Abstract

This dissertation is conducted to examine the factors which contribute to the reporting of incidents of violence or aggression perpetrated by patients against health care providers in non-institutional health care settings. With a theoretical foundation grounded in community science, applying stress theory, broken windows theory and the theory of reasoned action, the following cross sectional study examines the contribution of characteristics of the healthcare provider, characteristics of the patient perpetrator and the form of violence to the providers' reporting or failing to report incidents. A self-administered survey was disseminated to a sample of non-institutional healthcare providers to test the research hypotheses about variables associated with reporting of incidents. The final sample size included 218 respondents, of which 213 met inclusion criteria for the study. 79.4% (N=169) of respondents had experienced at least one form of patient violence or aggression and were thus eligible for inclusion in the statistical analysis. The collected data was then analyzed through use of logistic regression to determine the contribution of each variable and the relative impact on the dependent variable of incident reporting. Findings indicated that there is a statistically significant contribution of the form of abuse, specifically verbal abuse in comparison to sexual abuse, to incident reporting. Specifically, the odds of reporting abuse are four times higher among individuals experiencing verbal abuse in contrast to providers subjected to patient-perpetrated sexual abuse.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2016

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Burg, Mary Ann

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Health and Public Affairs

Degree Program

Public Affairs; Social Work

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006082

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006082

Language

English

Release Date

5-15-2017

Length of Campus-only Access

1 year

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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