Search demand for de-escalation training in Australia and the United States

Where buyers are searching, and in which words

Twelve months of relative search interest

In the United States, interest has climbed every year since 2022

The words each buyer types, by market

The injuries the training exists to prevent

Every term rising

A mature market with established rules

AI roleplay is rising everywhere

Use the words each market searches in

Cite this research

How to read the index

A rule, then a jump

Where Australians search, and what else they type

American hospital buyers search the brand

Australian buyers search the hazard, then the sector

A caution on AI roleplay

United States

Australia

A new obligation

Older rules, established providers

A familiar technology, a harder conversation

Why do the numbers change when I pull them?

How can I reproduce this?

Where do I start?

Version history

A man perches on the edge of a desk on an empty open-plan floor at night, a stack of glowing message panels lit beside him.

Over one year, the terms training buyers search for rose in Australia and mostly fell in the United States.

By Kim Loza, Head of Product at People Tech Revolution

Published 20 September 2026 Last updated 24 September 2026 Version 1.1

Connect with Kim on LinkedIn Cite this research

The question

Safety and training leaders in Australia and the United States buy the same training and search for it in different words. We pulled a year of Google Trends data to see where interest is moving.

A nurse in scrubs walks toward the camera down a dark hospital corridor, a ribbon of light running across the frame. — A nurse walks the night corridor.

A public servant stands behind the counter of a darkened service centre, a stack of glowing message panels lit above the counter. — A public servant at the service counter.

One vertical slice of a build reviewed on a laptop, the whole path working end to end. — A session reviewed on laptop and tablet.

The data

Google Trends weekly series from 14 September 2025 to 20 September 2026, comparing the mean of the first eight weeks with the mean of the last eight.

Relative search interest, first eight weeks against last eight
Term	United States	Australia
de-escalation training	35.4 to 24.6, falling	0.0 to 20.8, rising
workplace violence training	45.9 to 40.6, falling	0.0 to 10.6, rising
occupational violence	5.5 to 2.6, falling	0.0 to 20.9, rising
aggression training	28.9 to 33.9, rising	0.0 to 2.5, rising
vr training	21.8 to 8.4, falling	4.9 to 9.0, rising
ai roleplay	32.8 to 46.9, rising	14.9 to 41.8, rising

Two specialists review images for computer vision. An AI roleplay scenario for custom AI experiences. — Two analysts compare results on screen.

Google Trends reports a relative index from 0 to 100 within each query set and each country, scaled against each term’s own peak. Read it as direction, not volume.

Four of the six Australian rows start at a first-eight-week mean of 0.0: volume low enough to round to zero against that term’s later peak. The direction is clear; the number of searches behind it is outside what this series measures.

Five years

Yearly averages of the Google Trends index, five years to September 2026. Over five years the direction is up; the twelve-month table above shows American interest easing from a recent peak.

United States: yearly average search interest

de-escalation trainingworkplace violence trainingai roleplayvr training

See the data (index, 0 to 100)

Source: Google Trends, weekly index averaged by year, pulled 24 September 2026. 2026 is January to September.

A team leader discusses escalation with a colleague. A VR training scenario for cross-sector. — Handing over after an escalation.

Searches for workplace violence training rose sharply in 2024. That is the year California Labor Code section 6401.9 made a workplace violence prevention plan and annual training operative, on 1 July 2024. Read what SB 553 training must cover.

Australia: yearly average search interest

ai roleplayvr training

See the data (index, 0 to 100)

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
ai roleplay	3	0	3	6	18	57
vr training	0	1	2	0	9	19

Source: Google Trends, weekly index averaged by year, pulled 24 September 2026. 2026 is January to September.

Australia: occupational violence by state and territory

Share of each state’s searching over the past twelve months, scored against the highest (100).

Australian Capital Territory100

Queensland87

Victoria87

New South Wales25

Western Australia25

Source: Google Trends, interest by region, twelve months, pulled 24 September 2026.

A simulated aged-care hallway. A man in his mid-eighties stands holding the rail as a carer wearing the headset approaches. — A calm voice at the bedside.

The Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Victoria lead on occupational violence. The searches that travel with it are occupational violence and aggression, and OVA, the sector’s own shorthand. In the United States the most common companion search for de-escalation training is CPI training; see CPI training alternatives.

What buyers search for

Terms pulled together share one scale, so within each chart the bars compare. In the United States every group also carried the same anchor term, so the chart compares across groups: communication skills training = 100.

United States: buyer search terms on one scale (communication skills training = 100)

Relative search volume, twelve months. Online training is left off the chart at more than forty times the anchor.

ai roleplay476

customer service training474

harassment training276

vr training227

cpi training203

role play training109

behavior management training77

active shooter training57

de-escalation training48

workplace violence training46

conflict resolution training43

crisis intervention training40

classroom management training26

workplace violence prevention training18

crisis prevention training13

Source: Google Trends, twelve months to 24 September 2026, terms pulled together so they share a scale.

A man waits at the triage bay counter. A first person VR training scenario for healthcare, seen through the headset. — A triage decision, made under pressure.

CPI training out-searches workplace violence prevention training by more than ten to one. The searches around SB 553 training are quiz questions from staff completing modules. A buyer comparing providers starts at CPI training alternatives; a leader building a program starts at the US rules.

Australia: work health and safety, biggest term = 100

Relative search volume within the group, twelve months.

psychosocial hazards100

psychosocial risk assessment3

psychosocial safety training0

bullying and harassment training1

Source: Google Trends, twelve months to 24 September 2026, terms pulled together so they share a scale.

Australia: aged care and disability, biggest term = 100

Relative search volume within the group, twelve months.

dementia training9

behaviour support training1

manual handling training12

first aid training100

Source: Google Trends, twelve months to 24 September 2026, terms pulled together so they share a scale.

A case manager leans toward an older man. A VR training scenario for aged care and disability services. — A case manager leans in to listen.

Psychosocial hazards is searched every week of the year, far ahead of psychosocial risk assessment; the rising companion searches are psychosocial hazards Victoria and Safe Work Australia. See psychosocial hazards and the duty to control them.

In aged care, first aid and manual handling lead and dementia training follows, searched in 38 of 53 weeks. Hospital buyers do not search for occupational violence training as a phrase at measurable volume; they search occupational violence itself. See dementia and changed behaviours training.

A headset-wearing coach leans towards their practice partner. An AI roleplay scenario for AI roleplay and practice. — A facilitator beside a practising pair.

The searches related to ai roleplay are companion chat apps (character ai, roleplay chat), not training. Most of that volume is not a buyer. The buyer’s phrase is role play training, and in the United States it sits below vr training on the shared scale. Read how AI roleplay practice is used at work.

Behind the searches

Search demand follows a real and growing problem. Public injury and claims data from both countries says so.

United States: workplace violence injuries in health care, per 10,000 full-time workers

health care and social assistance

See the data (per 10,000 full-time workers)

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
health care and social assistance	6.4	7.0	7.8	8.2	8.0	8.4	9.1	10.4

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Workplace Violence in Healthcare, 2018.

Two nurses discuss a handover at a ward station, one wearing a headset, a corridor behind them. — A ward handover at the end of a shift.

In 2021 and 2022, health care and social assistance workers were injured by violence at 14.2 cases per 10,000 full-time workers, against 2.9 across all private industry, and the sector carried 72.8 percent of every private-industry case (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

A nurse talks a patient through the next step.

Serious workers’ compensation claims for workplace violence and assault rose 56% from 2017-18 to 2021-22, more than triple the 18% growth in all serious claims. For nursing, care and support workers the rate is 6.5 times that of other occupations (Safe Work Australia).

Australia

In Australia, interest rose for all six terms, from occupational violence to AI roleplay.

Seen over the shoulder of a grey-haired man wearing a headset, a pharmacist in a white coat raises both hands as she explains something across the counter, shelves of medicines behind her. — A pharmacist explains across the counter.

NSW’s Healthcare and social assistance industry Code of Practice commenced in February 2026, and occupational violence sits inside psychosocial hazard duties that employers are learning to evidence.

Rising searches from a low base are what a market looks like while people find out what a new obligation asks. Australian buyers search for occupational violence and aggression training.

United States

In the United States most terms fell. The searching that comes with a new rule has largely happened.

A parent and clinician conversation, one of the recreated Mater settings. — A clinician kneels to a child’s height.

California’s health care workplace violence standard has required training since 2018, and Nevada’s statute dates from 2019. Falling interest reflects buyers who already know what the rule asks, and hospitals still have to train.

American buyers search for workplace violence prevention training and de-escalation training for healthcare workers.

Both markets

AI roleplay rose in both countries, by the widest margin of any term we pulled.

A headset-wearing practitioner raises a hand to begin. An AI roleplay scenario for AI roleplay and practice. — Raising a hand to try again.

A colleague across the table, arms folded. A first person AI roleplay scenario for applied AI in sensitive conversations. — A sceptical colleague, arms folded, waiting.

A policy officer practises an explanation at the meeting room lectern. — Practising an explanation at the lectern.

A supervisor wearing a headset leans in to check on a contact-centre officer seated at his desk. — A supervisor checks in at the desk.

The rise reflects a technology becoming familiar across every kind of conversation practice. For safety teams, AI roleplay training points that technology at aggression, complaints and bad news.

What it means

Australia says occupational violence and aggression; the United States says workplace violence prevention. Same purchase, different vocabulary.

A web build on two screens: what the customer sees, and the page behind it. — Checking a web page on two screens.

The index rescales against each new peak, so a pull a month from now shows different values. The direction is the stable part.

A furniture designer checks a chair model at the workshop bench. — A furniture designer checks a chair model at the bench.

Google Trends, the six terms above, a twelve-month window, both countries, compared at the eight-week ends of the series.

Glowing panels and a spray of small fragments drift together into one form in a dark studio. — Panels and fragments come together into one form.

Read VR de-escalation training for how staff rehearse, in either market.

Free to quote and cite with a link to this page. Name the version you read, so readers can see what has changed since.

APA 7

Loza, K. (2026, September 24). Search demand for de-escalation training in Australia and the United States (Version 1.1). People Tech Revolution. https://peopletechrevolution.com/insights/search-demand-split-two-markets

Data: Google Trends, a weekly series from 14 September 2025 to 20 September 2026, pulled on 20 September 2026. The terms and the comparison method are set out above.

de-escalation training

workplace violence training

ai roleplay

vr training

Version	Date	What changed
Version 1.1	24 September 2026	Added five-year Google Trends series for the United States and Australia, the Australian state breakdown, related searches, buyer search terms by segment on a shared scale, and US and Australian injury and claims data.
Version 1.0	20 September 2026	First published.

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