ABSTRACT
Work place violence (WPV) a major occupational hazard in health-care facilities is continuously on the rise and in most cases is underreported. This study investigated the frequency rates and effects of workplace violence which PHC workers encountered in the course of their work in Oshimilli South Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. The study gathered data from 111 PHC workers through structured questionnaires after participants were selected via multi-stage sampling. The researcher analysed data through frequency tables together with charts. The results showed that Work-Related Violence affected 71.2% of PHC workers resulting in diverse kinds of mistreatment like verbal assault, bullying, physical contact abuse, and sexual abuse. Most patients’ relatives (58.6%) who interacted with workers reported WPV incidents the most while patients (22.2%) and co-workers (5.1%) were less frequent sources of violence and misunderstanding often served as the main cause of problems. The primary risk factors which contributed to WPV occurrence were worker age and gender along with their facility type and years of practice. Health centre workers among all staff types together with women and new medical employees showed higher rates of Work-Related Violence than their peers and victims stated fear of discrimination together with uncertainty about the management’s response as their main barriers to reporting. Training received by some workers help them toward relating to their patient and patient relatives. Healthcare workers reported poor outcomes from WPV due to missing workplace policies and security measures and training programs related to workplace violence prevention. This lack of operational protection directly led to increased workplace violence occurrences. It is therefore recommended that WPV victims should speak out and the necessary measures put in place to eradicate the scourge of WPV.
Keywords: Workplace violence; primary health-care workers; private health-care facilities; public health-care facilities.
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