Prevalence of Psychological Workplace Violence Among Employees of a Public Tertiary Health Facility in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria

Background: Psychological violence is the most common form of workplace violence (WPV) that can affect job performance and health of the workers.

Aims: This study sought to determine the prevalence of psychological WPV among employees working in a tertiary health institution in a South-eastern state of Nigeria.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study done in 2018 among healthcare workers at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu State using a pretested self-administered questionnaire adapted from Workplace Violence in the Health Sector Country Case Study Questionnaire. Proportionate sampling method was used to select 412 respondents. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 23 using Chi-square test of significance and P value set at 0.05.

Results: Prevalence of psychological violence among the participants was 49.7%. Verbal abuse was the most form of psychological violence experienced 168 (40.8%) followed by bullying 29 (7.0%) while sexual abuse was reported by 8 (1.9%). Majority 114 (55.6%) of the perpetrators of the psychological violence were patient's relative, whereas 48 (23.4%) were staff members. In response to the violence, 58 (28.6%) of the healthcare workers took no action, while only 2 (1%) completed incident/accident form. Bullying was statistically significantly higher in healthcare workers who have spent less than 10 years (χ = 3.978 P = 0.046). There was a significant association between verbal abuse and frequent interaction with patients (χ = 4.757, P = 0.029).

Conclusion: This study has shown that the prevalence of psychological WPV was high among healthcare workers in University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu State. Therefore, there is need for the hospital management to develop policy interventions specific to psychological WPV.