Triggers of Agitation in Psychiatric Hospitalization Ward According to Professional Experience Questionnaire

To create and analyze an instrument to assess the possible agitation triggers of hospitalized psychiatric patients.

No tools exist for identifying according to a professional's experience.

Descriptive and cross-sectional study. The questionnaire of possible triggers of agitation behaviors of patients hospitalized in psychiatric wards according to professional experience (TAPE) was designed and analyzed.

The questionnaire was provided to 156 mental health workers (76.9% women, average work experience: 10.15 ± 8 years, 46.8% were nurses specialized in mental health, and 21.2% psychiatrists). A good internal consistency was obtained, with a Cronbach α value of 0.791 in the initial test, and 0.892 in the retest. The factorial analysis found four factors: factor 1 "personnel", factor 2 "routines", factor 3 "norms-infrastructure", and factor 4 "clinic". Factor 1 obtained the highest value, with a mean of 4.16 ± 0.63, highlighting the item "lack of specialized personnel" (mean 4.38 ± 0.81). The specialized professionals provided higher scores to the items from the factors associated with the training of the personnel and routines (p = 0.017; p = 0.042).

The TAPE questionnaire is useful for identifying the possible triggers that could lead to situations of agitation of hospitalized patients.