To explore the efficacy of community rehabilitation for facilitating daily function among patients with mental illness

Identifying risk factors to predict violent behaviour in community patients with severe mental disorders: A retrospective study of 5277 patients in China

BACKGROUND

Patients with Severe Mental Disorders (SMD) have a higher risk of violent behaviour than the general population. The study aimed to investigate the predictive factors for the occurrence of violent behaviour in community SMD patients.

METHODS

The cases and follow-up data were collected from SMD patient Information Management system in Jiangning District, Jiangsu Province. The incidence of violent behaviours was described and analyzed. Logistic regression model was used to examine the influencing factors for violent behaviours in those patients.

RESULTS

Among 5277 community patients with SMD in Jiangning District, 42.4% (2236/5277) had violent behaviours. The stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that the disease-related factors (including disease type, disease course, times of hospitalization, medication adherence, past violent behaviours), the demographic factors (age, male sex, educational level, economic and social living status), and the policy-related factors (like free treatment, annual physical check, disability certificate, family physician services, and community interviews) were significantly related to the violent behaviours in community SMD patients. After gender stratification, we found that male patients with unmarried status and with a longer course of disease were more likely to violent. However, we found that female patients with lower economic status and educational experience were more likely to violent.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that community SMD patients had a high incidence of violent behaviour. The findings may provide valuable information for policymakers and mental health professionals worldwide taking a number of measures to reduce the incidence of violence in community SMD patients and to better maintain social security.

Violence against primary caregivers of people with severe mental illness and their knowledge and attitudes towards violence: A cross-sectional study in China

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current situation of violence on primary caregivers of people with severe mental illness outside the hospital and the cognition of primary caregivers about violence among mental patients.

METHODS

A self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the primary caregivers (N = 208) of people with severe mental illness in a psychiatric hospital in Beijing.

RESULTS

The incidence rate of violence suffered by primary caregivers was 74.03%, of which 61.54% had experienced verbal attacks, 54.33% had experienced threats, and 45.19% experienced physical attacks. Physical violence, mainly by unarmed attacks, has resulted in soft tissue injury and pain in the majority of caregivers. Multiple admission times, a lower educational level, single in marital status and involuntary hospitalizations were risk factors; growing older was protective factor. The causes of violence were dominated by mental symptoms in 120 cases (57.69%). Tolerance and avoidance were the coping styles of most caregivers adopted after violence, accounting for 51.44%. Furthermore, most of primary caregivers have limited knowledge of violence and adopted an attitude of pessimism towards patients' violence.

CONCLUSIONS

It was reported that violence was suffered by primary caregivers of persons with severe mental illness outside the hospital. The study indicated that formulating reasonable nursing intervention, providing health education as well as organizing training towards violence of patients are required to play an important role in effectively preventing and reducing the violence among the people with severe mental illness in China. More information and support needs to be obtained to help caregivers fulfill their duty of care outside the hospital.