The Relationships Among Verbal Abuse Experiences, Coping Aspects and Career Commitments of Nurses in Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

This study is a descriptive research to identify the relationships among verbal abuse experiences, coping aspects, and career commitments of nurses in intensive care unit and to verify the influencing factor in their career commitments. The data was collected from July 10th to July 19th, 2019. The research subjects were 118 nurses, who have been working for over two months in internal medicine and surgical intensive care unit at an university hospital A located in Gyeonggi area. The verbal abuse experiences were measured with the instrument, revised and supplemented by Mi-ok Yoo(2012), which is consisted of 39 items developed by Kyung Dong Nam et al(2005). The coping aspects in violence were measured with revised and supplemented instrument of 15 items, based on works of Hye Jin Kwon(2007), and adapted instrument of 8 items, based on works of In Oh Moon(2010) and developments by Blau(1985). The data was analyzed using the SPSS Windows 22.0 program for the statistical analyses, Independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficients. The main results of the study are as follows. 1. The mean score of verbal abuse that emergency department nurses experienced was 2.12±0.57. For the sub-items of verbal abuse experiences, the mean score of verbal abuse experiences was 2.27±0.66 from patients and caregivers, 2.05±0.63 from doctors, and 2.04±0.77 from nurses. 2. The mean score of study subjects' problem-oriented coping aspects in coping violence was 2.85±0.56; the mean score of study subjects's emotion-oriented coping aspect was 3.27±0.57; and the mean score of study subjects's career commitment was 2.46±0.67. 3. According to the results of relations among verbal abuse experiences, coping aspects in violences, and career commitment, the correlation between the verbal abuse experience and coping aspects was found to have negative statistical significance(r=-0.269, p=.003), while the correlation between the experience of verbal abuse and problem-oriented coping aspect was observed to have positive statistical significance(r=.303, p=.001). Emotion-oriented coping aspect and career commitment was observed to have meaningless differences in statistical significance. 4. According to the result of correlation between verbal abuse and coping aspect of each study subject, all subjects’ verbal abuse experiences and emotion-oriented coping aspects was observed to have positive statistical significance(r=.268, p=.003). Correlation between verbal abuse experiences from doctors and emotion-oriented coping aspects was observed to have positive statistical significance(r=.223, p=.015). In addition, correlation between verbal abuse experiences from nurses and emotion-oriented coping aspects was observed to have positive statistical significance(r=.291, p=.001). 5. In verbal abuse experience based on general characteristics of study subjects, verbal abuse experiences from doctors were more statistically significant with the married nurses than the single nurses(t=-3.231, p=.002). Verbal abuse experiences from patients and guardians had significant difference in career-wise(clinical career F=3.16 p=.046, intensive care unit career F=3.12, p=.048). However, post analysis shows that there are no significant statistical results. 6. In coping aspects based on general characteristics of study subjects, problem-oriented coping was higher among nurses with master’s degrees than ones with undergraduate degrees(F=5.288, p=.006). Nurses with more than 10 years of clinical career showed higher significance than the ones with 4 years and less(F=4.602, p=.012). Nurses with more than 10 years of intensive care unit career showed higher significance than the ones with 4 years and less(F=4.155, p=.018). According to the results, as the experience of verbal abuse and coping aspects with violent experiences do have statistical significance with career commitment, it is needed to decrease the verbal abuse and enhance career commitment of nurses by coping aspects situations efficiently