Communication skills training in the management of patient aggression and violence in healthcare

Publication date: Available online 6 February 2018
Source:Aggression and Violent Behavior
Author(s): Maria Baby, Christopher Gale, Nicola Swain
Challenging behaviours may sabotage therapeutic relationships if not addressed appropriately. While medication, environmental planning and staffing resources are requisites for the management of challenging behaviour, effective communication is an important aspect in the management of these challenging behaviours including aggression. Good communication helps the patient become an active partner in the process. Staff training that focuses on communication skills can be useful to both patients and healthcare workers. This paper aims to review the research evidence from existing communication skills training programmes that are exclusively or partly focused on the reduction of aggression perpetrated by patients. This review included one randomized controlled trial protocol, one quasi experimental study, six pre-test/post-test designs, three mixed methods, four qualitative studies, one descriptive survey and four with other designs that were mostly conducted in mental health settings. The findings show that communication skills training improve the confidence of staff in dealing with aggression. However, minimal number of studies with a focus on aggression reduction, the quality of the studies in terms of design and lack of active controlled trials minimizes the generalizability of the findings. These findings reiterate the need for future research with a focus on well designed, active controlled studies to establish the effectiveness of communication skills training as a suitable strategy to minimise and prevent patient aggression.



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