Work-Related Violence Policy: A Process Evaluation

Abstract

This study describes one employer's approach to evaluating employees' knowledge of a violence prevention policy and experience with work-related physical and non-physical violence. A cross-sectional design was used to collect data from a random sample of current and former employees of a Midwest health care organization via a specially designed mailed questionnaire and the employer's internal database. While 7% of employees reported experiencing physical violence in the workplace, almost half of all employees had experienced non-physical violence. Most employees were aware of the organization's violence policy; however, few reported violence or used organizational resources (e.g., employee health) following the violence. Employees experienced symptoms and productivity losses in association with both types of violence. Process evaluations are an effective means of evaluating whether violence policies are used as intended and can provide organizations with considerable information to make effective programmatic changes.