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Aggressive behavior in psychiatric care is a serious problem. The causes of aggression may be ambiguous, including behaviors gender, age, or atmosphere on the ward. Other risk factors, usually not mentioned, include meteorological conditions, such as air temperature and humidity, pressure or wind. The available literature suggests a link between meteorological conditions and the use of coercive interventions in psychiatric care. In this study, we examined meteorological conditions that correlated with an increased number of cases of aggressive behavior leading to coercive interventions. The relationships between the studied variables were determined using linear correlation tests and cluster analysis. The study draws on coercive intervention records from The Józef BabiánskiPsychiatric Hospital in Krakow, spanning 27 months. The hospital's seventeen in-patient treatment wards, six day-care centers, nine community treatment teams, and six outpatient clinics have a capacity of 790 patients. Among patients who were susceptible to weather changes, specific weather types were identified as being related to more cases of aggressive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary: What is known about the subject? (Scientific Rationale): Mental health care in Poland lags behind that of many other countries, and coercive measures are used on a regular basis.Scant research has been conducted in Poland regarding the treatment of psychiatric patients.The perspectives of Polish psychiatric nurses towards aggression remain unknown. What does this paper add to the existing knowledge?: The translated and validated Attitude Towards Aggression Scale (ATAS) in Polish will serve as an instrument that gauges Polish nurses' attitudes towards aggression. The Polish nurses have unenlightened and negative attitude towards aggression. What are the implications for practice?: There is now an instrument in Polish by which we can gauge the attitudes of mental health nurses, which must precede any educational efforts. Polish nurses showed more restrictive and antiquated attitudes about patient violence than nurses in some other parts of the world. With a shift to more positive attitudes, the use of coercion could be reduced, resulting in improved patient care. Introduction: In Poland, the mode and site of patient treatment have changed little in the past 75 years, despite therapeutic advances worldwide. There is limited information regarding attitudes of nurses towards aggression in psychiatric settings in Poland, nor has there been an instrument in Polish to measure it. Aim: To translate and validate the Attitudes Towards Aggression Scale (ATAS) for use in Poland, and to assess the attitudes of three groups of nursing personnel towards aggression. Method: We surveyed 980 psychiatric and general nurses as well as nursing students. We translated the ATAS into Polish, and validated it using exploratory factor analysis. Results: The Polish version of the ATAS showed good psychometric properties. We found that Polish nurses perceived patient aggression extremely negatively. Discussion: Polish nurses perceive aggression as destructive, negative and not to be tolerated, leading to use of restraints. Among the three groups, psychiatric nurses showed the most negative attitude towards aggression. Thus, education is needed for preservice and inservice nurses alike to address this issue. What this study adds to existing evidence: We now have a validated instrument to assess nurses' attitudes about aggression. We also know that Polish nurses have exceedingly negative attitudes towards aggression. Implications for Practice: The Polish version of ATAS was found valid and reliable. Therefore, we can now measure the attitudes of Polish nurses towards aggression, which was not possible previously. The baseline data provide a starting point from which to determine effects of educational efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To reduce the use of mechanical restraints, Safewards was introduced to a ward in a psychiatric hospital in Poland. Design and Methods: Three aspects of Safewards were applied for 8 months. The comparison time period was the same time frame of the previous year. Findings: Restraint use dropped by 24%, and the number of patients restrained dropped 34%. The duration of restraint remained at 2.8 days per episode. Practice Implications: Simple techniques aimed at promoting positive interactions between staff and patients can reduce the frequency of restraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied perceptions of Oklahoma public school students (n = 7,848) regarding bullying. Specifically, we asked for their thoughts about the seriousness of bullying, the hurtfulness of bullying, their involvement in bullying (as victim or perpetrator), their responses to being bullied or seeing someone else being bullied, and what they wanted adults to do to make the situation better. Children who were bullied frequently worried more about bullying, thought bullying was more serious and hurtful, and wanted adults to do more to fix the situation. To improve the situation, children wanted adults to provide better supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]