Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Robert Anders

Abstract

Physical aggression and violence are sizable concerns for mental health nursing professionals. More than 80% of nurses working in mental health areas have faced verbal or physical abuse from patients. The practicum site noted that patient violence towards staff accounted for 18-20% of workplace injuries involving days away from work, compared to 10-11% in other healthcare settings. The purpose of this project was to develop a program to educate staff on the Brøset violence screen (BVC), an evidence-based, violence-risk screening tool, to increase staff's knowledge about this tool. Five behavioral health experts used the Lynn model to evaluate the project’s educational program, learning materials, and the pre- and posttest. The experts determined that the educational program and all learning materials were useful educational tools. Knowles’ adult learning theory was used to support the educational program. Twelve licensed nurse participants completed the educational program. The pre-test findings identified a mean between 2.16 and 3.33, with a mode of 2-3 for all questions indicating staff had little to some knowledge of the content. The posttest data suggests that the educational intervention met the lesson objectives. All questions on the posttest had a mode of 4, indicating that staff felt knowledgeable about the content following the educational program intervention. The project has the potential to impact nursing practice in the state-operated health system. Social change will occur when nurses proactively assess patients at risk for violence, potentially decreasing the use of patient restraints and seclusion, and thus improving working conditions for staff by reducing work-related injuries.

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