Development of an intervention strategy to provide emotional support for nurses caring for violent patients in acute wards in psychiatric hospitals in the Western Cape

Abstract

Globally, workplace violence in healthcare is a major public concern, especially in the nursing profession. Nurses have higher risk of experiencing workplace violence they spend more time with patients. The violence has an impact on nurses’ day-to-day work as it negatively affects their physical and mental health, job satisfaction, productivity, and quality of patient care. Several interventions such as critical incident debriefing, group intervention approach, clinical supervision, and mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions have been developed to support nurses from workplace violence. Despite these interventions, the response to satisfaction with accessibility and utilisation have varied in areas in the workplace.