title: Intrahospital relocation of psychiatric patients and effects on aggression.
abstract: Aggression is a recurring problem with psychiatric patients and can pose special problems on inpatient units. The purpose of this study were to identify changes in patients aggression as a consequence of routine individual relocation and to identify the relationship of certain variables with patterns of aggression. Using an adaptation of the Overt Aggression Scale (Yudofsky, Silver, Jackson, Endicott, & Williams, 1986), data were collected from the patient records of 201 individuals who had been admitted to a state hospital and subsequently transferred to another ward in the same hospital. There was a phase by day interaction with the day-to-day pattern of aggression in the pretransfer phase differing significantly from that in the posttransfer phase. The highest mean aggression for a single day was the day following transfer; the second highest was the day before transfer. There were main effects for age and number of hospital admissions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-9950.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ekland
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hagerott
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Leichman
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: O H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Osborne
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000374:Aggression; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010360:Patient Transfer; D014861:Washington