Workplace violence, occupational commitment and intention among emergency room nurses: A mixed-methods study

Aims and Objectives This study aimed to determine the correlations between the violence experienced by emergency nurses in the work environment, their occupational commitment and their intention to resign. Background The emergency service, when compared with other hospital departments, is the unit where violence against healthcare workers is most common. Design A multi-method design was used. Methods The research was carried out between 15 January 2020 and 15 May 2021. The sample of the study consisted of 202 emergency service nurses. The first stage of the research was reserved for the validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Perceptions of the Prevalence of Aggression Scale (POPAS). Quantitative data were collected using the POPAS, the Three-Component Model of Commitment Scale. A qualitative method was used to determine in-depth the causes and effects of the violence the nurses were exposed to and what they thought and felt about the factors affecting their commitment to the occupation and their intention to resign. The Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) were used for this paper. Results The fit index values of the POPAS, which were confirmed with 15 items and four subdimensions, were determined to be acceptable and highly reliable. It was determined that 96.5% of the nurses were exposed to verbal violence. Qualitative interviews with nurses revealed that the violence they were subjected to in the working environment affected the nurses physically, psychologically, socially and caused them to consider leaving their jobs. Conclusions The increasing incidence of exposure to violent behaviours and verbal violence was found to decrease nurses' emotional commitment to their occupation. Relevance to clinical practice Nurses' working conditions and work environments should be improved and their workload should be reduced in order to maximise their level of occupational commitment and prevent them from thinking about resigning.