Effect of an anger management program on mental health of nurses working in an emergency department

Emergency nurses (EN) are exposed to workplace violence and mental health (MH) disorders. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of empowerment in anger management on the mental health of nurses working in an emergency department). The present intervention study was conducted in the emergency department of Hospital in Iran during 2020. Sixty nurses who met inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to either a control or intervention group. Participants in the intervention group received an anger management treatment conducted in eight sessions within one month. The participants’ mental health was assessed before the intervention and after the one- month intervention using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version21. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of the demographic variables (p < 0.05). The mean scores of mental health among nurses in the control and intervention groups before the study were 7.11 and 6.92, respectively, and also there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.718). The mean scores of mental health among nurses in the control and intervention groups one month after the study were 7.01 and 6.01, respectively. The ANCOVA test results demonstrated that no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (p = 0.013). Educating and empowering EN regarding anger management could help improve their mental status. Considering the importance of this issue, nursing managers and educators should take the necessary efforts to incorporate anger management training for nurses working in ED settings.