Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duesseldorf, Moorenstraße 5, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany.
Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Duesseldorf, Moorenstraße 5, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Apr 10;23(1):350. doi: 10.1186/s12913-023-09331-9.
Workplace violence is widespread, but studies on workplace violence against health professions in outpatient settings are sparse. We aimed to examine, for the first time, the prevalence of workplace violence against medical assistants as well as potential sociodemographic, occupational and health-related correlates of the exposure to workplace violence.
We used data from a survey (03-05/2021) among medical assistants in Germany (n = 424). We assessed the 12-month prevalence (yes/no) of verbal violence, physical violence, and sexual harassment as well as the types of perpetrators of workplace violence. Further, information was gathered on sociodemographic (e.g., age, educational level), occupational (e.g., years in job), and mental health-related factors (i.e., anxiety, depression). The 12-month prevalences of the different types of workplace violence were merged into a single variable ("any workplace violence" vs. none) for association analysis. We ran multivariable Poisson regression models to examine potential associations between sociodemographic and occupational correlates (i.e., independent variables) with any workplace violence as dependent variable and in addition between any workplace violence (independent variable) and dichotomized mental health as dependent variable.
Overall, 59.4% of the medical assistants reported verbal violence, 5.9% reported physical violence, 3.8% reported sexual harassment, and 60.1% reported any workplace violence in the previous 12 months. Patients were reported to be the main perpetrators, followed by patients' relatives. Younger age, being single, and working in a medical care center were sociodemographic and occupational correlates of workplace violence (PRs ≥ 1.27). Workplace violence was significantly associated with mental health variables (PRs ≥ 1.72).
Medical assistants experience workplace violence, in particular verbal violence. To devise preventive measures, prospective studies are needed to confirm the potential risk groups for workplace violence and the potential mental health sequels of workplace violence observed in our study.
工作场所暴力普遍存在，但有关门诊环境中针对卫生专业人员的工作场所暴力的研究却很少。我们旨在首次检查医疗助理遭受工作场所暴力的情况，以及暴露于工作场所暴力的潜在社会人口学、职业和与健康相关的因素。
我们使用了来自德国医疗助理调查（2021 年 3 月至 5 月）的数据（n=424）。我们评估了 12 个月内（是/否）遭受言语暴力、身体暴力和性骚扰的发生率，以及工作场所暴力的加害者类型。此外，还收集了社会人口学（例如年龄、教育水平）、职业（例如工作年限）和心理健康相关因素（即焦虑、抑郁）的信息。将不同类型的工作场所暴力的 12 个月发生率合并为一个单一变量（“任何工作场所暴力”与“无”）进行关联分析。我们进行了多变量泊松回归模型分析，以研究社会人口学和职业相关性（即自变量）与任何工作场所暴力作为因变量之间的潜在关联，以及任何工作场所暴力（自变量）与二分心理健康作为因变量之间的潜在关联。
总体而言，59.4%的医疗助理报告在过去 12 个月内遭受过言语暴力，5.9%报告遭受过身体暴力，3.8%报告遭受过性骚扰，60.1%报告遭受过任何工作场所暴力。患者被报告为主要加害者，其次是患者的亲属。年轻、单身和在医疗保健中心工作是工作场所暴力的社会人口学和职业相关性（PR≥1.27）。工作场所暴力与心理健康变量显著相关（PR≥1.72）。
医疗助理经历了工作场所暴力，尤其是言语暴力。为了制定预防措施，需要前瞻性研究来确认我们研究中观察到的工作场所暴力的潜在风险群体和工作场所暴力对心理健康的潜在影响。
