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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Making the case for specialist services for older people
— evidence for the prevention and management of aggression | | Author(s) | Inga Stewart, Caroline Knight |
| Journal title | PSIGE Newsletter, no 108, July 2009 |
| Publisher | Psychologists' Special Interest Group in Elderly People - PSIGE, British Psychological Society, July 2009 |
| Pages | pp 17-33 |
| Source | http://www.psige.org.uk |
| Keywords | Aggression ; Behaviour disorders ; Psychogeriatric patients ; Psychiatric treatment ; Evaluation ; Northampton. |
| Annotation | St Andrews Healthcare - Townsend, Northampton has come to specialise in meeting the needs of people primarily aged 55+ who present with challenging mental health problems. These older people have extremely complex needs due to a mixture of forensic, psychiatric, cognitive and physical problems, and many have challenging behaviour including frequent and severe aggression. St Andrews Healthcare - Townsend works to reduce risk and maximise the function of quality of life of patients, whilst assuring the best possible support for autonomy and dignity. The Overall Aggression Scale Modified for Neurorehabilitation (OAS-MNR) offers continuous direct observation and assessment of antecedents, contexts and interventions as well as a record of the type and severity of aggression from clearly defined categories. This tool has been effectively utilised with older people in routine audit, whilst providing valuable feedback to patients, staff, relative and commissioners. Three years previously the OAS-MNR had provided data to audit aggressive behaviour at St Andrews Healthcare - Townsend. The audit captured a substantial amount of aggression, the severity of which was comparable with younger brain injury populations. In doing so, it facilitated in validating the clear need for specialist services for older people and ensuring that the resources necessary to sustain these services were considered. It also offered a means for addressing risk management. Following on from this audit, a Prevention and Management of Aggression working group )PMAG) was formed to produce an action plan to further review how to reduce or manage the level of identified aggression. The authors discuss the outcome of this group, in order share their ideas, deliberations and challenges, and to promote best practice. The questions of "Prevention", "Management and Treatment" and "Support for Staff" are examined. These are evaluated in the context of a re-audit of the aggressive behaviour exhibited by the patient group and captured on the OAS-MNR. Opportunities for service development and further research are also discussed. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-100125205 A |
| Classmark | EPB: EP: LF:E: LP: 4C: 8NAD |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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