Resident Aggression toward Staff at a Center for the Developmentally Disabled

Abstract

Few studies have examined factors contributing to nonfatal assaults to staff working in residential care facilities. The authors evaluated resident assaults toward direct care/nursing staff at an Intermediate Care Facility for Individuals with Mental Retardation (ICF/MR), which included observations of work areas, employee interviews, calculation of injury and assault rates for 2004 to 2007 from Occupational Safety and Health Administration Logs, and review of state ICF/MR guidelines. Most staff interviewed reported having been injured during physical restraint of a resident and the average rate of injury from assault at the center evaluated was higher than the average national rates for the health care and social assistance sector for the same time period. The center lacked policies for a safe workplace. The authors recommended review and maintenance of workplace violence prevention policies and developing a post-incident response and evaluation program to assist staff in coping with the consequences of assault and/or occupational injury.