ABSTRACT
Aim
To evaluate the incidence, severity and characteristics of aggressive behaviour in patients hospitalized in acute psychiatric wards, as well as the association between patient ...characteristics and the incidence of recurrent aggressive behaviour.
Methods
A multicentre prospective study included all twelve acute wards in Slovenian psychiatric hospitals with a total capacity of 232 beds. Over five consecutive months, data on the number of treatment episodes involving aggressive behaviour and the number of aggressive incidents, their severity and characteristics were obtained using the Staff Observation Aggression Scale-Revised (SOAS-R). Patient- and event-based incident rates of verbal and physical aggression were calculated. The association between patient characteristics and recurrent aggressive behaviour was analysed. Patient characteristics data were extracted from hospital databases.
Results
3,190 treatment episodes were included during a 5-month period. Aggressive behaviour was observed in 13.4% of treatment episodes, and 922 aggressive incidents were recorded, which resulted in 3.98 incidents per 100 occupied bed days and 9.48 incidents per bed per year. 74.1% of incidents were severe, and more than half of incidents included physical aggression. 75.5% of incidents were directed against medical staff. 5.9% of treatment episodes were involved in multiple aggressive incidents. Compared to patients with single incidents, patients with recurrent aggression had a less frequent main diagnosis of substance use disorders and a longer duration of hospitalization.
Conclusion
Monitoring the frequency and characteristics of aggressive behaviour allows comparisons with other studies and, more importantly, it is necessary for planning and assessing the effectiveness of preventative aggression management strategies.
When we talk about personality disorders, people usually have a very emotional reaction, with pain and unpleasant emotions being the most common. Those who have a relationship with a person who has a ...personality disorder, usually do not know what they are facing, but they do experience feelings of unease, despair, sadness, anger and depression, while doubting their own experience and perception of the world. Family and friends often feel like they are “caught in a relationship web”, which keeps getting more and more tangled, instead of untangling. Personality disorders cause everyone a lot of suffering, anger and disappointment, manifesting in every dimension of the human experience, but the behavior of a person with a personality disorder and the responses from the environment are actually a lot more predictable than you might imagine. In order to present this demanding and little-known topic to the widest range of readers, the handbook uses stories of everyday people to illustrate how their experiences of personality disorders intertwine with stress, mood disorders and problems with addiction. It also presents the process of identifying individual personality disorders and various options of self-help and recovery. The handbook is intended for anyone who is interested in the field of personality disorders, is personally facing mental health problems, or has a relative who is dealing with these issues.
The purpose was to determine the incidence of voice disorders in a group of professional actors and singers, to compare the two groups, and to investigate the potential causes of their voice ...problems.
65 actors and 63 singers from professional theatres and choirs were included. The data concerning voice problems, their possible causes, and factors adversely affecting voice quality were obtained through a questionnaire. The results were compared between the groups of professional singers and actors, and between the subgroups of singers and actors both with and without frequent voice problems.
The incidence of frequent voice problems over the entire career in singers and actors was lower than reported in the literature. Professional actors displayed more inappropriate life and vocal habits than the singers. Significant risk factors for voice disorders in singers turned out to be loud speech (p=0.029) and the presence of allergies or asthma (p=0.048). No such significant risk factors were found in actors.
The study confirmed the importance of preventive examination of the vocal tract function before enrolling in studies for an elite voice user. Professional singers and especially actors demonstrated insufficient knowledge of proper voice care. The results suggest that elite voice users require additional information on voice hygiene and occasional professional help from college to the end of career. Speech and language therapists can play a crucial role in such voice care in order to effectively prevent voice problems in elite voice users.
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