THE PERCEPTION OF AGGRESSION

Several academic and clinical disciplines are involved in clarifying t he concept of aggression by formulating operational and descriptive de finitions. In the present paper the validity of the definitions of agg ression, reported by nurses in an earlier qualitative study, is examin ed, using a survey approach among nurses of five general psychiatric h ospitals in the Netherlands. Three dimensions of aggression were found ; aggression as a normal, adaptive reaction, aggression as a violent r eaction and aggression as a functional reaction. These findings match the results of the qualitative study. It was investigated whether ther e was a relation between personal and environmental characteristics of the nurses and the way they perceive aggression. The gender of the re spondents, the setting in which they were working, the degree to which they used constraint measures and whether patients were voluntarily a dmitted or not, were related to the perception of aggression. The stud y points out that different instruments are needed to measure the prev alence or incidence of aggression and to diagnose or to intervene on a ggression in clinical practice.