Experiences of workplace violence among healthcare workers in home care settings: A qualitative systematic review

• Published in: International nursing review 2023-12, Vol.70 (4), p.596-605
• Main Authors: Zhong, Xiao Fan, Shorey, Shefaly
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Extraction; Home health care; Intervention; Medical personnel; Medical screening; Patients; Quality assessment; Quality of care; Systematic review; Workers; Workplace violence; Workplaces
• ISSN: 0020-8132; 1466-7657
• DOI: 10.1111/inr.12822

The aims of this systematic review were to obtain a comprehensive understanding of healthcare workers' experiences who were subjected to workplace violence in the home care environment and identify their specific support needs. Workplace violence toward healthcare workers has been a prevalent and ongoing issue. With the expansion of home care services, more emphasis should be placed on maintaining a safe in-home care environment for healthcare workers. Understanding healthcare workers' experience of workplace violence is crucial for developing effective interventions. A systematic search was conducted in 10 databases from their inception date until January 2022. Primary qualitative studies were included. Two reviewers performed screening of studies, methodological quality assessment, and data extraction and analysis independently. The two-step approach by Sandelowski and Barroso on meta-summary and meta-synthesis was used. This qualitative systematic review was reported according to the PRISMA guidelines. Eight studies were included. Three themes were identified: (1) impact of workplace violence, (2) reasons behind tolerating violence, and (3) way forward to prevent violence. Workplace violence is common among healthcare workers in home care settings, yet the support provided to healthcare workers is inadequate. The findings suggest the need for effective interventions and policies to address this grave issue in order to improve the well-being of healthcare workers as it may indirectly affect the care quality provided to patients. Due to the unique nature of home care services, interventions preventing workplace violence must be tailored to the specific home care settings and needs of healthcare workers. Future research should develop and evaluate different interventions to prevent workplace violence in home care settings.