The National Report: Home Care, Community Care and Outreach Staff Safety Survey 2013 presents the findings from the Home Care, Community Care and Outreach Staff Safety Survey 2013.

Respondents reported on their experience during the previous 30 days regarding the nature, frequency and impact of incidents of aggression and violence specific to home care, community care and outreach roles across aged care, disability, family and youth, mental health and other sectors.

The survey was conducted from 9 December 2013 to 4 April 2014. The 1,059 respondents who completed the survey came from 256 organisations Australia wide. 85% of respondents were direct care workers, with the remaining 15% being managers and area managers.

 

A sample of the key findings include:

 

• While the majority of incidents involving aggression and/or violence resulted in minimal physical harm, at least 9% of incidents during the last 30 days involved assault. 

 

• 30% of incidents involving aggression and/or violence during the last 30 days resulted in the worker suffering a Psychological Injury. 

 

• 4.4% of reported incidents involving aggression and/or violence resulted in the staff member submitting a claim for workers compensation.

 

• 50% of respondents who had 1 or more incidents involving aggression and/or violence during the last 30 days did not report even one of those incidents.

 

• Respondents with 20 or more years’ experience averaged almost 3 times more incidents involving aggression and/or violence than respondents with less than 2 years’ experience. 

 

• The majority of respondents think the number and seriousness of incidents involving aggression and/or violence is on the rise. 

 

The purpose of the survey is to promote the conversation around the safety challenges of managing aggression and violence and the competing priorities of staff safety and client care.

Individuals and individual organisations are encouraged to draw on the results of this survey to create further discussion to assist in the continuous improvement of the safety and wellbeing of staff and the people they support.

 

Please note:   Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of the National Report: Home Care, Community Care and Outreach Staff Safety Survey 2013 may be reproduced by any process without citing the publication.