Prediction of Disruptive Behavior over Time from Changes in Patients’ Global Functioning in Acute Psychiatric Care

Disruptive behavior of patients in acute psychiatric care is a problem for both patients and staff. Preventing a patient’s impending disruption requires recognizing and understanding early signals. There are indications that a change in a patient’s global functioning may be such a signal. The global functioning of patients is a multidimensional view on their functioning. It captures a patient’s psychological symptoms, social skills, symptoms of violence, and activities in daily living. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the predictive value of global functioning on the risk of disruptive behavior of patients in acute psychiatric care. Also assessed was the time elapsed between the change in global functioning and a patient’s disruptive behavior, which is necessary to know for purposes of early intervention. In a longitudinal retrospective study, we used daily measurements with the Brøset Violence Checklist (BVC) and the Kennedy Axis V (K-As) of each patient admitted to two acute psychiatric units over a period of six years. Data from 931 patients for the first 28 days after their admission were used for survival analysis and cox regression analysis. Disruptive behavior was mostly observed during the first days of hospitalization. Global functioning predicted disruptive behavior from the very first day of hospitalization. A cut-off score of 48 or lower on the K-As on the first admission day predicted a higher risk of disruptive behavior. If functioning remained poor or deteriorated substantially over three days, this was an additional signal of increased risk of disruptive behavior. Improvement in global functioning was associated with a decreased risk of disruptive behavior. More attention is needed for early interventions on global functioning to prevent disruptive behavior.