Problems of the Nurses Working in Psychiatric Wards of Sina and Hajar Hospital in Dealing with Aggressive Patients in Shahrekord

Background and Objective: Management of aggressive behavior is one of the important problems for nurses working in psychiatric wards. This study aimed at determining nurses' problem in dealing with aggressive behavior in psychiatric wards. Material and Methods: This descriptive-analytic study, via census sampling, was conducted on 41 nurses engaging in psychiatric wards of Hajar and Sina Hospitals in Shahrekord, 2011. The data collected by a research-made questionnaire including demographic data and nurses' problems for management of patient aggression in three domains of personal, physical environment of ward and organizational factors. Using means, frequency, Mann-Whitney and Chi square, we described and analyzed the data. Results: The average age of nurses was 36.34±6.74 and their record of services in psychiatry ward was 6.73± 4.85 years. The most frequent nurses' problem in management of aggressive patients was related to personal problem specially the threat of having physical conflict with patients and encountering with the consequences of patients’ physical restriction. There was no significant relationship between the frequency of aggression and the variables such as age, sex, work shift, work history and type of employment (P>0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results, the nurses working in psychiatry wards are faced with some problems in dealing with aggressive patients especially in personal and physical environment domains. Hence, it needs to be considered by the officials