Abstract
The recent publication of several surveys on violence was the impetus for this book. The first was carried out in 1986 by the Health and Safety Commission Health Services Advisory Committee (1987). They conducted a comprehensive survey of the incidence of violence to 5000 workers in five separate health districts. The results from the 3000 people who eventually replied made many in the caring professions worried. One in 200 workers had suffered a major injury following a violent attack during the previous year and a further one in ten needed first aid following an assault. Other surveys also showed high risks: of social service staff, 6% had suffered an attack in the past 5 years (Saunders, 1987), and social workers were at even higher risk. 29% had been assaulted in the last 3 years (Rowett, 1986). In addition, 4% of general practitioners had experienced an attack resulting in injury in the past year (D’Urso and Hobbs, 1989). Clinical psychologists were also at risk — 53% had been assaulted at least once during their professional career and 18% in the past year (Perkins, 1991).
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References
D’Urso, P. and Hobbs, F.D.R. (1989) Aggression and the general practitioner. British Medical Journal 298, 97–8.
Health Services Advisory Comittee (1987) Violence to Staff in the Health Services, Health and Safety Commission, London.
Noble, P. and Rodger, S. (1989) Violence by psychiatric inpatients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 384–90.
Perkins, R. (1991) Clinical Psychologists’ Experience of Violence at Work. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society, Bournemouth.
Rowett, C. (1986) Violence in Social Work. Institute of Criminology Occasional Paper No. 14, Cambridge University.
Saunders, L. (1987) Safe and Secure in Surrey? Violence to Staff of the Social Service Department. Social Services Research, University Department of Social Policy, Birmingham, Nos 5/6.
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Wykes, T. (1994). Introduction. In: Wykes, T. (eds) Violence and Health Care Professionals. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2863-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2863-4_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-56593-132-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2863-4
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