Objective: The research was carried out to investigate the violence situations that health staff in a mental health hospital is exposed to and the effective factors regarding those situations.
Method: This descriptive study was carried out with 178 healthcare provider working in Manisa Mental Health Hospital, who accepted to participate in the study between March and May 2011. A questionnaire form that was designed by the researchers was used for data collection. Number-percentage distribution and chi-square methods were used for analysis.
Results: Among healthcare providers, 73% were exposed to violence in their workplace; 51.1% were exposed to physical violence, 51.1% were exposed to verbal violence, 87.2% were exposed to violence by patients and 39.8% did not react after the act of violence.
Conclusion: It was found that a great majority of healthcare providers were exposed to violence. Physical and verbal violence were the most common type of violence, the offenders of violence were mostly patients whereas the victims of the violence were mostly nurses as well as the staff working in contained wards. Investigating violence risk factors in psychiatric work environment, implementing an effective and systematically working security system, training of employees about the management of violence, improving the recording procedures for violence events, and developing written policies were suggested.
Key words: Health staff, mental health hospital, violence
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