The effect of aggression management training programmes for nursing staff and students working in an acute hospital setting. A narrative review of current literature.

Background: Patient aggression is a longstanding problem in general hospital nursing. Staff training is recommended to tackle workplace aggression originating from patients or visitors, yet evidence on training effects is scarce.

Aims: To review and collate current research evidence on the effect of aggression management training for nurses and nursing students working in general hospitals, and to derive recommendations for further research.

Design: Systematic, narrative review.

Data Sources: Embase, MEDLINE, the Cochrane library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, pubmed, psycArticles, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection were searched for articles evaluating training programs for staff and students in acute hospital adult nursing in a 'before/after' design. Studies published between January 2000 and September 2011 in English, French or German were eligible of inclusion.

Review Methods: The methodological quality of included studies was assessed with the 'Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies'. Main outcomes i.e. attitudes, confidence, skills and knowledge were collated.

Results: Nine studies were included. Two had a weak, six a moderate, and one a strong study design. All studies reported increased confidence, improved attitude, skills, and knowledge about risk factors post training. There was no significant change in incidence of patient aggression.

Conclusion: Our findings corroborate findings of reviews on training in mental health care, which point to a lack of high quality research. Training does not reduce the incidence of aggressive acts. Aggression needs to be tackled at an organizational level.