Recovery-focussed care: How it can be utilized to reduce aggression in the acute mental health setting

Abstract

Consumer aggression is common in the acute mental health inpatient setting. Mental health nurses can utilize a range of interventions to prevent aggression or reduce its impact on the person and others who have witnessed the event. Incorporating recovery-focussed care into clinical practice is one intervention, as it fosters collaborative partnerships with consumers. It promotes their engagement in decisions about their care and encourages self-management of their presenting behaviours. It also allows the consumer to engage in their personal recovery as their mental health improve. Yet there is a paucity of literature on how nurses can utilize recovery-focussed care with consumers who are hospitalized and in the acute phase of their illness. In the present study, we report the findings of a scoping review of the literature to identify how recovery-focussed care can be utilized by nurses to reduce the risk of consumer aggression. Thirty-five papers met the inclusion criteria for review. Four components were identified as central to the use of recovery-focussed care with consumers at risk of becoming aggressive: (i) seeing the person and not just their presenting behaviour; (ii) interact, don't react; (iii) coproduction to achieve identified goals; and (iv) equipping the consumer as an active manager of their recovery. The components equip nurses with strategies to decrease the risk of aggression, while encouraging consumers to self-manage their challenging behaviours and embark on their personal recovery journey. Further research is required to evaluate the translation of these components clinically in the acute care setting.

Keywords: aggression; consumer; mental health nurse; recovery-focussed care.