Abstract
Professional quality of life (ProQOL) reflects how individuals feel about their work as helpers. Psychiatric ward nurses cope with significant psychological and physical challenges, including exposure to verbal and physical violence. This study was based on two aspects of ProQOL, the positive compassion satisfaction, and the negative compassion fatigue, with the aim of investigating the relation of ProQOL to job stress and violence exposure at a large mental health center. Data were collected from 114 mental health nurses (49/63 M/F) who completed a self-administered questionnaire examining violence exposure, ProQOL, and job stress. The results showed that during the last year, almost all nurses (88.6%) experienced verbal violence, and more than half (56.1%) experienced physical violence. Only 2.6% experienced no violence. ProQOL was not associated with violence exposure but was reduced by work stress and by previous exposure to violence; nurses who perceived their work as more stressful had lower satisfaction from their work. In conclusion, although most mental health nurses are exposed to physical and verbal violence, their ProQOL is more related to job stress than to workplace violence (WPV). Hospital managements should conduct work stress reduction intervention programs and promote strategizes to reduce WPV. Further exploration of (a) factors affecting ProQOL and (b) the effect of violence coping workshops on ProQOL is warranted.
Highlights
Workplace violence (WPV) toward nurses working in the hospital environment is a well-known issue worldwide [1, 2]
Almost all the nurses (88.6%) had experienced verbal violence in the last year and more than half (56.1%) had experienced physical violence in the last year
The results show that exposure to verbal and/or physical violence is associated with work stress
Summary
Workplace violence (WPV) toward nurses working in the hospital environment is a well-known issue worldwide [1, 2]. ProQOL among Mental Health Nurses area were at lower risk. According to Whittington and Wykes [5] there are two main aspects of nurse behavior that may generate patient anger and continue the circular model: social distance between the nurse and the patient, and behavior that the patients find annoying. Another explanation for the high rate of WPV against mental health nurses suggests that nurses’ perception of poor organizational justice and poor teamwork can negatively affect staff-patient interaction, which promotes increased violent assaults by patients [6]
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