Physical and verbal workplace violence against nurses in Jordan.

AIMS: To explore the prevalence of physical and verbal workplace violence among nurses working in general hospitals in Jordan, and to investigate the relation between physical violence, verbal violence, anxiety about violence, and some certain demographic variables. BACKGROUND: Violence against nurses at the workplace is an alarming problem in both developed and developing countries. This study explicates physical and psychological workplace violence and its relation to anxiety about violence at workplace and to some demographic variables. METHODS: A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted on a convenience sample of nurses working in general hospitals in Jordan. RESULTS: A total of 468 nurses completed the questionnaire, 52.8% of the participants reported that they were physically attacked, and 67.8% were verbally attacked in the last 12 months. Of those who were physically attacked, 26.5% reported a physical violence with a weapon. The logistic regression analysis revealed that female nurses were 0.5 times less likely to report being physically attacked and were 1.5 times more likely to report being verbally abused than male nurses. DISCUSSION: Violence against nurses is highly prevalent in Jordan. More than half of the participants were victims of violence at their workplace during the last year. Verbal abuse was more common among females than males. NURSING IMPLICATIONS: Nurses are in the frontline of the healthcare system and their safety is a high priority. They need to be involved in the development and formulation of workplace violence policy decisions. CONCLUSIONS: Physical and verbal workplace violence in Jordan, like other countries, is a dangerous behavior that negatively affects general hospital nurses.

Quality of life, social support, and severity of psychiatric symptoms in Jordanian patients with schizophrenia.

The major purposes of this study were to examine levels and correlations of quality of life (QOL), social support, and severity of psychiatric symptoms as well as to identify the variables that best predict QOL among Jordanian patients with schizophrenia. Descriptive cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 160 patients selected through systematic random sampling from two psychiatric outpatient clinics. Results showed that the highest domain of QOL was the social relationship domain, and the highest source of social support was perceived from significant others. Severity of affective symptoms was the highest, and severity of positive symptoms was the lowest. QOL correlated positively with social support, patients' educational and income level, and employment; and negatively with severity of psychiatric symptoms, duration of untreated illness, and duration of treatment. Support from friends, duration of untreated illness, income level, and severity of affective symptoms predicted QOL and accounting for 47.3% of the variance.

Diagnostic value of vaso-seminal-vesiculography.

The site of obstruction was evaluated by seminal vesiculography in 24 cases of azoospermia with normal testicular biopsies. In 21 cases, obstruction was located at the level of the tail of the epididymis; in 2 cases ejaculatory duct was obstructed; and in 1 case the injected dye was arrested at the level of internal inguinal ring, at the site of previous hernia operation. Vesiculogram in 24 obstructed cases and 4 cases of chronic seminal vesiculities without obstruction showed one normal picture, four with catarrhal inflammation, and the rest with chronic interstitial vesiculities. Radiological study of a patient complaining of aspermia showed multiple congenital anomalies. The high incidence of chronic vesiculities and postinflammatory obstruction is attributed to underlying bilharziasis.