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Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress

BACKGROUND: China has witnessed a surge in violence against medical personnel, including widely reported incidents of violent abuse, riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals, but little is known about the impact of gender differences on the workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gy...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhu, Lan, Li, Lei, Lang, Jinghe
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6287814/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30532213
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208693
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author Zhu, Lan
Li, Lei
Lang, Jinghe
author_facet Zhu, Lan
Li, Lei
Lang, Jinghe
author_sort Zhu, Lan
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: China has witnessed a surge in violence against medical personnel, including widely reported incidents of violent abuse, riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals, but little is known about the impact of gender differences on the workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology. The aim of this study was to analyse gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China. METHODS: Printed questionnaires were sent to participants of a national congress of obstetricians and gynecologists. The questionnaire consisted of items relevant to epidemiologic characteristics, workplace violence experienced in the past 12 months, participants’ attitudes toward violence and physician–patient relationship. Data from female and male physicians were compared in univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: We sent out 1,425 questionnaires, and 1,300 (91.2%) physicians responded. Among 1,247 participants with specified gender, female and male physicians consisted of 162 (13.0%) and 1,085 (87.0%), respectively. Over the past 12 months, about two-thirds of these physicians suffered verbal abuse in the workplace, gender difference aside. After adjustment for education status, working hospital and subspecialty, male physicians had suffered more physical assaults than female colleagues (18.8% vs. 10.5%, adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4–3.7), most attacks without apparent physical injuries (adjusted OR 2.3, 95% CI, 1.4–3.7). Male physicians also suffered more sexual assaults than female colleagues (5.0% vs. 1.3%, adjusted OR 4.8, 95% CI, 1.8–13.3), nearly all of verbal harassment. There were only two sexual attacks on female physicians, and no rapes occurred. Although almost all physicians regarded the current circumstance as “unhealthy and stressful”, more than half of them would take various active initiatives to create and maintain healthy and friendly physician–patient relationships. CONCLUSION: Male physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China suffered the same number of verbal abuse incidents but more physical and sexual assaults than their female colleagues. Both genders had similar opinions about causes, consequences and management about work violence against physicians, and had the same pessimistic perspectives but innovative wishes for the physician–patient relationship.
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spelling pubmed-62878142018-12-28 Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress Zhu, Lan Li, Lei Lang, Jinghe PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: China has witnessed a surge in violence against medical personnel, including widely reported incidents of violent abuse, riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals, but little is known about the impact of gender differences on the workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology. The aim of this study was to analyse gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China. METHODS: Printed questionnaires were sent to participants of a national congress of obstetricians and gynecologists. The questionnaire consisted of items relevant to epidemiologic characteristics, workplace violence experienced in the past 12 months, participants’ attitudes toward violence and physician–patient relationship. Data from female and male physicians were compared in univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: We sent out 1,425 questionnaires, and 1,300 (91.2%) physicians responded. Among 1,247 participants with specified gender, female and male physicians consisted of 162 (13.0%) and 1,085 (87.0%), respectively. Over the past 12 months, about two-thirds of these physicians suffered verbal abuse in the workplace, gender difference aside. After adjustment for education status, working hospital and subspecialty, male physicians had suffered more physical assaults than female colleagues (18.8% vs. 10.5%, adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4–3.7), most attacks without apparent physical injuries (adjusted OR 2.3, 95% CI, 1.4–3.7). Male physicians also suffered more sexual assaults than female colleagues (5.0% vs. 1.3%, adjusted OR 4.8, 95% CI, 1.8–13.3), nearly all of verbal harassment. There were only two sexual attacks on female physicians, and no rapes occurred. Although almost all physicians regarded the current circumstance as “unhealthy and stressful”, more than half of them would take various active initiatives to create and maintain healthy and friendly physician–patient relationships. CONCLUSION: Male physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China suffered the same number of verbal abuse incidents but more physical and sexual assaults than their female colleagues. Both genders had similar opinions about causes, consequences and management about work violence against physicians, and had the same pessimistic perspectives but innovative wishes for the physician–patient relationship. Public Library of Science 2018-12-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6287814/ /pubmed/30532213 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208693 Text en © 2018 Zhu et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zhu, Lan
Li, Lei
Lang, Jinghe
Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress
title Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress
title_full Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress
title_fullStr Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress
title_full_unstemmed Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress
title_short Gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in China: A questionnaire in the national congress
title_sort gender differences in workplace violence against physicians of obstetrics and gynecology in china: a questionnaire in the national congress
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6287814/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30532213
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208693
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