Workplace Violence against Health Care Workers in North Chinese Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the prevalence of workplace violence (WPV) against healthcare workers, explore the frequency distribution of violence in different occupational groups, and determine which healthcare occupation suffers from WPV most frequently. Furthermore, the current study aimed to compare risk factors affecting different types of WPV in Chinese hospitals. A cross-sectional design was utilized. A total of 1899 healthcare workers from Heilongjiang, a province in Northeastern China, completed the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 83.3% reported exposure to workplace violence, and 68.9% reported non-physical violence. Gender, education, shift work, anxiety level, and occupation were significantly correlated with physical violence (p < 0.05 for all correlations). Additionally, age, professional title, and occupation were correlated with non-physical violence, which critically affected doctors. Thus, gender, age, profession, anxiety, and shift work were predictive of workplace violence toward healthcare workers. Doctors appeared to experience non-physical workplace violence with particularly higher frequency when compared to nurses and other workers in hospitals. For healthcare workers, interventions aimed at WPV reduction should be enacted according to the types of violence, profession, and other factors underlying the various types of WPV in hospitals.

Doctor becomes a patient: a qualitative study of health care work place violence related perception among junior doctors working in a teaching hospital in India

“…15 A good number of previous publications have mentioned the consequences of HCWPV which is coming up as a new occupational health hazard and has significant long-lasting effect on HCPs. 1,3,11,13,[22][23][24][25][26] Some of these are lower morale, anger, loss of confidence, burnout, time off work, disability and change in job status etc. 44 Each incident affects a number of staff members.…”

“…22,24,26 There is a circular relationship between psychological stress and HCWPV; violence causes anxiety and stress; anxious and stressed HCPs are prone to exposure to violence. [22][23][24] Fear, anxiety and agony undoubtedly have profound physical mental and social consequences as these can impair victims' quality of life, influence their job performance, affect patient safety, and lead to changes in immune system functioning. Other serious consequences for HCPs are increased occupational strain, need for medical treatment, lost workdays and absenteeism, employment termination or turnover, disability and even death.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] Considerably greater number of recent research studies on HCWPV belongs to China. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] In other parts of the world also, several studies have been conducted. [31][32][33][34][35][36][37] By means of their all India surveys, Indian Medical Association (IMA) have reported that 75% doctors had experienced violence and 82.7% felt stressed out.…”

Psychosocial safety climate, workplace violence and self‐rated health: A multi‐level study among hospital nurses

“…Workplace violence is one of the most significant psychosocial work hazards and a growing occupational safety and health concern in health care settings (Cheng & Pien, ; Lanctôt & Guay, ; Parent‐Thirion et al., ; Sun et al., ; Zhang et al., ). Workplace violence is defined as any incident where staff are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work.…”

“…Among workers in various occupations, nurses were found to be one of the high‐risk occupational groups for workplace violence and work‐related mental distress (Cheng & Pien, ; Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ; Parent‐Thirion et al., ; Pien, Cheng, Chen, & Chen, ). Studies from other Asian countries have indicated that nurses are at alarmingly high risk for workplace violence, with a one‐year prevalence ranging from 25.8% to 95.5% (Cheung & Yip, ; Choi & Lee, ; Sun et al., ; Zhang et al., ). However, few studies examined the impact of organisational psychosocial safety climate on workplace violence and workers’ health (Courcy, Morin, & Madore, ; Lee, Kim, & Park, ; Sun et al., ), and only two studies have used PSC scale in the Asian population (Idris & Dollard, ; Idris et al., ).…”