Female patient violence experienced by female qualified nurses working in an inpatient psychiatric department

Whilst there is an increasing prevalence of healthcare staff facing aggression, psychiatric nurses are thought to be most at risk; with such events being a hazard to their physical, emotional and psychological health. This study explored how patient violence is experienced by qualified nurses employed in an in-patient psychiatric facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). As male and female patients and nurses are segregated in Saudi healthcare settings, this study focused on female patient violence against female psychiatric nurses. Both the immediate and more long-term impacts were explored, together with approaches that could potentially facilitate avoiding, reducing and managing aggression within the work setting. The study adopted a qualitative descriptive design and used purposive sampling to recruit nine psychiatric nurses working in an in-patient setting, from a single KSA medical facility. Inclusion criteria required participants to be licensed, registered nurses, who, during the last 10 years, had worked in an acute in-patient psychiatric ward for adult females, and to have experienced some form of patient aggression. Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were used to gather data, which was then subjected to thematic analysis. Two dominant themes were identified: (i) occurrence of violence and (ii) determination of violence. It was concluded that female psychiatric nurses were adversely affected by aggression towards them from female patients. Although the nurses considered this behaviour to be part of their nursing role, they reported minimal support from institutional managers, peers and their relatives.