WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Qamar Adnan Shakir*, Baydaa Ibrahim Salman, Salam Sahib Obaid

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Violence at work refers to acts or threats of violence aimed at employees, both inside and outside the workplace. Violence against healthcare workers is a global and complex issue that affects a wide range of healthcare workers. Healthcare workers are on the frontline, dealing with individuals in difficult and unpredictable situations. Workplace violence can have a negative impact on their performance outcomes, influencing patients' health and satisfaction. However, few studies have examined assault and violence against healthcare workers in Iraq. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st of April 2025 until 1st of June 2025 among 590 healthcare workers at two hospitals of Karbala city. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire consist of four section covering the socio-demographic characteristics of participants, exposure to assault and violence, effects of violence and participants opinion regard best solutions to protect workers. Results: A total of 500 healthcare workers from two hospitals of Karbala city, The mean age was 30.44 ± 7.31years, slightly more than half of the participants were female sex and married. A total 300 participants (60%) had experienced at least 1 type of violence, the common type of violence was verbal (94.7%), the place of violence was mainly emergency department (42.7%), misunderstanding was the main cause of violence. The primary perpetrators of violence were the patient’s relative (76%). Almost half of participants did not report the violence and primarily due to belief that reporting would not change anything and the main impact of violence was psychological effect (39.3%). Age, years of work, job title were strongly significant associated with exposure to violence. Conclusion: Workplace violence was discovered to be highly prevalent in which three out of five are exposed to violence, particularly against doctors, verbal violence was the most common type against healthcare workers who frequently did not react to or report it. The study's findings demonstrate the need to develop and evaluate a violence prevention program in order to provide safe, high-quality healthcare services.

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