Growing violence against health care workers prompted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1996 to publish employer guidelines; health care employers are expected to protect their employees from violence from patients, families, and others. Nurse aides working in long term care represent the occupation most at risk of workplace assault. These caregivers receive minimal education regarding the care of some of the most challenging and aggressive patients. As the number of nursing home patients and aides increases in the near future, efforts are needed to improve the nursing home environment for both caregivers and residents. A preliminary study by the investigators found that nurse aides, who daily experience verbal and physical violence, lack the knowledge and skills to prevent violence. The purpose of the proposed study is to test the effectiveness of an intervention to decrease violence against nurse aides.
The aims of the study are to: 1) describe the context in which assaults occur, 2) increase nurse aides' skills to prevent assaults, and 3) decrease the incidence of assaults against nurse aides. The study design is quasi-experimental with two nursing homes serving as a control group and two homes as an intervention group. Within each nursing home 18 subjects will be randomly selected to participate in the study. Two instruments, the Assault Log and the Violence Prevention Checklist have been developed for this study. The intervention, based on Social Cognitive Theory, will consist of a four hour in-service and three 1 1/2 hour problem solving groups. Subjects will be assessed for changes in their assault prevention skills prior to the intervention and upon completion of the intervention. The type and number of assaults will also be assessed before and after the intervention. Data analysis will include a summary of the context in which assaults occur. Data analysis will also determine whether the intervention group demonstrated a significant difference in violence prevention skills than the control group and whether there was a significant difference in the number of violent incidents between the intervention group and the control group.
| Gates, Donna; Fitzwater, Evelyn; Succop, Paul (2005) Reducing assaults against nursing home caregivers. Nurs Res 54:119-27 |
