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. 2021 Mar;8(2):833-843.
doi: 10.1002/nop2.689. Epub 2021 Jan 7.

Experience of aggressive behaviour of health professionals in home care services and the role of persons with dementia

Angela Schnelli  1   2 , Hanna Mayer  1 , Stefan Ott  3 , Adelheid Zeller  2
Affiliations

Experience of aggressive behaviour of health professionals in home care services and the role of persons with dementia

Angela Schnelli et al. Nurs Open. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Aims: To explore the view of health professionals on the form and frequency of aggressive behaviour of clients against health professionals in home care services.

Design: An explorative cross-sectional survey was conducted.

Methods: We conducted a survey using the Survey of Violence Experienced by Staff German version Revised (SOVES-G-R) and the Impact of Patient Aggression on Carers Scale (IMPACS). A convenience sample of 852 healthcare professionals from German-speaking Switzerland participated. Data collection was conducted between July-October 2019. Data were analysed descriptively using IBM SPSS Statistics.

Results: Of the health professionals, 78.9% (N = 672) experienced aggressive behaviour since they worked in home care services. The most frequent aggressive behaviour was verbal aggression (75.6%, N = 644), while the most common predisposing factor was restriction in cognitive ability (71.3%, N = 67). Fear, burden and impairment of nursing relationship were common consequences of aggressive behaviour.

Keywords: aggression management; community care; dementia; nursing home care; survey designs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

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