Jahoda A, Wanless L K
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2005 Jul;49(Pt 7):544-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2005.00693.x.
Staff attributions concerning challenging behaviour have been found to play a role in determining their responses. The emphasis in the literature has been on staff beliefs about the challenging behaviour itself. However, staff are also likely to be responding to the person engaging in the behaviour. The aim of this study was to explore workers' perceptions of individuals who are frequently aggressive.
Thirty-six staff members working with individuals presenting problems of frequent aggression participated in this study. They were interviewed about an incident of aggression involving the person they worked with. The semi-structured interview, based on a Rational Emotive Therapy format, aimed to tap into the emotions aroused in the staff members and interpersonal appraisals that they made at the time of the incident. The responses were content analyzed.
The strength of the staff member's emotional reactions were noteworthy. Furthermore, approximately half of the staff members believed that the clients' aggression was directed at them personally. In turn, the majority of staff members described their clients in negative terms, and said that their first impulse had been to confront the clients.
The findings suggest that interpersonal perceptions may have a role in determining staff responses to individuals who behave aggressively. The clinical and theoretical implications of the findings were discussed, alongside directions for future research.
研究发现员工对具有挑战性的行为的归因在决定他们的反应方面发挥着作用。文献中的重点一直是员工对具有挑战性的行为本身的看法。然而，员工也可能会对实施该行为的人做出反应。本研究的目的是探讨工作人员对频繁具有攻击性的个体的看法。
三十六名与经常出现攻击问题的个体打交道的工作人员参与了本研究。他们接受了关于一起涉及他们所服务对象的攻击事件的访谈。基于理性情绪疗法形式的半结构化访谈旨在挖掘工作人员在事件发生时所产生的情绪以及他们所做的人际评估。对回答进行了内容分析。
工作人员情绪反应的强度值得注意。此外，大约一半的工作人员认为客户的攻击是针对他们个人的。相应地，大多数工作人员用负面的词语描述他们的客户，并表示他们的第一反应是与客户对峙。
研究结果表明，人际认知可能在决定工作人员对具有攻击性行为的个体的反应方面发挥作用。讨论了研究结果的临床和理论意义以及未来研究的方向。
