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Violence and aggression in the Drug Treatment Centre Board

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Peter Whitty  and
John J O'Connor
Peter Whitty
Affiliation:
East London and the City Mental Health NHS Trust, Glen Road, Plaistow, LondonE13 8SP
John J O'Connor
Affiliation:
Drug Treatment Centre Board, Trinity Court, 30-31 Pearse Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
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Abstract

Objectives: We sought to determine the prevalence of and the factors associated with violent and aggressive incidents among clients attending an out-patient methadone stabilisation and detoxification programme in Dublin.

Methods: We retrospectively examined all incident report forms over a two-year period. We also obtained information on demographics, main drug of abuse, timing and location of the incident as well as psychiatric and physical comorbidity among the perpetrators from case note review.

Results: Two hundred and ninety-five incidents occurred over the study period. The overall rate of violence and aggression was 85 per 1,000 clients attending the centre per year. Most incidents involved verbal abuse. Females were significantly more likely to be involved in assaults compared to males. A high proportion of clients (80%) who were physically aggressive tested positive for benzodiazepine medication.

Conclusions: Levels of recorded violence have remained stable however racial abuse has increased in recent years. The relatively low overall rate of violence suggests that existing measures have helped reduce the number of aggressive and violent incidents in the centre. Most of the victims were either doctors, nursing staff or general assistants. This finding reflected their respective roles in the centre, which included limit setting and dealing with positive drug screens among clients.

Keywords

Violenceaggressionmethadone maintenance and detoxification.
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 2006 , pp. 89 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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