Why do nurses neglect to report violent incidents?

Violent incidents have increased in psychiatric hospitals, with 75% of mental health nurses and 85% of nurses generally being threatened. Anecdotal evidence suggests that inconsistent reporting contributes to poor implementation of proactive policies for preventing violent incidents. Using questionnaires to generate data, this study tested three hypotheses to determine the factors that influence nurses' reporting behaviour. The key finding was that the most likely predictor of reporting behaviour is the level of violence and the consequences of the incident.