Occupational Violence in Nursing: Explanations and Coping Strategies

This study explored part of the experience of occupational harassment, experienced by thirteen Chilean nurses, analyzing the relationship between the explanations and their coping strategies, to formulate a comprehensive model that includes the involved elements and that can be used to develop preventive strategies. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, using theoretical saturation as the ending criterion and were analyzed according to the procedures of Grounded Theory. The relational analysis shows the influence of factors that perpetuate the phenomenon, both the organizational factors and the ones related to the execution of professional roles. According to the comprehensive model, this kind of violence is a circular phenomenon, in which the involved elements influence each other and are related to the narrative constructions of the phenomenon and to contextual elements, which can also be considered as part of the most probable cause of it.