THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND VERBAL ABUSE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH STATUS AMONG SAUDI HOSPITAL NURSES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31674/mjn.2020.v12i02.011Abstract
Background: Recently there were major challenges of the health care system including physical and verbal abuse among nurses. This concern has sought more attention because of its negative consequences on the organization, psychological health status of the nurses, and delivery of care to the patients.
Objectives: This study primarily aimed to determine the presence of physical and verbal abuse and its effect on the mental health status of the nurses.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the incidence of abuse experienced or witnessed by nurses in Hafer-Albatain City of Saudi Arabia. Three hundred seventy nurses were recruited from five hospitals and voluntarily answered standardized questionnaire with items about physical and verbal abuse, depression, anxiety, and stress. Data gathering was completed in January to March 2019. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences Ver. 21.
Results: The findings of the study showed that verbal abuse (52.7%) was common experienced by nurses compared to physical abuse (34.3%). Regarding mental health status, findings showed that anxiety and depression were higher than stress respectively. However, 21.4% have mild stress, 32.7% have moderate anxiety, and 27.6% have mild depression.
Conclusion: The study proved that reported cases of physical abuse (66.40%) are significantly attributed to variations in hospital conditions. The variance is even higher when associated with reported cases of verbal abuse (98.4%). Among the three components of mental health status, only stress was found significantly correlated with hospital setting and job experience.
Keywords:
Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, NursesDownloads
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