Research Article

Patient Violence towards Mental Health Nurses: A Concept Analysis

Table 1

Summarised results of the theoretical phase.

CategoryItemsIndicators

Types of violenceEmotional violenceAccusing a nurse unfairly
Bullying/mobbing
Humiliate to nurses
Questioning nurses’ decisions
Physical violencePhysical assaults
Physical threats
Sexual harassmentSexual abuse (physical or verbal)
Verbal violenceVerbal abuse
Verbal threats

AntecedentsPredictable factorsInternal factors
External factors
Situational factors
Unpredictable factorsUnexpected
Unprovoked

ConsequencesPhysical injuriesDeath
Physical injuries (from mild to severe)
Psychological responsesBurnout
Emotional distress
Loss of confidence and self-esteem
Maintaining physical/psychological safe distances from violent patients
Psychological trauma
Sceptical attitude to their jobs
Seeking supportSeeking emotional support from colleagues

AttributesCommon and frequentCommon phenomenon
Frequently occurred
MultifactorialCaused by predictable (internal/external/situational) or unpredictable factors
Hard to define
Intentional or not
Vulnerability of nurses to violenceBlaming the victims
One-sidedness
Part of job (a culture that accepts the violence)
Self-criticism