Long-term adverse health outcomes of physical workplace violence: a 7-year population-based follow-up study

Karina Friis*, Jesper Pihl-Thingvad, Finn Breinholt Larsen, Julie Christiansen, Mathias Lasgaard

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyse whether physical workplace violence increases the risk of long-term adverse health outcomes (i.e., high number of visits to the general practitioner, outpatient treatment, hospital admittance, antidepressant use, and/or having a mental disorder). The study was based on representative survey data from 2006 and 2010 (entitled “How are you?”) merged with register data for a 7-year follow-up period (N = 30,812). To examine if physical workplace violence was a predictor of adverse health outcomes, logistic regression models were conducted for the total follow-up period and for each follow-up year with the different outcome measures as the dependent variables. In the follow-up period, individuals who were exposed to physical workplace violence had a higher number of visits to the general practitioner, had more often received outpatient treatment, and had more often been admitted to hospital than their non-exposed counterparts. Moreover, exposed individuals had higher odds of using antidepressants in the last three follow-up years than did non-exposed individuals. The findings call for heightened attention to securing preventive as well as rehabilitative strategies to help victims of physical workplace violence with the aim of avoiding adverse long-term health consequences.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
Volume28
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)101-109
ISSN1359-432X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2. Jan 2019

Keywords

  • adverse health outcomes
  • antidepressants
  • healthcare utilization
  • mental disorder
  • Workplace violence

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Long-term adverse health outcomes of physical workplace violence: a 7-year population-based follow-up study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this