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Anger/hostility
The Refined Aggression Questionnaire (RAQ) (Bryant and Smith 2001) is a brief version of
Buss and Perry’s (1992) Aggression Questionnaire and has been found to have similar
psychometric properties (Bryant and Smith 2001). This aggression scale uses 12 items to
assess whether aggressive behaviour is characteristic of the respondent, with responses
ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Divided into 4 factors, physical aggression,
hostility, verbal aggression and anger each factor has an individual score with lower scores
representing lower levels of that particular type of aggression. The scale score ranged from 3-15
after appropriate item score reversals.
PROCEDURE
Research governance
Ethical approval for the study was given by NRES (one original application for all centres was
granted by COREC in addition to site specific approvals from each trust and data collection site)
and each corresponding university ethics committee for the research sites (five applications).
Criminal Records Bureau checks and honorary contracts with each NHS trust for each
researcher recruiting in clinics were also secured.
As the research programme developed, the lead site (UWE) was also required to apply for
substantial and minor amendments to NRES to undertake the follow-on studies (six
amendments in total). All additions and minor changes to the original protocol (for example, the
reduction of the longitudinal data point for the cross sectional questionnaire to nine months from
12 months) were agreed by NRES and local university ethics committees. For copies of the
main ethical approvals and amendments see appendix 4.
Protocols relating to recruitment
Outpatient clinics
Patients attending the participating out-patient clinics were sent invitations to take part along
with an information sheet (see appendix 5) two weeks prior to their appointment. The researcher
approached potential participants on the day of their appointment explaining the nature of the
study and answering any potential questions. Once informed consent (see appendix 6 for
consent form) was obtained, participants were given a questionnaire booklet either to complete
in clinic or to be taken away and sent back via freepost envelope. All participants took part on a
voluntary basis and were not remunerated for their participation.
Once received, data was stored securely (see below), receipt was logged and thank you letters
were sent to each participant.
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