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Lee, Lee, Kang, and Park: Violent Experiences and Coping among Home Visiting Health Care Workers in Korea
Original Article
Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing 2012; 42(1): 66-75.

Published online: 29 February 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2012.42.1.66

Violent Experiences and Coping among Home Visiting Health Care Workers in Korea

In Sook Lee1, Kwang Ok Lee2, Hee Sun Kang3, Yeon-Hwan Park4

1Professor, School of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

2Full-time lecturer, Department of Nursing, Sangmyung University, Cheonan, Korea.

3Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea.

4Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Lee, Kwang Ok. Department of Nursing, Sangmyung University, 31 Sangmyungdae-gil, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan, Chungnam 330-720, Korea. Tel: +82-41-550-5430, Fax: +82-41-550-5545, kolee@smu.ac.kr

Received 20 December 2010       Accepted 5 February 2012

© 2012 Korean Society of Nursing Science

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore violent experiences of home visiting health care workers in Korea.

Methods

This study was a cross-sectional survey. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from 1,640 health care workers. Data collection was done between September 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010.

Results

Of the respondents, 70.6% had experienced work-related violence. Shouting (51.9%) was the most common verbal violence, followed by verbalizing sexual remarks to the health care workers (19.0%) and touching the hands (16.5%), the most common acts relating to sexual harassment. Of the respondents who had experienced violence, 50.9% told their peers about the incidents. However, the major reasons why they did not report these incidents was due to the fact that they felt it was useless to file reports and that they expected such incidents to occur as part of their job. The majority of the respondents (86.4%) wanted education on how to deal with such violence at work.

Conclusion

The results of this study indicate that efforts should be made to increase awareness and to minimize violence in the workplace. Also, educational programs should be designed to improve knowledge and to prevent workplace violence.

Keywords: Violence, Home visits, Sexual harrassment, Coping behavior

Figures and Tables

Table 1
General Characteristics of the Participants (N=1,640)
jkan-42-66-i001
Table 2
Experience of Violence (multiple responses) (N=1,640)
jkan-42-66-i002
Table 3
Experience of Violence by General Characteristics (N=1,158)
jkan-42-66-i003

*p<.05; **p<.01

Table 4
Action Taken after Violence Occurred (N=1158)
jkan-42-66-i004
Table 5
Reasons for not Reporting the Violence (N=843)
jkan-42-66-i005

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