Abstract
The aim of this scoping review is to synthesize the available evidence on the prevalence rates of healthcare workers being victims of violence perpetrated by patients and visitors in Italy. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and CINAHL were systematically searched from their inception to April 2021. Two authors independently assessed 1182 studies. All the scientific papers written in English or in Italian reporting primary quantitative and/or qualitative data on the prevalence of aggression or sexual harassment perpetrated by patients or visitors toward healthcare workers in Italy were included. Thirty-two papers were included in the review. The data extracted were summarized in a narrative synthesis organized in the following six thematic domains: (1). Methodology and study design; (2). Description of violent behavior; (3). Characteristics of health care staff involved in workplace violence (WPV); (4). Prevalence and form of WPV; (5). Context of WPV; and (6). Characteristics of violent patients and their relatives and/or visitors. The proportion of studies on WPV differed greatly across Italian regions, wards and professional roles of the healthcare workers. In general, the prevalence of WPV against healthcare workers in Italy is high, especially in psychiatric and emergency departments and among nurses and physicians, but further studies are needed in order to gather systematic evidence of this phenomenon. In Italy, and worldwide, there is an urgent need for governments, policy-makers and health institutions to prevent, monitor and manage WPV towards healthcare professionals.
Highlights
Compared to other forms of violence, the interest shown in workplace violence (WPV)has grown over the years [1,2]
The prevalence of WPV against healthcare workers in Italy is high, especially in psychiatric and emergency departments and among nurses and physicians, but further studies are needed in order to gather systematic evidence of this phenomenon
The scoping review is a technique used in order to synthesize a segment of scientific knowledge related to a specific field, frequently used when (i) it is difficult to accurately identify a narrow review question; (ii) the studies used as sources are likely to have used a wide range of data collection and analysis methods; (iii) no previous metaanalyses or systematic reviews have been made relating to the topic; and (iv) the quality assessment of the selected studies is not going to be conducted
Summary
Compared to other forms of violence, the interest shown in workplace violence (WPV)has grown over the years [1,2]. WPV threatens, the well-being of both the workers and the organization they belong to, negatively influencing the rights of millions of people to work in a safe environment and affecting the organization with absenteeism and low productivity, among other things. For these reasons, worldwide, several international organizations [5,6,7], along with many different research groups [8,9,10,11,12], are underlining the importance of having specific guidelines to monitor and prevent the spreading of this phenomenon. Data are collected in order to describe the phenomenon of violence in a specific context (e.g., emergency or psychiatric departments) [13,14], toward a target population (e.g., oral health-care workers) [15], in a particular geographical area (e.g., African or European Countries) [16,17] or in specific
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