Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Sage Publications
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
25621
Abstract
The aim of this study was to document the incidence, sources, and effects of workplace physical violence against Ghanaian nurses. Self-report questionnaires were completed by 592 nurses employed in public general hospitals in Ghana. Participants were selected using a combination of purposive and random sampling techniques. Nine percent of the participants experienced physical violence in the 12 months preceding the study. The majority of perpetrators were relatives of patients. Chi-square tests suggested significant relationships between type of hospital and workplace physical violence, and between intention to quit the nursing profession and workplace physical violence. Workplace violence had several negative effects on nurses including having disturbing memories about the incident and being “super alert” and vigilant. Strategies to curb workplace violence could include awareness creation among health care workers and the general public. Policies and legislations must also be put in place to address this social problem.
DOI
10.1177/2158244017701187
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Comments
Boafo, I. M., & Hancock, P. (2017). Workplace violence against nurses: A cross-sectional descriptive study of Ghanaian Nurses. SAGE Open, 7(1), 2158244017701187.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017701187