Nurses' Perceptions Regarding Current Skills in Minimizing Patient's Aggression at a Selected Psychiatric Hospital in Lesotho

Background: Meta-analysis of international literature indicates high frequencies of aggression in mental health setting. Several studies indicated that among professional health workers, nurses are more likely than other staff members to experience aggressive incidences from patients. Furthermore, based on cause, nurses apply range of interventions in managing aggression, however, despite their perceived value of their intervention in managing aggression, no single intervention is sufficient for handling aggressive patients to stay in control in wards. Despite high priority placed on patient aggression management, insufficient research studies have been conducted on nurses' perceptions regarding current skills in minimizing patient's aggression. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe nurses' perceptions regarding current assessment skills in minimizing patient's aggression at selected Psychiatric hospital. Methodology: Non-experimental, exploratory, descriptive research design was used to guide research process. All-inclusive sampling method was used with 119 nurses as respondents. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire, analyzed using SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics procedure was used to present findings of the study. Results: Minority of respondents, (n=27) 22.7% agreed that their current assessment skills for minimizing patients' aggression were good compared to majority of respondents, (n=92) 77.3%, who expressed a different opinion. This suggests that there is a limited current assessment skill in identifying high risk aggressive patients in a selected Psychiatric hospital. Conclusion: The findings of study indicate that there is a limited current assessment skill in minimizing patients' aggression at selected Psychiatric hospital. Therefore, there is need to provide comprehensive information on nurses' current skills in minimizing patients' aggression to obtain richer information