Occupational Violence and Its Association with the Quality of Working Life of Nurses in Intensive Care Units of Educational-Medical Centers in 2019

Violence is a critical phenomenon in clinical settings, which negatively affects the nurses’ quality of working life (QoWL).

The aim of this study was to determine occupational violence and its association with nurses’ QoWL in intensive care units.

This was a descriptive, analytical, correlational study, the participants of which were 220 nurses working in the intensive care units of Mazandaran educational-medical centers. The participants were selected by using the stratified random sampling method in 2019. Data collection instruments were three questionnaires, namely Dumont Occupational Violence, Walton QoWL, and Demographic Information. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 24, and descriptive and inferential statistics.

Overall, 63.2% of the participants rated their QoWL as average, and 68.3% of the nurses stated that they had experienced violent behaviors from their nursing colleagues. Also, people with higher incomes had significantly higher QoWL (P = 0.003). In general, there was a significant negative correlation between occupational violence and QoWL (P = 0.01, r = -0.173).

By taking into account the various aspects of QoWL, nurse managers should adopt effective strategies to create favorable working conditions to improve the QoWL of nurses and reduce the incidence of violent behaviors.