Working with violent clients : staff explanations and actions
type: CreativeWork
description: The series of studies presented in this thesis test an attribution-emotionbehaviour model of helping versus violent retaliation (after Weiner, 1995) in professional groups at high risk of encountering violence in the workplace. Weiner's model predicts that staff who perceive violent incidents as within the control of the client will be more likely to experience anger and demonstrate a retaliatory response. Conversely, staff perceiving causes as uncontrollable by the client are more likely to feel sympathetic and exhibit helping behaviour. Emotional responses are seen to mediate between attributions and behavioural responses. A direct link between attributions of control and behaviour is also proposed. These predictions are tested in relation to violent incidents encountered by nursing staff working with detained patients in a psychiatric secure unit, and police firearms officers' in shoot-don't shoot training scenarios. Previous research investigating healthcare staff s perceptions of the causes of challenging patient behaviour reports mixed support for Weiner's (1995) model. Such research could be criticized for its' almost total reliance on the use of hypothetical scenarios, questionnaire methods, and lack of attention to the potential influence of client gender. The studies presented here are unique in that they not only assess spontaneous attributions and reported emotions of staff concerning their management of actual violent incidents, but also take gender into account. An initial pilot was followed by three studies, the first two of these included samples of healthcare staff working with detained patients in a secure unit, whilst the third examined firearms officers in training. The Leeds Attributional Coding System (LACS) was used to code 1) attributions made by healthcare staff in documentation concerning physical restraint of patients, 2) verbatim transcripts of interviews concerning real violent incidents in which heafficare staff had been involved, and 3…
abstract: The series of studies presented in this thesis test an attribution-emotionbehaviour model of helping versus violent retaliation (after Weiner, 1995) in professional groups at high risk of encountering violence in the workplace. Weiner's model predicts that staff who perceive violent incidents as within the control of the client will be more likely to experience anger and demonstrate a retaliatory response. Conversely, staff perceiving causes as uncontrollable by the client are more likely to feel sympathetic and exhibit helping behaviour. Emotional responses are seen to mediate between attributions and behavioural responses. A direct link between attributions of control and behaviour is also proposed. These predictions are tested in relation to violent incidents encountered by nursing staff working with detained patients in a psychiatric secure unit, and police firearms officers' in shoot-don't shoot training scenarios. Previous research investigating healthcare staff s perceptions of the causes of challenging patient behaviour reports mixed support for Weiner's (1995) model. Such research could be criticized for its' almost total reliance on the use of hypothetical scenarios, questionnaire methods, and lack of attention to the potential influence of client gender. The studies presented here are unique in that they not only assess spontaneous attributions and reported emotions of staff concerning their management of actual violent incidents, but also take gender into account. An initial pilot was followed by three studies, the first two of these included samples of healthcare staff working with detained patients in a secure unit, whilst the third examined firearms officers in training. The Leeds Attributional Coding System (LACS) was used to code 1) attributions made by healthcare staff in documentation concerning physical restraint of patients, 2) verbatim transcripts of interviews concerning real violent incidents in which heafficare staff had been involved, and 3…
author: Leggeft, J.A.
keywords: BF Psychology
date published: 2004-08
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:39:14Z
provider: City University of London
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: City University London