Reliability and validity of the Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale (MAVAS-BR) for use in Brazil

Vargas, Divane de; Luis, Margarita Antônia Villar; Soares, Janaina; Soares, Marcos Hirata

doi:10.1590/0101-60830000000068

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Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo)

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Original articles • Arch. Clin. Psychiatry (São Paulo) 42 (6) • Nov-Dec 2015 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-60830000000068 copy

Reliability and validity of the Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale (MAVAS-BR) for use in Brazil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Background

Aggression and violent behavior against health care professionals is a serious problem today and has aroused the interest of researchers and authorities. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale – Brazil (MAVAS-BR) for use with Brazilian nurses.

Method

The MAVAS-BR was applied in a convenience sample of 262 nurses, the data were submitted to an exploratory factor analysis, and reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha.

Results

The MAVAS-BR is composed of 23 items distributed among four factors, and the Cronbach’s alpha was σ = 0.75.

Discussion

The MAVAS-BR is a reliable instrument for measuring the attitudes of Brazilian nurses facing aggression and violent behavior. The scale has shown to possess validity and the recommended reliability criteria; however, additional studies using this scale should be performed to offer further evidence of its validity in the context of Brazilian nursing.

Scales; aggression; validation studies; psychiatric nursing

Items Interactional/situational perspective	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4
02. Other individuals make patients become aggressive or violent	0.380
03. Patients usually become aggressive because employees do not give them enough attention	0.420
06. Miscommunication with health professionals can make patients aggressive	0.320
13. Medication is a valuable approach in the treatment of aggressive and violent behavior	0.372
20. Improvement in the relationship between professionals and patients can reduce the incidence of patient aggression	0.470
15. Negotiation could be used more efficiently when dealing with aggression and violence	0.770
External or environmental perspective
01. Patients are aggressive because of the environment in which they live		0.570
16. Environments with very strict care can contribute to aggression and violence		0.590
23. In general, situations cause aggressiveness in patients		0.420
27. If the physical space were different, patients would be less aggressive		0.470
Biological perspective
04. It is difficult to prevent patients from becoming violent and aggressive			0.450
05. Patient aggression is due to sickness			0.300
07. Some types of patients often become aggressive with health professionals			0.490
14. Aggressive patients calm down naturally if left alone			0.360
Management of aggression and violence
10. When a patient is violent, isolation is one of the most effective strategies to use				0.456
11. Violent patients are often restrained for their own safety				0.300
12. The isolation of violent patients should be avoided				0.330
17. Patient aggression does not always require the intervention of health professionals				0.430
18. Physical restraint is sometimes used more often than necessary				0.790
19. Alternatives to the use of restraint and sedation to deal with patient violence can be used more often				0.355
21. Patient aggressiveness can be managed more efficiently in this health unit				0.340
24. Isolation is sometimes used more often than necessary				0.650
25. Prescription drugs should be used more often to help aggressive and violent patients				0.554

Correlation between the factors	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4
Factor 1	0.77
Factor 2	0.38*	0.70
Factor 3	0.34*	0.46	0.60
Factor 4	0.29*	0.48^†	0.40*	0.71
MAVAS-BR	0.65*	0.70*	0.35^†	0.32*
Eigenvalue	4.0	2.8	1.7	1.2
% explained variance	21.3	8.7	5.8	8.4
% cumulative variance	21.3	30.0	35.8	44.2

Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo Rua Ovídio Pires de Campos, 785 , 05403-010 São Paulo SP Brasil, Tel./Fax: +55 11 2661-8011 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: archives@usp.br

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[1] Address for correspondence: Divane de Vargas, University of São Paulo-School of Nursing, Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 – 05403-000 – São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Phone: (+55 11) 3061-7608, Fax: (+55 11) 3061-7615. Email:vargas@usp.br.