Gender Differences in Assault Levels in a Health Service Unit for People with Learning Disabilities and Severely Challenging Behaviour

Abstract

The present study examines gender differences and levels of threatened, attempted and actual assaults on staff working in a health service in-patient unit for individuals with learning disabilities over a 35-month period. It was found that the staff experienced high levels of assault overall, but that women experienced significantly higher levels of both threatened and total assaults as compared with men. Implications of the findings are discussed.