Citation

Hogh A, Sharipova M, Borg V. Scand. J. Public Health 2008; 36(7): 706-712.

Affiliation

National Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. anh@nrcwe.dk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Associations of Public Health in the Nordic Countries Regions, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1403494808096181

PMID

18775833

Abstract

AIMS: The aim of the present study was to analyse the incidence of violence and threats of violence during the first year at work after graduating as a healthcare worker, the risk of re-exposure and health effects among respondents previously exposed to violence or threats. METHODS: We analysed baseline data from 5,696 healthcare students and conducted prospective multinomial regression analyses following 2,847 respondents during their first year of employment. RESULTS: At baseline we found that nearly a third of the respondents had been exposed to violence or threats of violence, 8.7% during trainee periods. At follow-up, we found that 24.6% of the healthcare workers had been exposed to violence and 33.4% to threats during the first year at work after graduation. Exposure to violence or threats during trainee periods was a strong predictor of violence (Odds ratio (OR)=3.3) and threats (OR=4.2) at follow-up. The results showed that violence or threats in previous jobs or at other places had a significant impact on the health of the victims at follow-up independent of gender, age, sense of coherence, self-efficacy and health at baseline. Exposure during trainee periods had a small but not quite significant (p=0.06) impact on the health of the victims at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows a high risk of violence and threats of violence among healthcare workers during training and the first year at work after graduation, indicating a need for violence prevention planning involving both college and workplaces.

Language: en