Evaluation of Violence Exposure of Healthcare Professionals Working in Kars Province

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the violence exposure of healthcare professionals working in Kars province. Method: This was a descriptive study. While the population of the study consisted of 643 healthcare professionals, the sample consisted of 200 healthcare professionals who agreed to participate in the study. The data were collected by using a questionnaire prepared by the researchers. Number and percentage distribution were used to assess the data. Results: Among the healthcare professionals, 48.5% stated that they witnessed violence, 61.5% were exposed to violence, 49.9% were exposed to violence in the form of insult, 91.1% of the violence perpetrators were male, 86.1% of the violence perpetrators were patient relatives, 70.7% of the professionals stated that no procedure was administered after the violence, 81.3% were exposed to the verbal violence most recently, 52.0% were exposed to violence in the service, and 99.0% expressed that the institution remained unresponsive to violence. Conclusion: It was observed that healthcare professionals are in the group of high risk for violence exposure.