THE DEVELOPMENT OF NURSES’ COMPETENCY ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM IN MANAGING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AMONG CLIENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Abstract

                Objective: This study is a research and development design aiming to develop nurses’ competency enhancement program in managing aggressive behavior among clients with autism spectrum disorder and evaluate the effectiveness of nurses’ competency enhancement program in managing aggressive behavior among clients with ASD.

                Methods: Twenty professional nurses with working age not exceeding 7 years were purposely recruited according to inclusion criteria. Data were collected with the competency evaluation form for professional nurses developed by the researcher. The descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon matched-paired signed ranks test were employed for data analysis.

                Results: Content validity index range of developed program was .86 - 1.0. Competencies of professional nurses consisted of 3 parts, namely, part 1: knowledge, part 2: attitude and part 3: skills after receiving the nurses’ competency enhancement program in managing aggressive behavior were significantly higher than those before, at   p-value < .01, .01, .001, respectively.

                Conclusion: The developed competency enhancement program for professional nurses is able to develop competency of professional nurses in knowledge, attitude, and skills in managing aggressive behavior among clients with ASD.