Patient directed aggression in forensic mental health settings
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patients directed aggression or violence in a forensic mental health setting: Variables associated with being subjected to aggression or violence, and the nature of patient to patient incidents.
IRAS ID
251519
Contact name
Alice Fawdrey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The State Hospital
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 0 days
Research summary
Patient directed aggression or violence in a forensic mental health setting: Variables associated with being subjected to aggression or violence, and the nature of patient to patient incidents.
Patient-directed aggression has been largely neglected in the research around aggression in inpatient environments. Reports and prevalence studies from the general inpatient population indicate that around a third of inpatients feel unsafe whilst in hospital, and 30-50% of inpatients experience violent or threatening behaviour whilst in care (Mind, 2004; Healthcare Commission, 2005; Hodgins et al, 2007).
Incidents in which patients are subject to verbal, physical, or sexual assault within secure hospital settings in Scotland are recorded using incident reporting systems. Incident reports and the patients care records at the State Hospital (High Secure Psychiatric Hospital) from a 5-year snapshot of the hospital’s running will be explored in this study; to describe the subgroup of patients who are subject to aggression or violence, and identify whether history of childhood abuse, or current mental health diagnoses are associated with membership of this subgroup.
We will further explore written descriptions of the incident and its context, to seek to explore the reasons for which patients are targeted for aggression or violence in this setting, to deepen our understanding of peer violence within forensic mental health environments.REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
19/WA/0270
Date of REC Opinion
23 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion