Aggression prevention training for student nurses: Differential responses to training and the interaction between theory and practice

SummaryWorkplace violence is of great concern to all health care professionals. Nurses are major targets for incidents of violence, with student nurses being clearly recognised as a high-risk sub-group. Training is widely advocated as the appropriate organisational response but the effects and effectiveness of training are inadequately studied.A recently completed Ph.D study used a longitudinal research design to evaluate the effects of a three-day ‘aggression prevention and management training programme’ on various learning domains of three cohorts of UK student nurses destined for adult, child, mental health and learning disability specialities [N = 243] in their first year of nurse training. A purpose-designed questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and self-assessed competence at four time points, two before and two following the educational input.This paper focuses on the differences detected in student nurses’ responses to different sections of the questionnaire, at various time points, in relation to recorded demographic variables, namely, their age, gender, destined speciality, and previous relevant training experience. It also considers the ‘interaction’ between theoretical preparation and clinical practice. These finding may also have wider relevance to skills training and understanding of the reality of student nurse experience in clinical settings.