Citation

Amore M, Tonti C, Esposito W, Baratta S, Berardi D, Menchetti M. Community Ment. Health J. 2013; 49(4): 451-456.

Affiliation

Department of Neurosciences, University of Parma, Strada del Quartiere 2/A, 43100, Parma, Italy, mario.amore@unipr.it.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-012-9530-1

PMID

22820931

Abstract

The present study analyzes course and predictors of physically aggressive behaviour over a 1-year follow up in a sample of patients discharged from a psychiatric inpatient unit. One hundred and eighty-six patients discharged from a locked short-term Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at the Bologna University Hospital. After discharge, two data collection contacts at 1 month and at 1 year were scheduled. In particular, psychiatrists, nurses, and other professionals were interviewed by the research staff using the Overt Aggression Scale. About 20 % of discharged patients showed physical aggressiveness in subsequent follow-up contacts. Risk factors for physical violence in the short-time period were social problems and a longer time from the first psychiatric contact. Living in residential facilities and physical aggressiveness during hospitalization were correlated to violence in the long-time period. Risk factors for physically violent behaviour differed in the short-term and long-term follow-ups; different causes of violent behaviour could be hypothesized.

Language: en