Assaults against nurses of general and psychiatric hospitals in Taiwan

  • Judith Shu-Chu Shiao
  • Yuntin Tseng
  • Yueh-Tzu Hsieh
  • Jui-Yeh Hou
  • Yawen Cheng
  • Yueliang Leon Guo
Original Article
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

Purpose

Nurses are at risk of occupational assaults. However, the incidence and effects have not been documented among nurses in Taiwan. We aimed to study the incidence of assaults and their effects, including quality of life and job-related stress among nurses.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted to understand the incidence of work-related assaults in nurses. Job content questionnaire was used to determine the job control, psychological demands at work, and workplace support in these nurses. Quality of life was assessed by short form-36 (SF-36).

Results

A total of 842 nurses satisfactorily completed the questionnaire, including 375 from general hospitals and 467 from psychiatric hospitals. A total of 237 (28.1%) reported to have experienced physical and/or verbal assaults in past 6 months. Experiences of sexual assault or verbal abuse were risk factors for feeling threatened by potential attacks. Nurses who felt threatened by potential attacked scored lower in general health, mental health, and vitality by SF-36, and had higher psychological demands at work, lower job control, and lower workplace support.

Conclusion

We conclude that nurses in general and psychiatric hospitals had high risk of assaults. Worksite assaults caused nurses to feel threatened, and such an effect was likely to cause increased job stress and decreased quality of life.

Keywords

Violence Assault Nurses Health care workers Job stress Quality of life 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate all participants of Chinese EPINet. This study is supported by the Center for Medical Employee’s Safety and Health (C-MESH) of Taiwan.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Judith Shu-Chu Shiao
    • 1
  • Yuntin Tseng
    • 2
  • Yueh-Tzu Hsieh
    • 3
  • Jui-Yeh Hou
    • 3
  • Yawen Cheng
    • 4
  • Yueliang Leon Guo
    • 5
  1. 1.Department of Nursing, College of MedicineNational Taiwan University (NTU) & NTU HospitalTaipeiTaiwan
  2. 2.Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of MedicineNational Cheng Kung UniversityTainanTaiwan
  3. 3.Department of NursingChang Hwa University of Medical TechnologyTainan CountyTaiwan
  4. 4.Department of Health Policy and ManagementNational Taiwan UniversityTaipeiTaiwan
  5. 5.Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of MedicineNational Taiwan University (NTU) & NTU HospitalTaipeiTaiwan

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