Incidence and impact of violence against staff on their perceptions of the psychosocial work environment

Abstract

On the basis of self-report from 228 employees in six residential homes for mentally retarded patients the frequency and nature of work-related violence incidents were studied. Furthermore, the relationships between psychosocial work factors and work related violence were analysed and finally the relationships between strain and work related violence were analysed. The results showed that about 25% of the employees have been exposed to threats of violence and about 24% of the employees have been exposed to physical violence, which caused minor injury at least once in the course of the previous year. The correlation analyses showed weak but significant associations between work environment factors and the occurrence of work-related violence. Comparisons of institutions with high vs. low occurrences of work-related violence showed that institutions with high incidences of violence were characterised by staff perceptions of higher work pressure, more difficult tasks, less role clarity, and a poorer social climate. It is discussed whether a strained psychosocial work environment may affect the employee’s performance in a negative direction thus determining the quality of the service delivered or the way in which problems are handled which might increase the risk of a violent incident.