The Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale (MAVAS) was used to identify staff perceptions about the causes and management of aggression and violence. Previous research has validated the 30-item MAVAS in comparing the views of mental health nurses and psychiatric in-patients as to the causes and management of patient aggression and violence.

Despite well-established validity and reliability in the inpatient mental health setting, the psychometric properties of the MAVAS have not been evaluated in the emergency department (ED) setting. A study explored and compared the attitudes held by staff and patients in a forensic mental health service about aetiology and management of aggression and violence reported very little overlap between their findings and the proposed four-factor structure.

Furthermore, the original survey questions were designed for a mental health setting where seclusion was used, however seclusion is not used in EDs. To ensure the MAVAS is applicable in the ED setting, we had replaced the word ‘seclusion’ with ‘security’ in three items of the MAVAS. We have also changed the scale from a 100-mm visual analogue scale to a 4-point Likert Scale (1=Strongly agree, 4=Strong disagree).

We would like to test the factor structure of the MAVAS tool within a new population (ED service users and staff) in order to verify its factor validity in this population. A confirmatory factor analysis on the ED staff and consumers sample is planned to assess the reliability of the modified version of MAVAS in the ED setting. But we don't have AMOS, can we do this analysis using SPSS or other softwares? What is the best way to test the factor structure? Thanks!