User Violence Against Employees at Nursing Homes
Purpose:
Earlier research has indicated the high exposure of those working in assisting occupations to workplace violence in Slovenia. The purpose of this study is to complement the research gap in investigating violence within social care and determine the types and extent of workplace violence among all employees in a social care institution, the influence of aggressive behaviour of users on the well-being of employees, and the need for education on dealing with the violence to which employees are being exposed.
Design/Methods/Approach:
Workplace violence was researched quantitatively using a descriptive method. We used a structured survey questionnaire, which was adapted using an existing questionnaire to research the occurrence of violent acts from users against employees at nursing homes and other social care institutions.
Findings:
The nursing home Dom ob Savinji Celje faces user violence against its employees. The most frequent form of violence against employees is verbal abuse (37.7% of respondents) and the least frequent is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature (5.2% of respondents). Workers employed in healthcare face user violence more often than employees in other fields. Employees most often face a certain form of user violence 1-2 times per year. When an employee meets an aggressive user, the most common emotions are fear, helplessness, uncertainty, feeling under threat, and least often a lack of understanding from fellow employees.
Originality/Value:
This study focuses on studying workplace violence within a social care institution and complements extant, yet inadequate scientific findings.
UDC: 343.62:614
Keywords: nursing homes, workplace violence, healthcare, social care, social care institutions