The Effect of Healthcare Workers' Suffering Violence on their Organizational Commitment During the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Case of Türkiye

Abstract

Purpose: The rate of violence that increased in the healthcare sector in recent years increased more during the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation caused several problems like depression, anxiety, and professional and organizational commitment among healthcare workers. This study aims to determine whether healthcare workers who worked for State and Private Hospitals in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, suffered any type of violence (verbal, physical, and sexual) at least one time during the pandemic and the effect of this incident on the organizational commitment level of healthcare workers. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted between 01.02.2022 and 30.05.2022, and 408 healthcare workers on duty participated and completed the questionnaire. Results: 70.6% of the healthcare workers stated they suffered violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. When examining the type of violence that healthcare workers suffered, 52.9% of them stated they suffered verbal violence, 4.2% of them stated they suffered physical violence, and 24% of those stated they suffered both verbal and physical violence. The rate of those who did not suffer violence was 18.9%. Conclusion: That the regression coefficient was negative means that there was a negative relationship between the level of violence and the loyalty of workers; as the level of violence increased, the level of worker loyalty decreased, or similarly, as the level of violence decreased, the level of worker loyalty increased. In other words, it was expected that a 1-unit decrease in the level of violence would lead to a 0.260-unit increase in the level of worker loyalty.