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Characteristics of International Staff Victims of Psychiatric Patient Assaults: Review of Published Findings, 2000–2012

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Abstract

Psychiatric patient assaults on staff are a worldwide occupational hazard that results in human suffering and dollar cost expense. International research in the 1990s documented the frequent occurrence of these assaults. This present paper reviewed the published, international literature on staff victim assaults during the first decade of the new century. The findings indicate assaults on staff remain a serious worldwide issue as it was in the 1990s, even with new policy initiatives in place meant to reduce such violence. The findings by continents and a detailed methodological inquiry are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Raymond B. Flannery Jr. & Grace Wyshak

  2. Newton Free Library, Newton, MA, USA

    Georgina J. Flannery

Authors
  1. Raymond B. Flannery Jr.
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  2. Grace Wyshak
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  3. Georgina J. Flannery
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Correspondence to Raymond B. Flannery Jr..

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Flannery, R.B., Wyshak, G. & Flannery, G.J. Characteristics of International Staff Victims of Psychiatric Patient Assaults: Review of Published Findings, 2000–2012. Psychiatr Q 85, 397–404 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-014-9314-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-014-9314-6

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