Recovery-focussed care: How it can be utilized to reduce aggression in the acute mental health setting

Consumer aggression is common in the acute mental health inpatient setting. Mental health nurses can utilize a range of interventions to prevent aggression or reduce its impact on the person and others who have witnessed the event. Incorporating recovery-focussed care into clinical practice is one intervention, as it fosters collaborative partnerships with consumers. It promotes their engagement in decisions about their care and encourages self-management of their presenting behaviours. It also allows the consumer to engage in their personal recovery as their mental health improve. Yet there is a paucity of literature on how nurses can utilize recovery-focussed care with consumers who are hospitalized and in the acute phase of their illness. In the present study, we report the findings of a scoping review of the literature to identify how recovery-focussed care can be utilized by nurses to reduce the risk of consumer aggression. Thirty-five papers met the inclusion criteria for review. Four components were identified as central to the use of recovery-focussed care with consumers at risk of becoming aggressive: (i) seeing the person and not just their presenting behaviour; (ii) interact, don't react; (iii) coproduction to achieve identified goals; and (iv) equipping the consumer as an active manager of their recovery. The components equip nurses with strategies to decrease the risk of aggression, while encouraging consumers to self-manage their challenging behaviours and embark on their personal recovery journey. Further research is required to evaluate the translation of these components clinically in the acute care setting.