ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Workplace violence (WPV) is any action, incident, or behavior that deviates from appropriate conduct and results in a person getting assaulted, threatened, harmed, or injured at work. This research aimed at studying the current state of WPV among doctors working in obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) emergency departments (EDs) in Khartoum north locality (KNL), Sudan Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study that included 128 doctors from six governmental hospitals in KNL. A self-administered questionnaire assessing the prevalence and outcomes of WPV was distributed. The descriptive statistics and frequency tables were generated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: The respondents' mean age was 28.3±6.6 years (range: 21-70 years). Approximately half of the respondents (49.2%) experienced WPV. Verbal WPV was the most common type (93.3%), followed by physical (10%) and sexual (3.2%) type. Patients' relatives and friends are the most common group to commit WPV (92.9%). Night shifts were the time most WPV (58.6%) took place. The effect of WPV on respondents was mainly psychological (95.8%) compared to physical (4.2%). Conclusion: WPV prevalence among health care workers (HCWs) working in the OBGYN EDs is alarming with detrimental effects. Evaluating the current state of WPV, outcome, and associated factors will help not only address the current problem but also guide future related research.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Over the past several years, a new problem affecting the elderly population has been increasingly reported in popular press-the elderly population is dying as a result of loneliness and related factors at a rate greater than that of lack of medical care. The problem is so pervasive that loneliness is being described as an epidemic. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this inquiry was to examine whether the physical design of the lived environments could contribute to reducing loneliness in the elderly population. METHOD: A combination of scoping and conceptual review of published literature was adopted for the study. The process involved multiple phases of searching, and a review was conducted at each stage. Databases targeted include PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, PsycArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and SocINDEX. In all, 44 articles and books were subjected to in-depth analyses of underlying concepts, constructs, relationships, and empirical findings. RESULTS: Several theories including meaning in life theory, lifespan ego-development theory, symbolic interaction theory, proxemics, and affordance theory suggest that the design of the physical environment may have a role in addressing loneliness in the elderly. A potential explanatory model articulating the causal pathway is presented in this article. CONCLUSIONS: Between theoretical propositions and empirical literature, there exist grounds to assert that a plausible causal pathway exists between the physical environment and loneliness in the elderly population. The explanatory pathway suggests that the physical design could play both a direct and moderating role in influencing loneliness.
