Utility of the Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression – Inpatient Version (DASA-IV) in an acute adult inpatient non-forensic psychiatric setting: A feasibility study

BackgroundThe Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression - Inpatient Version (DASA-IV) is a brief violence risk assessment tool to evaluate imminent risk of aggression. There have been no previous studies to investigate its utility in an acute adult non-forensic psychiatric setting in Australia.ObjectiveTo examine the feasibility of DASA-IV implementation in an acute adult inpatient non-forensic psychiatric setting.MethodsThis study utilised a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-testing. Subjective data from questionnaires administered to psychiatric staff on utility of DASA-IV and objective data on frequency of aggression incidents were collected.ResultsStaff reported higher confidence in deciding when medications, seclusion, and security and medical staff were required to manage aggression. DASA-IV was reported as valuable and easy to use. Lack of time and lack of DASA-IV training for non-regular nurses were barriers to implementation. Only the control unit had a statistically higher number of aggression incidents post-intervention.Conclusions DASA-IV is a feasible tool that improves staff confidence in managing aggression and reduces aggression incidents in an acute adult non-forensic inpatient psychiatric setting in a metropolitan tertiary public hospital. Its implementation may assist in aggression management in the acute adult non-forensic inpatient psychiatric setting.