“I just can’t, I am frightened for my safety, I don’t know how to work with her”: Practitioners’ experiences of client violence and recommendations for future practice.

Murphy, Helen; Jussab, Fardin

doi:10.1037/pro0000035

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Assaulted staff members commonly experience psychological distress, as evidenced in a large sample study in the Netherlands finding that one fifth of psychiatric inpatient workers experienced mental health problems following a threatened or actual patient assault (van Leeuwen & Harte, 2015). Commonly reported mental health problems include shock, frustration, anger, irritability, depression, sleep disturbances, burnout, and increased concerns about workplace safety (Anderson & West, 2011; Erdos & Hughes, 2001; Gerberich et al, 2004; Jussab & Murphy, 2015; Moylan, Cullinan, & Kimpel, 2014; Needham et al, 2005; Stevenson, Jack, O’Mara, & LeGris, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of Social Support After Patient Assault as Related to Staff Well-Being

Kelly

Fenwick

Brekke

et al. 2017

J Interpers Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Patient assault is a serious issue for the well-being of staff in psychiatric hospitals. To guide workplace responses to patient assault, more information is needed about social support from different sources and whether those supports are associated with staff well-being. The present study examines social support after patient assault from work-based and nonwork-based sources, and whether inpatient psychiatric staff desires support from them and perceive the support received as being effective. Received support across sources was examined in relations to staff well-being (physical health, mental health, anger, sleep quality) and perceptions of safety. Survey data was collected from 348 clinical staff in a large public forensic mental hospital. Among the 242 staff who reported an assault in the last year, 71% wanted support and 72% found effective support from at least one source. Generally, effective support from supervisors, coworkers, and their combination was associated with better well-being. Support from nonwork sources was related to less concerns about safety, but not to other well-being measures. However, 28% of staff did not receive effective support from any source postassault. Gaps in support as reported in this study and as found by other investigators call for systematic programming by hospital organizations to enhance the well-being of clinical staff, which in turn has implications for patient care.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of Social Support After Patient Assault as Related to Staff Well-Being

Kelly

Fenwick

Brekke

et al. 2017

J Interpers Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, as these studies grouped together various mental health professionals who typically work in psychiatric wards, they may not be useful to estimate the prevalence of trauma-induced symptoms in psychotherapists who often work in outpatient settings. While many studies report descriptions of adverse sequelae of work-related harassment in therapists [5, 29], to our knowledge this may in fact be the first study to report specific trauma symptoms in this population. Using the recommended cut-off score to estimate PTSD prevalence based on self-report data, 2.7% of the exposed therapists would likely have received a PTSD diagnosis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Experiencing and Witnessing Patient Violence - an Occupational Risk for Outpatient Therapists?

Daniels

Anadria

2019

Psychiatr Q

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Violence against therapists by their clients are a common occurrence across clinical settings and may have a lasting impact on the clinician’s professional and personal functioning. In spite of this, no study to date has looked at the frequency of trauma-induced symptoms in psychotherapists. Using a sample of N = 917 psychotherapists across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, we analyzed the frequency and sequelae of patient attacks suffered or witnessed by therapists. More than half (51.3%) of the sample reported having been the victim or witness of patient attacks or threats of violence in their career. Among the affected therapists, 27.7% reported posttraumatic symptoms lasting longer than four weeks and 2.7% presented symptoms amounting to a full-PTSD diagnosis. Thus, while the frequency of attacks and trauma-induced symptoms were considerable, estimated PTSD rates were rather low. The findings suggest that practitioners should be conscious of client violence being an occupational risk and that it is advisable to have protective measures in place.

show abstract

“…In response to harmful experiences participants recounted a range of emotions; upset, fear, anger, disappointment and shock were amongst the most featured, “I was quite shaken up” (P6); mirroring findings from Jussab and Murphy (2015). Symptoms of post-traumatic stress were reported demonstrating the manifestation of burnout (Duquette et al , 1994) in some participants; “I was having tension, I was having pain in my head […] I was getting drained in one way.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the majority of staff go on to make full recoveries (Jonker et al , 2008; Rick et al , 2006) more severe responses to patient perpetrated violence have included symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Inoue et al , 2006). The impact of which can lead to increased feelings of fear and anxiety (Jussab and Murphy, 2015), depression, somatic symptoms and behavioural reactions, such as turning to alcohol and drugs (Duquette et al , 1994). Reduced job satisfaction (Aiken et al , 2002) contributing to increased absenteeism and high staff turnover (Wright, 2005; Leeuwen and Harte, 2015) and poorer quality patient care (Arnetz and Arnetz, 2001) have also been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Staff support procedures in a low-secure forensic service

Cooper

Inett²

2018

JFP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose Staff working in forensic inpatient settings are at increased risk of harm perpetrated by patients. Support offered in response to such incidents can have a significant impact on how staff recover. The purpose of this paper is to explore how staff support procedures implemented in one low-secure forensic service impacted on staff recovery. Design/methodology/approach In total, 11 members of staff who had direct patient contact volunteered from an opportunity sample. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant, asking about experiences of abuse at work and subsequent staff support procedures. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Four overarching themes were identified; experiences of harm, supported recovery, missed opportunities and therapeutic relationships. This led to a better understanding of how staff coped with incidents of abuse at work and how support procedures impacted on their recovery. Research limitations/implications The service evaluation was limited by transferability of the findings. The process of sampling may have meant there were biases in those who volunteered to take part. Further projects such as this are required to develop the themes identified. Practical implications Findings led to the development of a new integrated model of staff support. Originality/value This was one of the first studies in the UK to formally evaluate a staff support procedure in forensic low-secure services and include experiences of both clinical and non-clinical staff who are regularly exposed to potentially harmful events.

show abstract

“I just can’t, I am frightened for my safety, I don’t know how to work with her”: Practitioners’ experiences of client violence and recommendations for future practice.

Abstract: To what extent is the therapist-client relationship damaged following client perpetuated violence and what steps can we take to diminish its impact? Much of the information we have on client violence comes from multiple mental health disciplines in the US and the UK over the

Cited by 12 publications

References 51 publications

Sources of Social Support After Patient Assault as Related to Staff Well-Being

Sources of Social Support After Patient Assault as Related to Staff Well-Being

Experiencing and Witnessing Patient Violence - an Occupational Risk for Outpatient Therapists?

Staff support procedures in a low-secure forensic service

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About