Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.
Department of Psychiatry, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.
Front Public Health. 2024 May 3;12:1361243. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1361243. eCollection 2024.
Psycho-emotional violence, a type of workplace violence targeting healthcare workers, varies across countries, occasions, and professions in the healthcare sector. Unfortunately, there is a scarcity of comprehensive studies focusing on violence against healthcare workers in Ethiopia, which may also encompass psycho-gender-based emotional violence against healthcare workers. Therefore, there is a compelling need for in-depth research to address this gap and develop effective strategies to mitigate psycho-emotional violence in the healthcare sector in Ethiopia, especially in the eastern region. Hence, we aimed to identify the prevalence of and factors associated with workplace psycho-emotional violence against healthcare providers in eastern Ethiopia.
This institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 744 health professionals working in urban public hospitals in eastern Ethiopia. Multistage stratified random sampling was used, and data were collected using a standardized structured tool adopted from the WHO workplace violence assessment tool. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with psycho-emotional workplace violence. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was reported, and a -value of 0.05 was used as the cut-off point to declare significance.
Workplace psycho-emotional violence was reported by 57.39% of the healthcare workers. The absence of guidelines for gender-based abuse [AOR = 35.62, 95% CI:17.47, 72.64], presence of measures that improve surroundings (class lighting and privacy) [AOR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.35, 0.98], training on workplace violence coping mechanism [AOR = 0.16, 95%CI: 0.26, 0.98], spending more than 50% of their time with HIV/AIDS patients [AOR = 1.96, 95%CI:1.05, 3.72], and spending more than 50% of their time with psychiatric patients [AOR = 1.92, 95%CI:1.08, 3.43] were factors significantly associated with workplace violence against health professionals.
The prevalence of workplace psycho-emotional violence against health professionals in eastern Ethiopia was relatively high. Improving the working environment decreases the chance of workplace violence; however, there is a lack of guidelines for gender-based violence, the absence of training on coping mechanisms, and spending more time with psychiatric and HIV/AIDS patients' increases workplace violence. We recommend that health institutions develop gender abuse mitigation guidelines and provide training on coping mechanisms.
针对医护人员的心理情绪暴力是工作场所暴力的一种类型，在不同国家、不同场合和不同医疗保健领域都有所不同。不幸的是，埃塞俄比亚针对医护人员的暴力行为缺乏全面的综合研究，其中可能还包括针对医护人员的基于性别的情绪心理暴力。因此，需要进行深入研究来填补这一空白，并制定在埃塞俄比亚，特别是在东部地区减轻医疗保健部门心理情绪暴力的有效策略。因此，我们旨在确定东部埃塞俄比亚医疗保健提供者遭受工作场所心理情绪暴力的流行率和相关因素。
这是一项在埃塞俄比亚东部城市公立医院工作的 744 名卫生专业人员中进行的基于机构的横断面研究。采用多阶段分层随机抽样，使用从世界卫生组织工作场所暴力评估工具中采用的标准化结构化工具收集数据。采用二元和多变量逻辑回归分析确定与心理情绪工作场所暴力相关的因素。报告了调整后的优势比（OR）和 95%置信区间（CI），并使用 0.05 作为显著水平的截止值。
57.39%的医护人员报告遭受了工作场所的心理情绪暴力。缺乏基于性别的虐待行为准则（OR=35.62，95%CI：17.47，72.64）、存在改善环境的措施（教室照明和隐私）（OR=0.58，95%CI：0.35，0.98）、接受应对工作场所暴力的机制培训（OR=0.16，95%CI：0.26，0.98）、超过 50%的时间与艾滋病毒/艾滋病患者在一起（OR=1.96，95%CI：1.05，3.72）和超过 50%的时间与精神科患者在一起（OR=1.92，95%CI：1.08，3.43）是与卫生专业人员遭受工作场所暴力相关的显著因素。
在埃塞俄比亚东部，卫生专业人员遭受工作场所心理情绪暴力的流行率相对较高。改善工作环境会降低工作场所暴力的机会；然而，缺乏基于性别的暴力行为准则，缺乏应对机制的培训，以及与精神科和艾滋病毒/艾滋病患者在一起的时间增加，都会增加工作场所暴力。我们建议卫生机构制定减少性别暴力的行为准则，并提供应对机制的培训。
