Psychological violence in nurses' professional practice

Abstract

This descriptive study was performed from April to June 2008, at Universidade Federal do Paraná, in three hospitals, one higher education school and one secondary education school. The objectives were: to analyze the presence of psychological violence in the professional practice of nurses; to characterize the type of violence and the aggressor; to identify the victim's reactions after the aggression. Interviews were performed with 161 nurses, whose ages ranged between 22 and 57 years, and most of white ethnicity. It was found that psychological violence occurs at both the hospital and academic settings; most aggressors are women, particularly colleagues, followed by physicians and other health team professionals; nurses with less than one year since their graduation were those who suffered the highest degree of aggression and of greatest intensity. The factors that resulted from the aggression included irritability, which ranked first place, followed by anger, sorrow, and reduced self-esteem.