NCJ Number
195535
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 2002 Pages: 271-291
Date Published
2002
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews literature in sexual harassment, workplace violence, and risk assessment as it relates to staff in psychiatric and forensic work environments.
Abstract
Research to date on psychiatric staff has typically focused on number of assaults by patients. It has not addressed how staff's gender may affect their perceptions of personal safety and judgments of risk from patients, nor have any empirical studies been performed in naturalistic settings to investigate this issue. This study reviewed clinical judgment and decision-making to demonstrate methodological problems with past investigation of gender effects. Collectively, this body of work suggests that gender effects in decision-making are relatively small, and future efforts to investigate them must use naturalistic settings rather than vignettes or other analog methods. The contextual factors involved in staff perceptions of risk from patients are similar to those identified for victims of sexual harassment and/or workplace violence: personal safety, job satisfaction, psychological and physical health, worker productivity, and quality of relationships with peers in the workplace. References