Behavioral rehabilitation and the reduction of aggressive and self-injurious behaviors with cognitively impaired, chronic psychiatric inpatients

Aggressive behavior has been identified as a significant concern and occupational hazard in psychiatric inpatient settings. Several factors, including lax or unclear ward structure, have been identified as contributing to the exhibition of aggressive behavior. Token economies are effective in increa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatric quarterly 1999, Vol.70 (1), p.27-37
Main Authors: BELLUS, S. B, VERGO, J. G, KOST, P. P, STEWART, D, BARKSTROM, S. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aggression - psychology
Behavior Therapy - methods
Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Chronic Disease
Cognition Disorders - psychology
Cognition Disorders - rehabilitation
Cognition Disorders - therapy
Female
Hospitalization
Hospitals, Psychiatric
Hospitals, State
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - rehabilitation
Mental Disorders - therapy
Middle Aged
Program Evaluation
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Self-Injurious Behavior - prevention & control
Self-Injurious Behavior - rehabilitation
Token Economy
Treatment Outcome
Treatments
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Summary:Aggressive behavior has been identified as a significant concern and occupational hazard in psychiatric inpatient settings. Several factors, including lax or unclear ward structure, have been identified as contributing to the exhibition of aggressive behavior. Token economies are effective in increasing ward structure and reducing aggressive behavior. This study evaluated the effects of rehabilitation programming, based on Gordon Paul's social learning approach (SLA), on rates of aggressive and self-injurious behaviors in a group of cognitively impaired, chronic psychiatric inpatients, compared to three long-term wards of similar patients. While no differences were found between the two groups prior to implementing SLA procedures, lower rates of aggression and self-injurious behavior were observed at one and two years on the Paul-derived ward. These results support the use of Paul's approach with multiply-impaired psychiatric inpatients in reducing patient aggression.
ISSN:0033-2720
1573-6709
DOI:10.1023/A:1022075007384