Abstract
Objective:
to characterize cases of physical aggression against nursing technicians in two psychiatric hospitals and to analyze the factors related to the occurrence of these events.
Methods:
cross-sectional study, using self-administered questionnaire and documentary research involving 125 nursing technicians. We analyzed records of physical aggression occurrences from the occupational health and safety units of the hospitals and calculated variables frequencies, averages, standard deviation, and percentiles. The association between the occurrence of physical aggression and the variables studied was verified using logistic regression.
Results:
96 (76.8%) participants reported having experienced physical aggression. Among those, 94.3% referenced psychological consequences and 28.4% reported physical injuries. Only 30.3% of the participants stated to have received support from the hospital after the occurrence. There was a significant statistic association between physical aggression and perception of insecurity, female gender, and longer time working in psychiatric institutions. Underreporting of cases was also observed.
Conclusion:
physical assault is experienced with high frequency among nursing technicians, who report little institutional support and feelings of insecurity in the workplace, showing the need to introduce measures to improve working conditions and prevent violence.
Keywords:
violence at work; psychiatric nursing; occupational health; aggression; psychiatric hospitals