Patient-to-patient bullying in secure psychiatric services: exploring the value of official records for documenting patient-to-patient bullying

Joanne Henson; Jane Ireland

doi:10.1108/14636646200900011

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The British Journal of Forensic Practice

ISSN: 1463-6646
Currently published as: Journal of Forensic Practice

Online from: 1999

Subject Area: Health and Social Care

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Patient-to-patient bullying in secure psychiatric services: exploring the value of official records for documenting patient-to-patient bullying

Document Information:
Title:	Patient-to-patient bullying in secure psychiatric services: exploring the value of official records for documenting patient-to-patient bullying
Author(s):	Joanne Henson, (Clinical Audit Department, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool), Jane Ireland, (School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston and Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool)
Citation:	Joanne Henson, Jane Ireland, (2009) "Patient-to-patient bullying in secure psychiatric services: exploring the value of official records for documenting patient-to-patient bullying", The British Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. 11 Iss: 2, pp.10 - 16
Keywords:	Official records, Patient-to-patient bullying, Secure settings, Self-report
Article type:	General review
DOI:	10.1108/14636646200900011 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Abstract:	The study presented here examines the reporting of patient-to-patient bullying in a high secure psychiatric hospital housing adult men. It examines official records of bullying recorded on Suspected Bullying Report forms (SBRs), noting motivations for bullying and exploring how information was recorded. Its subsidiary aim was to explore the value of official records, presenting comparison data from three patient bullying surveys completed at the same hospital. All suspected reports of bullying in the hospital documented for a two-year period were collected. The patient surveys included data from three data-sets collected at the same hospital over a five-year period. The prediction that the patient surveys would suggest a higher level of bullying behaviours than official records was confirmed. Results for official records also demonstrated that motivation for bullying was either not recorded or was reported as a typology, bullying was not likely to be recorded as hospital incidents, and perpetrators were unlikely to be offered supportive intervention. The results are discussed with regard to the value of official records as a reporting mechanism.