Developing a Tool for Assessing Risk of Inpatients’ Aggressive Behavior

June 15, 2011 by Andrew Atwal

Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

This study assessed the Brief Rating of Aggression by Children and Adolescents (BRACHA) tool to test whether it was helpful in predicting which adolescent psychiatric patients might be aggressive toward hospital staff or their physicians. The study involved administering the BRACHA questionnaire – consisting of 16 questions along with various demographic data – to 418 children and teenagers during the admissions process for the psychiatric units at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Hospital personnel then recorded any incident of aggression that occurred during the patient’s first six days of hospitalization.  The period was limited to six days to make the analyses consistent.  Overall, a total of 292 aggressive acts were committed by 120 hospitalized patients (29 percent). Of the 292 incidents, 102 were verbal, 81 were toward objects, 63 were toward others, and 46 were toward self.

The study confirmed that 14 of the 16 questions on the survey were significantly associated with aggression by children and teenagers.

 

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