Comparing workplace violence among nurses and other professionals using online articles: A social network analysis

Area of Science:

• Social science research
• Occupational health
• Communication studies

Background:

• Workplace violence is a significant issue in nursing.
• Online news articles offer insights into workplace violence trends.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze workplace violence discourse in online articles.
• To compare characteristics of workplace violence related to nurses versus other professionals using social network analysis.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive exploratory study using data from the BIGKinds database (1990-2020).
• Social network analysis conducted with UCINET and NetDraw software.
• Keyword extraction focused on 'workplace violence'.

Main Results:

• 675 articles on workplace violence among nurses and 5797 among other professionals were identified.
• Work burden was a common cause of violence for both groups.
• Gender was linked to violence against nurses, while abuse of power was linked to violence against other professionals.

Conclusions:

• Nurses and other professionals exhibit distinct vulnerabilities to workplace violence.
• Differentiated approaches are necessary to mitigate violence in these groups.
• Nurse managers should foster healthy work environments, adequate staffing, and flexible schedules to protect nurses.