Workplace violence and associations with health outcomes in public health administration agencies in Taiwan: a survey during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of workplace violence in public health administration agencies and its effects on health outcomes. Methods: A survey was conducted in March 2022. Staff who had been working for at least one year in the Ministry of Health and Welfare or its subordinate agencies, the Department of Health, or in public health centers were recruited. Data were collected anonymously with a structured, online questionnaire. A total of 492 valid questionnaires were collected. Results: A total of 48.17% participants reported having experienced workplace violence (physical, psychological, verbal, or sexual). The most common type of violence was verbal (43.50%), followed by psychological (31.71%). Supervisors were the primary perpetrators of verbal and psychological violence, followed by clients and colleagues. Staff reported long working hours and high levels of psychological and physical stress. Furthermore, 22.97% of workers reported poor self-rated health, 60.57% had personal burnout levels higher than 50, and 63.41% reported poor mental health. Regression analyses showed that low workplace justice was most strongly associated with internal verbal and psychological violence, whereas routine work requiring interaction with the public was most strongly associated with external verbal violence. Staff who had experienced workplace violence in the past year had significantly higher risks of poor self-rated health, mental health, and personal burnout, and poor health was more strongly associated with workplace violence that originated inside the organization than with workplace violence that originated from outside the organization. Conclusions: This survey was conducted on-line anonymously, so the representativeness of our findings might be limited. However, heavy workloads and workplace violence in public health administration agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic are important issues deserving urgent attention. (Taiwan J Public Health. 2023;42(1)42-61)