Evaluation Of The Users Violence In Primary Health Care: Adaptation Of An Instrument

Authors: José Antonio Ruiz-Hernández, Cecilia López-García, Bartolomé Llor-Esteban, Inmaculada Galián-Muñoz, Ana Pilar Benavente-Reche

Abstract

Background/Objetivo: According to the World Health Organization, one out of every four violent workplace acts takes place in the health setting. The aims of the study are to study the prevalence of workplace violence in primary healthcare (PHC) professionals by adapting the Healthcare-worker's Aggresive Behaviour Scale-Users (HABS-U), to establish the frequency of exposure to hostile indicators and to determine which professional group is most exposed. Method: Study through qualitative and quantitative methodology in PHC professionals of the Region of Murcia (Spain). In the qualitative phase in-depth interviews were conducted and during the quantitative phase the instrument was used to 574 professionals of 39 PHC centres. Results: The resulting scale shows excellent psychometric properties and correlates significantly with job satisfaction, burnout components, the factors of empathy and psychological well-being. There was a 90.2% prevalence of user violence, and non-medical personnel were found to be the professional group most exposed. Conclusion: The distribution of user violence is not homogeneous among the different professional groups of PHC. The adaptation of the scale may be useful for detection of user violence, as well as to evaluate the efficacy of intervention programs.

Keywords

Aggression; Health staff; Primary healthcare; Workplace violence; Instrumental study

Method

An instrumental investigation was performed with qualitative methodology to adapt the HABS-U to PHC professionals. An empirical study with quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional methodology was also performed ( Montero & León, 2007) through the application of various instruments assessing occupational health.

Citation: José Antonio Ruiz-Hernández, Cecilia López-García, Bartolomé Llor-Esteban, Inmaculada Galián-Muñoz, Ana Pilar Benavente-Reche Evaluation Of The Users Violence In Primary Health Care: Adaptation Of An Instrument doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2016.06.001

Received: 26 February 2016, Accepted: 2 June 2016, Available online: 28 June 2016

Copyright: ©  2016 Association Espanola de Psicologia Conductual. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 
Funding

The study received an aid for research of the College of Nursing in the Region of Murcia (2013/1412).

Acknowledgements

We want to express our gratitude to all the professionals involved in the investigation, for their time and dedication, and to the all the PHC centre managers for their collaboration.