Workplace Violence and Associated Factors among Health Professionals at Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, Oromia, South West Ethiopia, 2023

Abstract

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) is one of the most common public health concerns among healthcare workers worldwide. Workplace harassment, threats of danger to healthcare professionals, and abuse (physical, sexual, verbal, and psychological) are all examples of workplace violence. Objective: To assess workplace violence and associated factors among health professionals at Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia, in 2023. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was employed using quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection at Jimma University Medical Center from May 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023,.About 415 respondents were selected using a single population proportion formula. The sample size for each health professional was allocated proportionally to the number of healthcare workers in each department, and each participant was selected using a simple random sampling method. The collected data was entered into Epidata version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS 26 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed to present the data and describe the study participants. Logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors associated with workplace violence. Qualitative data was collected purposively from eight departments’ heads and then transcribed, translated, coded, thematized into four major areas manually, and presented to triangulate the qualitative findings with the respective quantitative findings. Result: Three hundred-ninety three respondents participated in the study, with a response rate of 94.7. Overall, 48.1% of the respondents reported exposure to workplace violence in the last six months, with a 95% CI of 45.32 to 52.9. Among the total respondents, 82 (20.9%) had faced physical violence. 171(43.5%) reported being exposed to verbal abuse, and about 43 (10.9%) of the respondents experienced bullying or mobbing in the past 6 months, and 21 (5.3%) of the participants experienced sexual harassment in the past 6 months. Sex, age, marital status, chewing chat, drinking alcohol, and being worried about violence in the workplace were identified as major factors associated with workplace violence among health care providers. Conclusion and Recommendation: In this study, the magnitude of workplace violence among health professionals was relatively higher. In addition, sex, age, marital status, chewing chat, drinking alcohol, and being worried about violence in the current workplace were identified as factors associated with workplace violence. Effective programs and protocols are needed to reduce the hazards of workplace violence by involving different stakeholders. Hospital administrators and department heads should give attention to those factors identified for further improvement.