Verbal and physical client aggression - A longitudinal analysis of professional caregivers' psychophysiological stress response and burnout.

Autor: Kind N; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Basel, Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, Schanzenstrasse 13, 4056, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: nina.kind@upkbs.ch., Eckert A; Neurobiological Laboratory, Transfaculty Research Platform Molecular & Cognitive Neuroscience, University Basel, Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4012, Basel, Switzerland., Steinlin C; Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Applied Psychology, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005, Zurich, Switzerland., Fegert JM; University Hospital Ulm, Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Steinhövelstrasse 5, 89075 Ulm, Germany., Schmid M; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Basel, Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, Schanzenstrasse 13, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Psychoneuroendocrinology [Psychoneuroendocrinology] 2018 Aug; Vol. 94, pp. 11-16. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 May 02.
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.05.001
Abstrakt: Objective: We investigated the impact of verbal and physical client aggression on risk of developing high hair cortisol concentration (HCC) as an indicator of chronic stress exposure and burnout in a Swiss population of professional caregivers working in youth residential care.
Method: Participants (n = 121; 62.0% women) reported on client aggression and burnout symptoms and provided hair samples at four annual sampling points. HCC was determined in the first 1.5 cm hair segment. Sociodemographic variables, private stressors, burnout symptoms, and HCC were compared between participants reporting either 'no aggression', 'verbal' aggression, or 'verbal + physical' aggression. Cox proportional hazards regressions were calculated to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between client aggression and risk of high HCC or burnout over the course of three years.
Results: Professional caregivers reporting 'verbal + physical' aggression had higher HCC, more cognitive burnout symptoms, and greater burden in interpersonal domains. Both 'verbal' and 'verbal + physical' aggression were positively associated with burnout risk (verbal: HR = 1.83; 95% CI = 1.27-2.65; verbal + physical: HR = 2.44, 95% CI = 1.56-3.84). 'Verbal + physical' aggression was positively associated with risk of high HCC (HR = 1.58; 95% CI = 1.07-2.36).
Conclusions: This longitudinal analysis suggested that psychophysiological stress response is primarily associated with combined verbal and physical aggression. The emotional wearing-down associated with verbal aggression should however not be disregarded. Our exploratory findings could have implications for youth welfare policy, clinical child psychiatry, and future research.
(Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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