Violence toward Nurses Working in Family Health Care Centers in Alexandria and El Behera Governorates

Work place violence against health care workers is a common and widespreadphenomenon. There is an increased evidence that nursing staff is at such a high risk ofexposure to violent behaviors in their work place. Objective: To assess, compare work placeviolence toward nurses working in family health care centers in Alexandria and El BeheraGovernorate and identify its related risk factors. Settings: The study was carried out fourhealth centers in Alexandria and eight health centers in El Behera governorate giving a totalnumber of 12 family health care centers. Subjects: 80 nurses from Alexandria governorateand 120 from El Behera governorate giving a total number of 200 nurses. Tool: One tool wasused for data collection namely work place violence questionnaire which includes nurses demographic data, characteristics of workplace violence events, and risk factors contributingto workplace violence. Results: Findings of the present study revealed that 78.8% of nurses inAlexandria compared to 73.3% of nurses in El Behera reported exposure to violence in thelast year. Conclusion: The study concluded that a significant proportion of nurses facedviolence while providing care in urban and rural primary health facilities. Being a staffnurse, of younger age, and short work experience were significantly associated withworkplace violence. Recommendations: Workplace violence prevention strategies are neededto make health care settings a safe environment.