Workplace aggression against health care workers, law enforcement officials, and bus drivers: Differences in prevalence, perceptions, and psychological consequences

ABSTRACT

Investigations into workplace aggression (WPA) remain largely occupation specific, with few studies using a comparative approach. The aim of the present study was to compare the health care, law enforcement, and public transportation sectors with regards to the prevalence of different types of WPA, the perceptions of workers toward WPA, and the psychological consequences of such acts. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1,774 workers in Canada. Multinomial regressions were utilized to address the objectives. Findings revealed that verbal abuse victimization was particularly common in bus drivers, witnessing death threats was most frequent among law enforcement officials, and witnessing all types of WPA was most common among health care workers. Although bus drivers did not normalize WPA, they feared complaining about violence to their employer and thought it useless to talk it about unless wounds were visible. Fear of complaining about violence to colleagues was prevalent in health care and law enforcement, both sectors in which WPA was normalized. Finally, flashbacks and irritability following WPA were most likely to affect bus drivers whereas health care workers experienced hypervigilance to a greater extent. Strategies to tailor primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention according to these distinctions are suggested to offer a better-informed response to WPA.

KEYWORDS:

• Perceptions
• prevalence
• psychological consequences
• sectors of activity
• workplace aggression

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the health care workers, law officials, and bus drivers who participated in this study. The authors would also like to thank Isabelle Robichaud for her precious editing of the manuscript and Charles-Édouard Giguère for reviewing our statistical analyses. A special thanks goes to reviewers and editors who provided helpful comments that enhanced the quality of this article.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest relating to the material presented in this article. Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are solely those of the authors.