Workplace Violence against Female Nurses: a Survey in Critical Care Units

چکیده مقاله

Background and Objectives: Workplace violence against female nurses is a significant and increasing problem. This study aimed to investigate workplace violence against female nurses in three general hospitals of Ilam (Western Iran) and identify factors influencing its incident. Methods: Seventy seven nurses were randomly selected and surveyed. The data were collected using an author-designed instrument. The survey instrument consisted of 26 items on the demographic and employment characteristics of the participants (sex, age, work experience, marital status, degree of education, and the working department), and 19 multiple-choice questions related to verbal/physical abuse by the patients (5 items), verbal/physical abuse by the patients’ visitors (5 items), and the nurse reactions (9 items). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were examined using the CVI and Test-retest methods. Ttest and ANOVA were used for comparison of the mean values. The correlation between the variables was explored using Pearson’s coefficient. Findings: Overall, 83.1 % and 22.1 % of the participants had faced with verbal and physical violence by the patients during the last year, respectively. Moreover, 88.3 % and 31.2 % of the nurses had experienced verbal and physical assaults by the patients’ companions, respectively. Most nursing staff believe that reporting aggressive evident is not useful at all. A significant correlation was found between the physical assaults by patients and the nurses’ age (P < 0.05). In addition, a significant relationship between the verbal violence by patients and the nurses’ marriage status was identified (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Our results revealed a high rate of workplace violence against the female nurses. To alleviate this problem, public training together with legally pursuing the individuals committing aggressive violence is essential. The fact that young and single nurses are more prone to violence shows the importance of employing experienced nurses in certain healthcare activities.