Supportive organizational factors essential for managing aggression and violence at a Mental Health Institution in South Africa

Abstract

The study explored and described supportive organizational factors essential in managing aggression and violence in mental health  institutions in South Africa. Insights were obtained from the psychiatric nurses who had experienced aggression and violence while  providing care to mental health care users (MHCUs). Psychiatric nurses experience aggression and violence frequently in mental health  care. Thus, the management of aggression and violence in mental health clinical settings is a critical responsibility undertaken by  psychiatric nurses. However, they perceive their managers and leaders as distant in supporting them in managing such incidents. There  is currently a paucity of studies in South Africa that report on the supportive organizational factors essential in managing such incidents.  An exploratory-descriptive qualitative design with unstructured interviews was utilized to obtain insights about essential supportive  organizational factors from the perspectives of psychiatric nurses. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to obtain underlying  themes. One overarching theme emerged as supportive organizational factors with three subthemes: (1) availability and involvement of management and leadership; (2) provision of counselling services; (3) training and capacity development. The study revealed that  support from managers and leaders of mental health institutions is essential to manage the incidents. Further research is needed to  engage the managers and leaders of mental health institutions to obtain their views and perspectives about their role in providing  support to curb aggression and violence in mental health institutions.