Citation

Xia L, Zhang Y, Yang Y, Liu T, Liu Y, Jiang F, Liu H, Tang YL, Kaslow NJ. Asian J. Psychiatry 2022; 76: e103229.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ajp.2022.103229

PMID

36007487

Abstract

Workplace violence (WPV) is a common hazard in healthcare settings that negatively impacts the safety, well-being, and health of healthcare workers (HCWs) (Chappell and Di Martino, 2006, International Labor Office et al., 2002). Although WPV is experienced by HCWs across settings, psychiatric professionals are at particularly high risk for such violence exposure. A recent meta-analysis of 253 studies showed that the global prevalence of WPV against HCWs during the previous 12 months was 61.9% (Liu et al., 2019). Physical violence was most prevalent in psychiatric settings with a rate of 50.6% (24.4% in total level) (Liu et al., 2019). A national survey of mental health workers in China showed that 80.3% reported an experience of any type of violence in the past 12 months, and 47.5% had experienced physical violence (Xia et al., 2021).

Yet little is known about WPV exposure in psychiatric residents in China, despite the fact that like in many other countries, medical residents in China are often on the front lines providing direct patient care. They are frequently dissatisfied with their challenging workload, poor salaries, and contentious doctor-patient relationships (Jiang et al., 2019), and are prone to mental health issues such as anxiety, sleep disturbances, and burnout (Bai et al., 2021). One study of medical residents in Shanghai, China, showed that 71.4% experienced burnout, and male sex, low social support, high occupational stress, and night shifts were predictive factors (Huang et al., 2020). Another study revealed that young physicians and residents, especially those in psychiatric and emergency departments, are prone to high levels of patient-initiated violence (Kumari et al., 2020).

To date, however, the association among WPV exposure and mental health correlates such as burnout and suicidal ideation (SI) in psychiatry residents has not been explored. Therefore, the present study aimed to advance our understanding of WPV and these critically important mental health correlates (burnout, SI) in a national sample of psychiatry residents in China.

Language: en