Experiences of Nurses Suffering Physical Violence from Psychiatric Inpatients-Feelings and Relevant Factors

Abstract

This study was designed to clarify the feelings of nurses with experiences of physical violence from psychiatric inpatients, and to elucidate the factors that influenced the feelings. The subjects of this study were 14 nurses who had suffered physical violence from psychiatric inpatients within the last 5 years. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on these subjects, and qualitative inductive analysis was performed.The results of the analysis were of nine categories. The first 3 categories relate to the feelings of the victimized nurses and they are as follows : [emotional reaction caused by physical violence], [shaking of confidence in self-image] and [repairing the relationship with patients]. The next 4 categories belong to the factors that influenced these feelings are as follows : [interpretation of physical violence], [professional awareness as a nurse], [difficulty in sharing the experience] and [presence of colleagues who helped]. The final 3 categories concern the experiences of physical violence and as follows : [confusion in dealing with patients] and [lessons learn from the experience of physical violence].These results of this study suggest the importance of the nurses and superiors having an open understanding of their colleagues who have been the victim of physical violence and establishing an organized system of prevention against such violence.