Attitudes of clinical staff toward the causes and management of aggression in acute old age psychiatry inpatient units

Table 2 Means and standard deviation (SD) of beliefs about the cause of aggression

No.		Mean	SD
Internal causative factors
5	It is difficult to prevent patients from becoming violent or aggressive.	2.5	0.8
7	Patients are aggressive because they are ill.	2.2	0.7
9	There appear to be types of patients who frequently become aggressive towards staff.	2.2	0.8
12	Patients who are aggressive towards staff should try to control their feelings.	3.1	1.0
17	Aggressive patients will calm down automatically if left alone.	2.6	0.7
External causative factors
1	Patients are aggressive because of the environment they are in.	2.4	0.9
19	Restrictive care environments can contribute towards patient aggression and violence.	1.8	0.5
30	If the physical environment were different, patients would be less aggressive.	1.9	0.9
Situational/interactional causative factors
2	Other people make patients aggressive or violent.	2.2	0.7
3	Patients commonly become aggressive because staff do not listen to them.	2.5	1.0
8	Poor communication between staff and patients leads to patient aggression.	2.0	0.7
23	Improved one to one relationships between staff and patients can reduce the incidence of patient aggression and violence.	1.5	0.6
26	It is largely situations that contribute towards the expression of aggression by patients.	2.3	0.7
Cultural/gender causative factors
4	Gender mix of staff on the wards is important in the management of aggression.	1.9	0.9
6	Patients from particular cultural groups are more prone to aggression.	2.2	0.9
10	Cultural misunderstandings between patients and staff can lead to aggression.	1.9	0.8

Rating scale: 1 = strongly agree, 2 = agree, 3 = disagree, 4 = strongly disagree.

ISSN: 1471-244X