Violence Against General Practitioners in Turkey

Creative Commons License

Aydın B., Kartal M., Mıdık Ö., Buyukakkus A.

JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE, vol.24, no.12, pp.1980-1995, 2009 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 24 Issue: 12
  • Publication Date: 2009
  • Doi Number: 10.1177/0886260508327703
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.1980-1995
  • Keywords: violence, general practitioner, workplace, HEALTH-CARE WORKERS, EMERGENCY-DEPARTMENTS, PHYSICIANS, ABUSE
  • Ondokuz Mayıs University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

We aimed to determine the violence against general practitioners (GPs) through their suggestions on its cause and prevention. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study based on self-administered questionnaire answered by a convenience study population consisting of 522 GPs between November and December 2006. Of the participating GPs, 82.8% reported that they experienced violence. They reported 1,020 events, and verbal form was the most common form (89.3%). Verbal and sexual violence were seen more frequently among women, whereas physical and economic violence were more frequent with men. Perpetrators were patients and/or their relatives in 91.1% of the events. However, they were colleagues and superiors in 67.9% of the economic and sexual violence events. Violence against GPs warrants more attention. For its prevention, there is a need of continuous professional, administrative, and legal support from the government along with systematic, coordinated implementations independent from daily political concerns.