Determinants of Seclusion After Aggression in Psychiatric Inpatients

Some aggressive incidents in psychiatric wards result in seclusion, whereas others do not. We used the Staff Observation Aggression Scale–Revised and the mental health trustʹs database to identify determinants that predicted seclusion after aggression. These consisted of demographic, diagnostic, contextual, and aggression characteristics and were analyzed in a multilevel logistic regression. This showed associations between seclusion and aggression for the following: younger age, involuntary status, history of previous aggression, physical or dangerous violence, aggression being directed against objects, and a more severe incident. Thus, seclusion after aggression appears to be mainly predicted by aggression itself.