Perception of risk by home health care nurses in Taiwan.

A study of cross-sectional design was used to understand the level of risk perceived by home health care nurses in Taiwan and its correlators. A total of 413 self-administrated structured questionnaires were sent by mail. 300 responses were received, with 258 valid ones. The response rate was 72.6%. The 90 occupational hazards fell into six risk factors: "professional", "traffic", "geographical", "clients' condition and interaction among clients and families", "law" and "organization". The highest scores among the six factors were associated with "law", "clients' condition and interaction among clients and families", and "organization". Marital status and home health care training were significant variables related to the level of risk perceived. Respondents who were married or had home health care training had higher level of risk perceived in the six risk factors than those who were not married or without any training. The variable of years of experience in home health care had a significantly negative correlation with both level of risk perceived for the factors "professional" and "clients' condition and interaction among clients and families". There was a significant positive correlation between the number of visits made by respondents and level of risk perceived for the traffic and geographical factors. There was no statistically significant correlation between the demographics of respondents and level of risk perceived in law. The variables educational level, whether received home health care training, and whether obtained training certificate showed no significant difference in six levels of risk perceived by respondents. The study proposed several suggestions for practice, education, policy and future study.