Health Professionals' Feelings

The phenomenon of violence at work has been the focus of several discussions in the global sphere because it is a public health problem representing one of the main occupational risks. Health workers are among those most affected by aggressions. The health sphere accounts for approximately a quarter of all violence at work. Rates of violence perpetrated by patients toward health care workers are known to be higher in psychiatry than in other fields. The present study assumes that violence by psychiatric patients leads health care workers to suffering at work even though they consider it commonplace expected and prepared to deal with it.