Workplace violence is a serious and multidimensional problem that adversely affects professional and personal lives of employees. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and ...characteristics of verbal violence as a part of psychological violence among employees in primary health care in Belgrade, and to identify contributing factors of verbal violence in the workplace.
In this cross-sectional study, the final analysis included 1526 employees, using multi-stage sampling. Data were collected using the questionnaire Workplace Violence in the Health Sector Country Case Studies Research, developed by ILO/ICN/WHO/PSI. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The general response rate was 86.8% (1526/1757).
It was found that 47.8% of the participants were subjected to verbal violence. The main source of verbal violence was patient/client, 55.6% of employees did not report the incident. Among those who did not report the incident, 74.9% believed that reporting violence was useless. The interaction with patients (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.02-2.06) and work between 6pm and 7am (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.01-1.60) were significant contributing factors of verbal violence.
The results are indicative of a high prevalence of verbal violence against employees in primary health centres, which could have undesirable consequences. Conducting a better organizational measure and encouraging employees to report workplace violence could reduce the prevalence of verbal violence.
The purpose of this research was to identify the prevalence of violence towards nursing staff in Slovenian nursing homes.
For the purpose of this study, a non-experimental sampling method was ...employed, using a structured questionnaire as a data collection instrument (n=527). The contents of the questionnaire proved valid and reliable, with a high enough degree of internal consistency (Cronbach Alpha minimum 0.82).
The nursing staffs working in nursing homes for senior citizens are at high risk of violence. In the last year, the employees were most often faced with verbal violence (71.7%), physical violence (63.8%) and sexual violence (35.5%). 35.5% of employees suffered injuries at their working place. During aggressive outbursts of nursing home residents, employees particularly experience vulnerability, fear and insecurity.
There is a need for a comprehensive approach to tackle workplace violence. Some psychiatric health care facilities have already introduced certain measures in this field, and reduction of workplace violence proves that it is possible to reduce aggressive outbursts of patients. After conducting further quantitative research, which would expose detailed characteristics and the background of such violence, it would be sensible to develop similar measures in the field of health care in nursing homes.
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