Aim
This study aimed to investigate the frequency of documented aggression, on the part of cognitively impaired individuals, against health professionals in home care services and to highlight related factors.
Design
A retrospective cross‐sectional study was conducted using data obtained from the nursing documentation of six home care service organizations in Switzerland.
Methods
We analysed the nursing documentation of 1,186 clients in six home care services, between July 2019–September 2019, using the Cohen‐Mansfield Agitation Inventory. We conducted a factor analysis as well as a descriptive data analysis and logistic regression using IBM SPSS Statistics.
Results
A factor analysis revealed in five factors, of which three represented aggressive behaviour in the sample. These factors were physically aggressive behaviour, verbally aggressive behaviour and importunate behaviour. Aggressive incidents, documented in the nursing records of 14.7% of clients in our sample, tended to be associated with cognitive, communication and mobility difficulties.
Impact statement
This retrospective cross‐sectional survey gives an overview of the frequency and forms of documented aggressive behaviour on the part of persons with cognitive impairments towards health professionals in home care services.
One of the motivating factors for this study was the awareness that aggressive behaviour on the part of clients may stress health professionals in various ways which in turn may have an impact on the quality of care provided.
The study revealed that healthcare specialists, rather than more qualified general or psychiatric nurses, were routinely assigned to assisting such clients and therefore specific educational and training interventions for these specific group of staff are indicated.
According to Béjot et al. (2016), stroke is a devastating disease and approximately 1.1 million Europeans suffered a stroke each year. More than 80% of stroke survivors report one or more abnormal urinary symptoms at 3 or 12 months, with nocturia being the most frequent (Williams et al., 2012). Further, more than 50% of stroke survivors suffer from urinary incontinence in the acute stage; this value is reduced to 33% after 1 year (Kolominsky-Rabas et al., 2003). Urinary incontinence is defined as the complaint of any involuntary leakage of urine (Abrams et al., 2002). Urinary frequency, urgency and urge incontinence are the predominant symptoms in stroke survivors (Marinkovic & Badlani, 2001). Incontinence negatively affects the course of the disease; incontinent patients showed a worse functional outcome compared to continent patients (Pizzi et al., 2014).Urinary incontinence is a prognostic factor in the subacute phase after stroke for daily living activities (Meijer et al., 2003). Stroke survivors who are incontinent in the acute stage have a fourfold higher risk of institutionalization after a year, and urinary incontinence as initial presentation in acute stroke is associated with a high mortality rate (Kolominsky-Rabas et al., 2003;Marinkovic & Badlani, 2001).Urinary incontinence further negatively impacts the quality of life in persons with underlying neurologic conditions (Tapia et al., 2013).
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