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Identification and description of adults with mental handicaps showing physically aggressive behaviours
Author(s) -
Reed Julie
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
mental handicap research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 0952-9608
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3148.1990.tb00032.x
Subject(s) - aggression , psychology , predictability , identification (biology) , population , applied psychology , arousal , inclusion (mineral) , perception , developmental psychology , social psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , statistics , botany , mathematics , environmental health , biology , neuroscience
ABSTRACT Eleven adults showing physically aggressive behaviour were drawn from the population of a small hospital for people with mental handicaps. They were identified by means of Criterion 1, an operational definition specifying tissue damage. High inter‐rater agreement between ward staff members was obtained for this criterion. A second inclusion criterion, which specified any act of physical aggression resulting in verbal or vocal reports of pain from another person, resulted in low inter‐rater agreement. Analysis, therefore, was focused on the 11 adults identified by Criterion 1. It is proposed that, for the purposes of planning for future service provision and resource allocation, the identification of people whose physical aggression is likely to present challenges to those with whom they live and work should also consider the influence of additional factors, such as predictability, emotional arousal, and topographical differences. These may be important variables in staff perceptions and management of physically aggressive behaviour.