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

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.