Training under stress for aggression management in social work: a scoping review

Social workers often experience aggression in their work. To deal with such stressful situations, training may be required. This scoping review identifies possible training interventions for performing under stress in social work. As we anticipated limited research on social work in this regard, other related frontline professions were included in the literature search. The search was conducted using the interdisciplinary databases APA PsycInfo, Cinahl+, Medline, and Web of Science, with no date restrictions. In total, eight papers were included in the review, none of which examined social workers. Instead, all identified studies were conducted in the context of police or armed forces and reported significant effects on either reducing stress in high-stress situations or adequately performing skills despite experiencing stress. Only two studies tested and found significant effects on both stress reduction and performance improvement. Overall, stress management training and skills training under stress are effective in learning to cope with stress or perform better despite experiencing stress, respectively. Therefore, (more) realistic training under stressful conditions may benefit social workers.