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Emotional Responses of Staff to Assault in a Pediatric State Hospital

Dr. Ryan and Dr. Burket are Associate Professors, Dr. Warren is Professor, Dr. Aaron is Assistant Clinical Professor, and Dr. Burnette is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Ms. Aaron is Project Coordinator, Charlottesville, VA. This research was supported by grant 115797-101-GS10272-40580 from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. All opinions expressed in it are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Address correspondence to: Eileen P. Ryan, DO, PO Box 800660, ILPPP UVA Health System, Charlottesville, VA 22908. E-mail: er3h{at}virginia.edu

In this study, we examined the emotional responses of staff to patient-on-staff assault at a state inpatient psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. Staff (n = 93) completed self-report measures assessing general psychiatric functioning and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Staff assaulted by patients in the past six months (n = 59) were compared with those who had not been assaulted (n = 34). Direct-care staff were more likely to be assaulted than were other staff. Assaulted staff were more likely to report prior nonsexual assault by a stranger, higher anxiety, more somatic concerns, greater vulnerability and lack of control, and higher levels of impairment at work and were more likely to consider terminating employment than were non-assaulted staff. Our cross-sectional data suggest several differences in assaulted versus non-assaulted staff. Further studies are needed to determine whether differences in anxiety and traumatic events precede assaults or represent antecedent risk factors for being assaulted.