Distress, support and psychological resilience of psychiatric nurses as second victims after violence: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: The aim is to explore the impact of violence and psychological resilience on psychiatric nurses as second victims.

Background: Workplace violence is a public health concern, seriously influencing medical staff's physical and mental health. However, few pieces of research have concentrated on psychiatric nurses as second victims.

Method: The socio-demographic data, violence-related data, psychological resilience scale, the Chinese version of the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool were applied to conduct a cross-sectional survey on nurses from psychiatric hospitals. The multiple linear regression model identified significant variables associated with violence-related injury and resilience.

Results: A total of 683 nurses completed the survey, of whom 88.3% were women. The average scores of the second victims' experience and support, support and distress were 3.45 ± 0.43, 3.71 ± 0.57 and 3.19 ± 0.67, respectively. Physical violence, psychological violence, psychological influence and nursing work environment were positively correlated with the experience and support of the second victims, and innocuous violence was a negative factor, which explains 20.6% of the variation. Moreover, physical injury, nursing work environment, resilience restructuring, physical violence, psychological violence, psychological impact and disagreement about the existence of violence explained 14.8% of the distress. The innocuous violence, psychological violence and nursing work environment explained 46.2% of the support.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that nurses who are second victims after the violence mainly suffer from severe psychological distress and receive the least support for the same.

Implication for nursing management: The study provides clues to help nursing managers' emphasis on the distress and support of second victims and provides targeted intervention based on the relevant factors and these results. The article is a cross-sectional study of psychiatric nurses, which has been approved by the ethics committee of the hospital before the survey. All the nurses who participated in the survey have been informed and agreed.

Keywords: psychiatric nurse; psychological resilience; second victims; work environment; workplace violence.