Resident-to-Resident Violence Triggers in Nursing Homes

Certified nurses’ assistants (CNAs) employed by a rural nursing home in Northeast Arkansas described their perceptions of resident-to-resident violence in order to provide insight on factors, including unmet needs, that may trigger the phenomenon. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 CNAs. Data were analyzed using content analysis and constant comparison. Two categories of triggers emerged from the data—active and passive. Active triggers involved the actions of other residents that were intrusive in nature, such as wandering into a residents’ personal space, taking a resident’s belongings, and so forth. Passive triggers did not involve the actions of residents but related to the internal and external environment of the residents. Examples were factors such as boredom, competition for attention and communication difficulties. Results indicate that there are factors, including unmet needs within the nursing home environment that may be identified and altered to prevent violence between residents.