title: The underreporting gap in aggressive incidents from geriatric patients against certified nursing assistants.
abstract: Staff in the health care industry experience workplace aggression at a much higher rate than the general workforce. However, a large proportion of aggressive incidents go unreported, and the source of many of these incidents is patients. This study investigates aggressive incidents from patients against certified nursing assistants (CNAs; n = 76) in a sample of six geriatric care facilities. The results indicate that CNAs experienced a median of 26 aggressive incidents over the course of the 2-week study and that approximately 95% of these incidents were not reported to the facility. The present study also empirically examines reasons why nursing staff decide to report incidents. Finally, this study reveals that the experience of aggression from patients is related to subsequent organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and intent to leave the job.
authors.affiliation: University of Oklahoma, Norman 73019, USA. lsnyder@ou.edu
authors.forename: Lori Anderson
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: Peter Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tammi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vacha-Haase
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002568:Certification; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009728:Nursing Assistants / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009825:Oklahoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000453:epidemiology; D012308:Risk Management; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology