VIOLENCE IN HEALTHCARE SETTINGS: EXPLORING HEALTHCARE WORKERS' EXPERIENCES AND STRATEGIES FOR PREVENTION

Violence in healthcare settings is a serious issue that has been on the rise globally in recent years.Violence and hostility against healthcare workers are common, which can cause physical and mental health problems for those who are impacted.Additionally, such incidents seriously affect patients and may lower the quality of care and treatment, deteriorating the working environment.Examining the experiences of healthcare professionals is crucial to creating effective policies to stop violence and handle it when it occurs.For this purpose, the current study explored the aggression and violence against healthcare workers in healthcare settings and their prevention strategies.Semi-structured interviews with eight healthcare workers aged 26 to 44 years were conducted.The collected data was analyzed using the thematic analysis method via the MAXQDA software program.Three themes were identified: the scars of violence, combating violence and seeking security and support in healthcare, along with their subthemes.The findings highlighted that healthcare workers were seriously impacted following incidents of violence.Although they normalize that type of incident, generally, they are psychologically traumatized and tend to resign from their job or migrate to Western countries.Also, they demand legal support and preventative measures while working in the hospital.Thus, to prevent violence and mitigate its effects, it is necessary to enhance security measures, implement psychological support programs, organize awareness training, improve the white code system for reporting violence, and enforce legal regulations more effectively.