The Link between Patients' Aggressive Communication and Nurses' Emotional Health Outcomes

The aggressive conduct of patients is a perennial problem that nurses face in health care. Studies have shown that such aggressiveness can be detrimental to the work and emotional wellbeing of nurses. Yet, the literature has had inconsistent findings; in some cases nurses are negatively affected by aggression, while in other cases nurses are not affected. Street and colleagues contended that such inconsistencies in research exist because social mechanisms embedded in communication are often not taken into consideration. This study adopts Street et al.'s pathways model and links patients' aggressive communication to nurses' emotional health outcomes, via the proximal outcome of communication satisfaction and the intermediate outcome of organizational identity. Results support Street et al.'s postulation and demonstrates that patients' aggressive communication does not have a direct effect on nurses' emotional health. Instead, the effect is indirect, mediated by communication satisfaction and organizational identity.