Risk of physical assault against school educators with histories of occupational and other violence: a case-control study

Work. 2012;42(1):39-46. doi: 10.3233/WOR-2012-1331.

Abstract

A case-control study design was used to investigate risks of work-related physical assault (PA) associated with a history of violent victimization among educators. A total of 6,469 state-licensed educators (Kindergarten - Grade 12) worked in the previous 12~months and were eligible to participate. Exposure data were collected from cases (reporting a PA event in previous 12 months, n=290) for the month before PA, and from controls (no work-related PA in previous 12 months; n=867) for a randomly selected working month. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals identified increased risks for educators with any prior history of work-related (17.3, 11.4-26.3) or non-work-related PA (2.0, 1.2-3.5). In addition, PA risk in the previous twelve months increased with the number of previous victimizations, and risk also increased for educators with histories of non-physical violence (work- and non work-related). The results present a compelling case for targeted interventions and further research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bullying / psychology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Crime Victims / psychology*
  • Crime Victims / statistics & numerical data
  • Educational Status
  • Faculty / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Minnesota / epidemiology
  • Occupations / statistics & numerical data*
  • Occupations / trends
  • Prevalence
  • Regression Analysis
  • Risk
  • Schools / classification
  • Schools / statistics & numerical data*
  • Sexual Harassment / psychology
  • Sexual Harassment / statistics & numerical data
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Verbal Behavior
  • Violence / psychology
  • Violence / statistics & numerical data*
  • Violence / trends
  • Workload
  • Workplace / psychology*