Knowledge and Believes of Nurses about Preventive Measures of Violence at Work Place at Tanta University Hospitals

Background: Workplace violence is one of the most significant and hazardous issues faced by nurses all over the world. Nurses are the most vulnerable health group to violence from other health group as they are responsible for providing 24 hours of direct, continuous care to the patients. Aim of the study was to assess knowledge and believes of nurses about preventive measures for violence at work place at Tanta university hospitals. Design: This study used a descriptive study design. Setting: It was completed at Tanta University hospitals. Subjects: 384 nurses were used as a convenience sample size for the study. Tools of the study: A single data collection tool has four parts and covered socio-demographic information about nurses, history of violence at workplace, knowledge of nurse about policies and measures to prevent violence in work place and believe of nurses about the degree of benefits of preventive measures of violence at the workplace. Results: More than three-quarters of the studied nurses (78.9%& 75.8%) had poor knowledge score and positive believes about preventive measures for violence and its benefits at the work place respectively with statistically significant relation between them. Regarding preventive measures for workplace violence, there was a positive correlation between total knowledge and total believes scores. Conclusion and recommendations: Although more than 75% of the nurses who participated in the study had poor knowledge score about measures to deal with violence at the work place, more than three-quarters of them had positive believes about degree of benefits of preventive measures of violence. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct health education program to raise nurses’ knowledge and awareness about preventive measures of violence at the work place.