VERBAL AND PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MIDWIFES WORKING IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS OF TEHRAN IN 2021

Recognizing workplace violence, especially in midwifery centers, is one of the serious issues worldwide. So, providing background information on violence against midwives is necessary for proper planning and policy-making. This study aimed to determine the status of verbal and physical violence against midwives working in public hospitals in Tehran in 2021.

Methods & Materials: 

This cross-sectional study was performed on 370 midwives working in public hospitals from February 2021 to July 2021 in Tehran. After 2-stage cluster sampling in selection of the hospitals, ten teaching hospitals with obstetrics and gynecology wards were included in the study and midwives working in the obstetrics and gynecology wards were included based on convenience sampling and according to the inclusion criteria. The data was collected using the workplace violence questionnaire of Rahmani and colleagues which its reliability and validity were also evaluated and confirmed in this study. Data were analyzed in SPSS software version 22 using an independent t-test.

Overall, 41.4 percent of midwives reported experiencing verbal violence and 7.3 percent reported physical violence at work in the last 12 months. Physical and verbal violence were mostly committed by patients (70.4 percent) and then by their companions (52.9 percent), respectively.

Verbal violence is the most dominant violence perpetrated by patients and their companions in midwifery workplaces. Therefore, establishing a formal violence reporting system and teaching how to deal with occupational violence by hospital officials is essential.