Characteristics of workplace violence prevention training and violent events among home health and hospice care providers

Am J Ind Med. 2016 Jan;59(1):23-30. doi: 10.1002/ajim.22543. Epub 2015 Nov 2.

Abstract

Background: In the rapidly growing home health and hospice industry, little is known about workplace violence prevention (WVP) training and violent events.

Methods: We examined the characteristics of WVP training and estimated violent event rates among 191 home health and hospice care providers from six agencies in California. Training characteristics were identified from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines. Rates were estimated as the number of violent events divided by the total number of home visit hours.

Results: Between 2008 and 2009, 66.5% (n = 127) of providers reported receiving WVP training when newly hired or as recurrent training. On average, providers rated the quality of their training as 5.7 (1 = poor to 10 = excellent). Among all providers, there was an overall rate of 17.1 violent events per 1,000 visit-hours.

Conclusion: Efforts to increase the number of home health care workers who receive WVP training and to improve training quality are needed.

Keywords: health care provider; home health; hospice; training; violence; workplace violence prevention.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • California
  • Female
  • Health Personnel / education*
  • Home Care Services*
  • Hospice Care*
  • Humans
  • Inservice Training / methods
  • Inservice Training / statistics & numerical data*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Occupational Health / standards
  • Prospective Studies
  • Workplace Violence / prevention & control*
  • Workplace Violence / statistics & numerical data