Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patient aggression is a longstanding problem in general hospital nursing. Staff training is recommended to tackle workplace aggression originating from patients or visitors, yet evidence on training effects is scarce. AIMS: To review and collate current research evidence on the effect of aggression management training for nurses and nursing students working in general hospitals, and to derive recommendations for further research. DESIGN: Systematic, narrative review. DATA SOURCES: Embase, MEDLINE, the Cochrane library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, pubmed, psycArticles, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection were searched for articles evaluating training programs for staff and students in acute hospital adult nursing in a 'before/after' design. Studies published between January 2000 and September 2011 in English, French or German were eligible of inclusion. REVIEW METHODS: The methodological quality of included studies was assessed with the 'Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies'. Main outcomes i.e. attitudes, confidence, skills and knowledge were collated. RESULTS: Nine studies were included. Two had a weak, six a moderate, and one a strong study design. All studies reported increased confidence, improved attitude, skills, and knowledge about risk factors post training. There was no significant change in incidence of patient aggression. CONCLUSION: Our findings corroborate findings of reviews on training in mental health care, which point to a lack of high quality research. Training does not reduce the incidence of aggressive acts. Aggression needs to be tackled at an organizational level.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 212-219 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Nurse Education Today |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2015 |
Keywords
- Aggression
- Violence
- Review
- Acute general hospital
- Staff training
- Staff-patient relationship
- CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY
- VISITOR VIOLENCE
- GENERAL HOSPITALS
- WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
- PATIENT AGGRESSION
- NURSES ATTITUDES
- HEALTH-CARE
- EMERGENCY
- INTERVENTIONS
- CONFIDENCE