Workplace Violence and its contributing factors in healthcare workers of Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: To find the frequency of various types of violence and its contributing factors among healthcare workers in tertiary healthcare hospitals of Peshawar. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Emergency Department, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, Peshawar, from 1st January 2021 to June 30, 2021. Methodology: A sample size of 400 healthcare professionals from three hospitals was determined using open epi simple size calculator. The selection of participants was conducted using a non-probability convenient sampling approach. Data was collected using a pretested structured questionnaire after the participants' informed permission was acquired. Healthcare professionals include individuals such as physicians and registered nurses. Results: Most healthcare employees, 97.5%, said they did not experience physical abuse. A total of 1.5% of participants reported experiencing being assaulted once, whereas 1.0% reported experiencing physical assault two to three times. The mean and standard deviation for the latter group were calculated to be 1.04±0.232. A total of 37.2% of respondents said they did not experience any verbal abuse during the previous year. A total of 14.8% of respondents reported experiencing verbal harassment at least once, while 31.8% indicated facing verbal abuse two to three times. Additionally, 16.2% reported encountering verbal abuse more than four times during the last year. These findings yielded a mean of 2.27 occurrences of verbal abuse, with a standard deviation of 1.127. Conclusion: Verbal abuse is a pervasive concern in healthcare, often coupled with physical and emotional aggression. Keywords: Aggression, Abuse, Physical Violence, Psychological Violence, Health Care Providers, Medical Staff. How to Cite This: Jan k, Gul R, Khalil KR, Hassan F, Hameed N, Hamid R. Workplace Violence and its contributing factors in healthcare workers of Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. Isra Med J. 2023; 15(1): 15-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55282/imj.oa1369 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.