The Extended Staff Observation Aggression Scale (SOAS-E): development,presentation and evaluation |
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Authors: | A. Hallsteinsen M. Kristensen A. A. Dahl D. E. Eilertsen |
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Abstract: | The Staff Observation Aggression Scale (SOAS) was developed as a scale for reporting aggressive incidents involving psychiatric in-patients. The SOAS — Extended Version (SOAS-E) has the same aim, but has additional categories and subcategories. The SOAS-E clearly distinguishes between violent and non-violent aggressive behaviour and characterizes in more detail the associated situation. However, the main contribution of the SOAS-E is the introduction of a category of‘warning signals’ that precede the releasing‘provocation factor’ as a separate and primary aspect of the cyclus of aggressive incidents. The development of the SOAS-E is described, and the testing and inter-rater reliability of the warning signals category are examined. Compared to the SOAS, the additional categories of the SOAS-E are found to increase the scope for a detailed characterization of aggressive behaviour in psychiatric wards. |
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Keywords: | aggression assault rating scale |
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