Violence against healthcare workers in Hassa region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Magnitude of the problem and future perspectives

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) towards healthcare workers in the healthcare sector has been recognized as a global problem and major public health concern. International Labor Organization (ILO), defines, WPV as, “incidents where staff are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work”.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and magnitude of workplace violence against health care workers in health-providing personnel in King Fahad Hospital Hofuf (KFHH) in Hassa region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To identify prevalence and type of workplace violence against health workers. To identify causes of workplace violence. To check the characteristics of perpetrators (offenders).

Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional health-facility-based research, conducted in King Fahad Hospital Hofuf in Hassa region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2021. The data was collected by self-administered questionnaire from health personnel (based on the standardized WHO/ILO questionnaire) and data was analyzed by SPPS version20.

Results: 137 staff workers were involved in this study. Of whom, 78 (56.9%) were females and 59 (43.1%) were males. Out of all the staff, 85 (62%) were physicians, 44 (32.1%) were nurses, 5 (3.6%) were pharmacist, 1 (0.7%) was a support staff and 2 (1.4%) were miscellaneous. 22.6% of the participants stated that violence incidents have occurred to them in the last year, 51.8% stated that they haven’t had violence incidents in the last year and 25.5% preferred not to answer. 22.6% of the violence victims stated that the violence was physical, 25.8% stated that it was psychological while 51.6% stated that it was sexual.4.4% of the participants were attacked by a staff member, 4.4% by a family relative, 5.8% by the patient himself, 2.9% by the patient and patient’s relatives, 1.5% by the manager or supervisor, 0.7% were attacked by an external colleague.59.9% of the participants stated that direct physical contact happened, 38.7% stated the opposite while 1.5% did not make a statement.33.6% of the participants said that they witnessed violence,

Conclusion: The majority of the participants stated that violence incidents have not occurred to them in the last year. Half of the violence victims stated that the violence was sexual and the majority of physical violence victims were males. Only a minority of the victims reported the incidence to their supervisors. Most of the offenders were the patients themselves