Preventing work-related violence in healthcare and social assistance
Work-related violence is a major hazard for healthcare and social assistance workers. One in three healthcare workers have experienced such violence in their jobs, and are up to 16 times more at risk than other professions. Within the disability care sector, very little is known about what works to reduce such risk.
Our study, led by Queensland University of Technology in collaboration with Dr. Tristan Casey from New View Safety , systematically reviewed 22 scientific studies on this topic. The aim was to understand the levels of intervention and what meaningfully reduces the risk of work-related violence towards disability care staff.
Mapping the studies against the Rasmussen "PreventiMap" model revealed that most interventions target the individual level (e.g., raising awareness, noticing warning signs, prevention and de-escalation skills, and improving client-staff communication), which tended to achieve only short-lived changes or none at all. Reassuringly, the remaining studies showed strong evidence of statistically-significant long-term change (one month or more after the intervention).
So, what works to reduce the risk of work-related violence towards disability care staff?
Systems-level interventions rather than individual trainings alone contributed the most to violence reduction, with up to a 77% decrease in incidents. Such interventions cover multiple levels of the work system and include (for example) appropriate protective gear for staff, revised risk assessments at client intake, decision aids and checklists, regular team meetings, in-field leadership walks and learning from the frontline, incident reviews, and improved client information resources.
This study encourages us to reflect on how we are managing work-related violence:
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1. Are you relying too heavily on individual staff training programs to manage work-related violence?
2. What 'upstream' factors can you introduce or improve, such as improving client care plans, (re)allocating staff resources/rostering changes, and creating knowledge repositories?
3. Are you fostering learning and continual improvement in staff capability after incidents occur?
You can find the full, open-access article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753524003552
Interested in understanding the systemic factors that contribute to workplace violence in your industry and developing meaningful interventions? Contact [email protected] today.
Health Safety Environment Advisor @ LINX -Regional Logistics | Diploma of Work Health and Safety | Diploma of Leadership & Management
1 个月Very informative, thank you for sharing.
Executive Director & Facilitator | Incident and Workplace Investigations | Risk Management | Workplace Health & Safety | Investigations, Training, Research & Analysis
1 个月Great work,?Dr. Tristan Casey. I am sure you were not surprised that the research demonstrated a lack of risk-reducing outcomes from investigations into occupational violence. This is almost a WICKED problem in health care. Some time ago, I saw an excellent risk assessment from Victoria, which identified system issues as catalysts for violence. They looked at issues such as admission processes, the design of waiting rooms, and emergency departments. I thought, and still do, that it was a great leap ahead.