Penterman B, Nijman H. Assessing aggression risks in patients of the ambulatory mental health crisis team.
Community Ment Health J 2011;
47:463-71. [PMID:
20886294 DOI:
10.1007/s10597-010-9348-7]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2009] [Accepted: 09/16/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
During outreaching crisis visits, crisis team members run the risk of being confronted with aggressive behavior from their patients. To prevent dangerous situations, a method to assess risks in advance, on the basis of information received before the visit to the patient in crisis, could prove useful. During a two-year period, crisis team members completed a checklist before visiting patients in psychiatric crises. After each crisis visit, if there had been any aggression, this was recorded by means of the SOAS-R. In 51 of 499 crisis visits (10%) aggression was documented. The results indicate that the predictive validity of the presented checklist for occurrences of aggression may be fair-to-good. Use of the checklist in everyday crisis team practice seems recommendable as it structures the way risks are assessed before entering a potentially dangerous situation.
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