Aggressive behaviour in an acute general adult psychiatric unit

Aims & Method: The study aimed to identify the correlates of aggressive behaviour in an adult acute psychiatric ward. Over a period of 9 months, all incidents of verbal & physical aggressive behaviour exhibited by in-patients were routinely assessed using the Overt Aggression Scale. Results: Of the 535 patients admitted during the study period, 80 (15%) were involved in a total of 124 aggressive incidents. Of these 80, 44(55%) had a history of previous violence & 54 (68%) had a history of substance misuse. The majority of events occurred early in the hospital stay & in most cases aggression was against staff. There were significant differences between aggressive & non-aggressive patients in terms of gender & ethnicity, with the lowest rate occurring in European females. Clinical Implications: These results reinforce clinical impressions, & empirical evidence, & allow risk assessment to be performed with greater confidence. The relevance of ethnicity (or more likely culture) highlights the difficulties of a "one size fits all' approach to risk assessment. 2 Tables, 18 References. Adapted from the source document.