Violence and aggression: a literature review

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a literature review that was undertaken to provide background for a small pilot study that introduced violence measurement instruments that was to assist the development of nursing practice on an acute psychiatric unit. Multiple databases were searched, focusing on publications since 1994: CINAHL, Ovid Healthstar, Ovid MEDLINE (R), EMBASE, and PsycINFO. The search used the following four groups of key word alternatives (used in truncated form to allow for ending permutations) in combination with each other: violence, aggression, dangerous; prediction, assessment, factor, risk, issue, cause, reason; mental, psychiatric; inpatient, short-term, acute, admission. Searching was supplemented with footnote chasing of those papers retrieved and existing resources of the first author. Consequently, the synthesis of the results discussed cannot be considered a systematic review of the literature and is a reflection of some of the key issues found in the literature.

Anti-social behaviour in a large Irish teaching hospital

“…Those at high risk of engaging in antisocial behaviour are those with a history of psychopathy, self-harm, violence and a smoking or alcohol history [10,11]. Our database concentrated on persons on the receiving end, rather than on the perpetrators.…”

The feelings and thoughts of mental health nurses concerning the management of distressed and disturbed in-patients: A comparative qualitative European study

“…The reported rise of patient aggression/hostility in mental health inpatient settings has been of interest to researchers for some time [13][14][15][16]. The topic is important as this behaviour can be a major problem in healthcare institutions.…”

Kvaliteter hos hjelperen som bidrar til å forebygge trusler og vold fra klienter

“…De relasjonelle faktorene er komplekse, og for bedre å forstå hvordan vold og aggresjon oppstår, er det nødvendig at forskningen fortsetter å rette fokus mot de interaktive variablene mellom ansatt, klient og miljø (Woods & Ashley 2007). I en senere artikkel basert på vår studie, vil vi sette fokus på systembaserte og strukturelle variabler som kan bidra til å forebygge og dempe trusler og vold fra klienter.…”

“…En litteraturstudie fra 2007 viser at når en skal forklare årsaken til vold, rettes fokus i stor grad på klientrelaterte variabler (Woods & Ashley 2007). De viktigste faktorene framholdes som tidligere voldsatferd, rusmisbruk, psykiske lidelser, svikt i impulskontroll og svikt i empatisk evne (Almvik et al 2000, Berring 2006).…”