Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:1568-1571
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Physical assaults in a psychiatric unit of a general hospital
JG Edwards, D Jones, WH Reid and CC Chu
Department of Psychiatry, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton, U.K.
The authors collected data concerning assaults, assaultive patients, and
victims in a psychiatric unit during a 12-month period and compared them
with data from a control group of patients. Thirty-seven assaults by 25
patients were recorded. Fourteen of the victims were patients and 23 were
members of staff. The assaultive group contained a significantly higher
proportion of schizophrenic patients than did the control group and
significantly larger numbers of patients from lower socioeconomic classes,
patients admitted involuntarily under a section of the Mental Health Act,
and patients with a history of assaults.
