Workplace violence against nurses in Korea and its impact on professional quality of life and turnover intention

Abstract

Aim: To inform countermeasures against nurses' workplace violence by reviewing the experience of violence.

Background: Violence is an important issue in medical settings that influences turnover intention of nurses. However, few studies have dealt with the effects of violence experienced by nurses on professional quality of life and turnover intention.

Method: A descriptive study using a structured questionnaire and data were analysed using t-test, one-way anova and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

Results: Of 358 nurses 95.5% reported that they had experienced workplace violence during the previous 1 year. Findings indicated that turnover intention was positively associated with years worked as a nurse, functional nursing delivery system, exposure types of violence with physical threats, and mild or severe burnout.

Conclusions: Nurses experienced diverse workplace violence, which could decrease their professional quality of life and be a factor affecting their turnover intention.

Implications for nursing management: Role of leadership in creating a positive work environment is needed. Prevention of workplace violence should focus on at-risk groups to reduce workplace violence. Workplace violence should be communicated regularly and feedback should be given if there is unintentional non-physical violence. In particular it is important to investigate post-violence management in nurses who have experienced violence to reduce secondary trauma.

Keywords: nurses; professional quality of life; turnover intention; workplace violence.