Violence against health care workers in the workplace in Mozambique – An unrecognised managerial priority

Autor: Sérgio Roques Patrício, Paulo Ferrinho, Mohsin Sidat
Přispěvatelé: Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM), Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Population health, policies and services (PPS), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 37:2822-2835
ISSN: 1099-1751
0749-6753
DOI: 10.1002/hpm.3506
Popis: Funding Information: We acknowledge support of the Niassa Provincial Health Directorate (provided administrative authorization and support for the research to be carried out). We are also thankful to all study participants for their time and effort by taking part in the study. Professor Inês Fronteira advised on the statistical analysis. The Research Center on Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM) receives support from the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (grant GHTM UID/04413/2020). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Introduction: Recognition of the relevance of violence against health workers in their work place has been growing around the world. In Mozambique, workplace violence in the health sector needs better documentation. Therefore, this article is part of a study that describes the typology and the perceived impact of violence against health care workers in their workplace at the Lichinga Provincial Hospital and at the Health Centre of the City of Lichinga in 2019. Method: This was an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. The study was carried out in a simple random sample of health workers victims of violence at the Provincial Hospital and the Health Centre of the City of Lichinga, in the Province of Niassa in northern Mozambique. The questionnaire applied was adapted from the original developed by the International Labour Organization, the International Council of Nurse, the World Health Organization and Public Services International and applied in Maputo, Mozambique during 2002. Statistical analysis was carried out with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 20.0 and WinPepi 11.65. Results: Two hundred and 60 healthcare workers (HCW) were selected to participate, 180 agreed, 145 had inclusion criteria and five gave up participating in the study during the consent procedure. Thus, a total of 140 HCW answered the questionnaire. Predominant types of violence were: verbal threat/aggression 34% (n = 62/180); moral pressure/bullying/mobbing 30% (n = 54/180); ethnic discrimination 9% (n = 16/180); against personal property 6% (n = 10/180); physical 4% (n = 8/180); sexual harassment 4% (n = 8/180). One hundred and 37 victims reported 154 episodes of violence, where 7% (n = 13/180) reported more than one type of violence. Most victims reported no reaction (55%, n = 76/137) and few said that they confronted the offender (16%, n = 22/137, particularly victims of sexual harassment, 38%, n = 3/8). Most HCW reported non-existence (39%, n = 54/137) or unawareness (32%, n = 44/137) of procedures to report violence within the Institution. Most (80%, n = 33/41) of those knowing about the procedures, knew how to use them. More than half (55%; n = 76/137) of HCW said that they were discouraged to report acts of violence. Conclusions: Like for previous studies in Mozambique and elsewhere in Africa, the study confirms: a relatively high prevalence, a reluctance to talk about the issue and unawareness about procedures on how to report incidents. The findings reconfirm the necessity for the development and implementation of procedures to address violence incidents towards HCW, to develop support services for victims of health workplace violence. Like elsewhere in Africa, successive health workforce plans in Mozambique have failed to address this issue. publishersversion published
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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