AGGRESSION AND LOCUS OF CONTROL IN PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Agnieszka Skowerska¹Łukasz Czyżewski^2*Dorota Parnowska³Janusz Wyzgał⁴Andrzej Silczuk¹

• ¹Department of Environmental Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
• ²Department of Geriatric Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Warsaw, Warszaw, Poland
• ³Department of Psychiatry and Combat Stress, Military Medical Institute in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
• ⁴Department of Nephrology Nursing, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Purpose: Comparative analysis of data from patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and a control group from the healthy population regarding the level of aggression and anxiety, and the relationship between the locus of control, as well as analysis of the research hypothesis aimed at verifying whether higher levels of aggression occur in patients who place their sense of control outside themselves.The research conducted in this study is a questionnaire-based, clinicalcontrol study. It was carried out between 2019 and 2022 and included 61 patients with the ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophrenia who met the defined criteria and agreed to participate in the research project. The study group consisted of patients who were hospitalised in day psychiatric wards and 24-hour rehabilitation wards. Work material for the study group was collected using such tools as the ICD-10 International Classification of Diseases, GAF scale, BPAQ Aggression Questionnaire, STAI scale, questionnaire for measuring the locus of control, standardised Delta Questionnaire and a demographic survey.The analysis revealed that the level of physical aggression was positively correlated with anxiety as a state (R=0.29; P<0.001), as a trait (R=0.32; P<0.001) and with an external sense of control (R=0.27; P<0.001). The level of verbal aggression was positively and weakly correlated with the sense of control (R=0.22; P<0.05) and weakly and negatively correlated with the lie scale (R=-0.24; P<0.001). Anger, hostility and general aggression were positively correlated with anxiety as a state (R=0.36; R=0.52; R=0.45; P<0.001, respectively) and as a trait (R = 0.50; R = 0.60; R = 0.56; P<00.001).The results indicate a statistically significant higher level of aggression in the group of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to the control group representing the healthy -usunięto: Environmental 35 -sformatowano: Włoski -usunięto: results population. The statistically significant differences in the patient group were observed in physical aggression, hostility, and the total aggression score. The results indicate that a higher level of aggression was observed in the subjects who placed the locus of control more externally.