The Violence Prevention Community Meeting: A Multi-Site Study

Abstract

Objective The Violence Prevention Community Meeting (VPCM) is a specialized form of community meeting in which avoiding violence and promoting non-violent problem solving and interpersonal civility are focal points. A nationwide study to assess the VPCM as an effective intervention to reduce workplace violence was undertaken. Participants Seven acute locked psychiatric units of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) throughout the United States participated in the study. Methods All patients and all staff on the seven in-patient locked psychiatry units participated in the intervention (VPCM) or as a control (treatment as usual). The study was 21 weeks at each site. The three time periods were pre-treatment weeks 1 – 3, treatment weeks 4 – 18, and post-treatment weeks 19 – 21. The VPCM was conducted during the treatment weeks. Results Overall rates of aggression declined by 0.6% (95%CI: −5.6%, 6.5%; nonsignificant) per week in the intervention hospitals and by 5.1% (95%CI: 0.4%, 9.6%; significant) per week for the control hospitals. Conclusions Aggression decreased for both the intervention and control hospitals which could be due to enrollment in a research study and thus being more aware of their ability to address workplace violence at their site.

Patient safety in inpatient mental health settings: a systematic review

“…One study explored how patients described their aggressive behaviours 44. Twenty-four studies evaluated intervention effectiveness (eg, staff training and medication use) to reduce violent and aggressive behaviours, with most finding significant improvements,45–65 two reporting negative outcomes66 67 and one reporting mixed findings 68. The general management of violent and aggressive behaviours was explored in 15 studies 22 25 29 30 69–79.…”

Randomized controlled trials of mental health nurse‐delivered interventions: A systematic review

“…Studies by Bowers et al (2015) and Lanza et al (2016), where the randomization unit was hospital ward, and reported outcomes were per shift rather than per individual, did not report on the number of individuals enrolled. Happell et al (2014) did not report the number of participants in their trial.…”

“…ies producing significant improvements were rated as at low (Bowers et al, 2015), "some concerns" (Thompson et al, 2008(Thompson et al, , 2012 and high (Forchuk et al, 2005) risk of bias. Effect sizes were not calculable in three studies (Happell et al, 2014;Lanza et al, 2016;White & Winstanley, 2010). Lanza et al's (2016) study of a violence prevention community meeting for reduction of inpatient aggression actually produced results suggesting small but significant increases in violence in the intervention group.…”