The spiral effect of violence and conflict on psychological and interpersonal health conditions of nurses

Introduction. The study aims to evaluate effects of different stressors in nursing profession (Conflict with physicians, Problems with peers, supervisors, Patients and their families, Discrimination) on nurses’ psychological health conditions with particular reference to Anxiety, Depression, Somatization, Hostility, Interpersonal-Sensitivity. Method. A Questionnaire composed by five subscales of the Expanded Nursing Stress Scale (French et al., 2000; Conflict with physicians, Problems with Peers, Supervisors, Patients and their Families, Discrimination) and five subscales of Symptom Check-list-90-R (Derogatis, 1994; Anxiety, Depression, Somatization, Hostility and Interpersonal-Sensitivity) were submitted to 200 Italian nurses. Descriptive Statistics and Logistic Regression Analysis were tested. Results. Data showed perceived high levels of Conflict with Physicians (56.9%), Patients and their families (53.8%), as well as Somatization (64.9%), Interpersonal-Sensitivity (58.8%), Hostility (58%), Depression (55.6%) and Anxiety (46%). Logistic Regression Analysis revealed that Conflict with Physicians, Problems with Supervisors, Patients and their Families were significantly associated with high levels of all Psychological diseases. Conflict with physicians and Problems with supervisors were related to high levels of Depression; Problems with patients and their families predicted high levels of Somatization and the highest Hostility odds ratio. Perceived Discrimination was associated with high levels of Depression and Interpersonal-Sensitivity. No findings supported the association of Problems with peers with outcomes. Conclusions. Conflict and violence significantly influence nurses perceived psychological health conditions in terms of individual health (Anxiety, Depression, Somatization) and in terms of psychological dimensions, as Hostility and Interpersonal-Sensitivity, that may deeply influence quality of care relations exacerbating conflicts.