Perception of aggression, personality disorders and psychiatric morbidity in nursing students

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationship between perception of aggression, personality disorders and psychiatric morbidity. Method: Ninety nursing students were interviewed. A two‐stage transversal analysis was used, the first stage using the Spanish version of the general health questionnaire (GHQ‐28), the true‐false test of international personality disorders (IPDE) of Loranger, and the perception of aggression scale (POAS) of Jansen. For the second stage we used the Spanish version of the clinical interview schedule (CIS), and the full test of IPDE. Results: Perception of aggression was mainly described as a violent reaction. There were no significant differences in the perception of aggression according to GHQ(+), CIS(+) and IPDE(+). There was a significant relationship between perception of aggression as violent reaction and gender. Conclusion: Aggression was perceived by our nursing students as a violent reaction. A significant relationship with gender was observed.

Student nurses' perceptions of aggression: An exploratory study of defensive styles, aggression experiences, and demographic factors

“…Muro et al . () revealed similar results to those of this study by reporting that the scores of student nurses on the POAS showed the impact of sex differences. However, Palmstierna and Barredal () found the opposite, in which male nurses with more experience were more likely to perceive aggression as unacceptable.…”

“…Overall, aggression was perceived to be an unacceptable mode of behavior by the nursing students. This finding is consistent with those of previous studies investigating nurses or nursing students' perceptions of aggression (Abderhalden et al ., ; Muro et al ., ; Bowers et al ., ; Pazvantoglu et al ., ). However, participants in previous studies viewed patient aggression to be a relatively normal behavior (Finnema et al ., ; Abderhalden et al ., ; Palmstierna & Barredal, ; De Benedictis et al ., ).…”

The perception of aggression by nurses: psychometric scale testing and derivation of a short instrument

“…to measure the attitude of 90 nursing students in Spain. The study demonstrated high agreement with the Dutch results regarding aggression as a violent and as a normal reaction, but low agreement regarding aggression as a functional reaction (Muro et al . 2002).…”

“…2002). The authors found no significant relationships between the student nurses’ attitudes to aggression and their respective scores on the ‘General Health Questionnaire’ and the ‘International Personality Disorder Examination’ but a significantly higher proportion of males perceiving aggression as a violent reaction (Muro et al . 2002).…”

Student psychiatric nurses’ approval of containment measures: Relationship to perception of aggression and attitudes to personality disorder

“…It seems plausible that both factors will be related in some way to evaluations of containment methods by nurses, with perhaps nurses who express more understanding of aggressive behaviour being less willing to use strongly coercive containment methods. A previous study has shown a gender difference in POAS scores in nursing students, with female students more likely to consider aggression unacceptable (Muro et al 2002). That same study showed no relationship between personality disorder in the nursing students and POAS scores.…”