The Relationship Between Ward Social Climate, Ward Sense of Community, and Incidents of Disruptive Behavior: A Study of a High Secure Psychiatric Sample

Abstract

Assaults and seclusions within the UK obstruct patient recovery, and carry a combined UK cost of £106 million a year. Research has identified low ward social climate and lack of sense of community as potential factors that contributes to disruptive behavior. The current study investigates the relationship between self-reported sense of community and social climate scores with incidents of disruptive behavior (i.e., assaults and seclusions) within a UK high security psychiatric hospital. Findings reveal that both social climate and sense of community predict incidents of disruptive behaviour. This study suggests that both factors should be monitored in high security hospitals.

Keywords:

• Antisocial behavior
• forensic psychiatry
• sense of community
• social climate