Behavioural Problems in Sydney Nursing Homes

✍ Scribed by A. SHAH

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 50 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199702)12:2<273::aid-gps544>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

Snowdon and colleagues' study of behavioural problems in Sydney nursing homes highlights the severity of such problems (Journal 11, 535±541). The discrepancy between reports of behavioural problems presented by senior nurses and primary care nurses in one 100-bedded nursing home was surprising. Our prospective study, examining pure aggressive behaviour over 6 months in 11 Melbourne nursing homes (range 30±62 beds), showed a highly signi®cant positive correlation between independent measures of aggression by senior nurses and shop ¯oor' nurses (r 0.81, p 0.001). The senior nurses used the RAGE scale (Patel and Hope, 1992) for weekly aggression ratings and the `shop ¯oor' nurses used the sta observation aggression scale (Palmstierna and Wistedt, 1987) to rate individual episodes of aggression. Snowdon and colleagues' ®ndings may be explained by two factors: absences of clear validity and reliability of their initial screening questionnaire completed by the senior nurses; and, in a 100-bedded nursing home, the senior nurse cannot reasonably be expected to have detailed knowledge of behavioural problems of all residents. This study illustrates the diculties of conducting much needed research in this area despite a very large sample and use of the wellvalidated and reliable Cohen-Mans®eld Agitation Inventory.