Violence Against General Practitioners in Turkey

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.