must be prepared to defend its decision making and actions, which are validated by the thoroughness and quality of its data base and the members’ professional judgments. These issues are discussed more thoroughly in the WAVR manual. Finally, new team members or participants will greatly benefit from clearly delineated records maintained in the WAVR-21 App case files.
Guidelines for Professional Risk Assessors
Although threat assessment teams in corporate and campus settings are typically composed of professionals from a variety of disciplines, professionals who conduct threat assessments on a fulltime basis will also find the WAVR-21 V3 and its accompanying WAVR-21 App to be indispensable. The WAVR-21 joins a long line of structured professional judgment instruments, yet is specific to the context of work and university settings. Clinical or forensic experts in violence risk assessment, often licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, or social workers, can assist organizations as consultants by conducting either indirect or direct (face-to-face) evaluations of individuals of concern. Clinicians may also function as expert witnesses where the assessment of violence risk is pertinent to civil or criminal proceedings. These professionals are held to a high standard of practice by the court—usually determined by their education, training, and experience–and will readily recognize and benefit from the rationale and evidence-based structure of the WAVR-21. As the research base for the WAVR-21 grows, the instrument will also gain acceptance in both civil and judicial settings as an important organizing tool for professional threat assessors.
Professional threat assessment experts will be at their best if they: [new paragraph]
- recognize that some cases will demand a need for a comprehensive clinical and forensic evaluation which cannot be handled by the internal threat assessment team.
- recognize that most cases will not need such an evaluation, and can be efficiently and effectively handled by the internal threat assessment team.
- conceptualize their role as both assessors and educators, functioning as ad hoc team members, and not as indispensable experts who presume to take over the case and impart their wisdom to less experienced professionals.
- recognize the role of organizational culture and contexts, and the importance of collateral information in conducting violence risk assessments.
- recognize that threat assessment and threat management are dynamically related, and do not occur in sequence: each threat assessment affects threat management, and each attempt to manage can affect the ongoing threat assessment.
- know that their major focus is to not predict the future, but to help the teams manage behaviors of concern in the present.
- know that prevention does not require individual prediction.
- recognize the value of meeting personally with and getting to know the organizational team members with whom they regularly work and consult.