Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Sep 20, 2024; 14(3): 92932
Published online Sep 20, 2024. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v14.i3.92932
Violence study of healthcare workers and systems in the Caribbean: ViSHWaS-Caribbean study
Reshon Hadmon, Daniella Myriam Pierre, Akshat Banga, Jacques W Clerville, Hans Mautong, Precious Akinsanya, Rajat Das Gupta, Sama Soliman, Tolupe M Hunjah, Bamidele A Hunjah, Hafeez Hamza, Ruman Khurshid Qasba, Faisal A Nawaz, Salim Surani, Rahul Kashyap
Reshon Hadmon, Department of Medicine, St. George University School of Medicine, Grenada FZ818, West Indies
Daniella Myriam Pierre, Faisal A Nawaz, Salim Surani, Rahul Kashyap, Department of Research, Global Remote Research Scholar Program, St Paul, MN 55101, United States
Daniella Myriam Pierre, Department of Public Health, Cuny Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York, NY 10027, United States
Akshat Banga, Department of Internal Medicine, Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur 302004, India
Jacques W Clerville, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, United States
Hans Mautong, Department of Sociology and Demography, School of Health, Universidad de Especialidades Espiritu Santo, Samborondon 092301, Ecuador
Precious Akinsanya, Department of Medicine, Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, NJ 07666, United States
Rajat Das Gupta, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States
Sama Soliman, Department of Medicine, Pavlov First State Medical University of St Petersburg, Sankt-Peterburg 197022, Russia
Tolupe M Hunjah, Department of Medicine, University of Suffolk, Ipswich IP4 1QJ, United Kingdom
Bamidele A Hunjah, Department of Medicine, Unicaf University of Zambia, Lusaka 20842, Zambia
Hafeez Hamza, Department of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Girne 99428, Cyprus
Ruman Khurshid Qasba, Department of Medicine, Sher-i-Kashmir, Institute of Medical Science, Srinagar 190011, India
Faisal A Nawaz, Department of Psychiatry, Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital, Emirates Health Services, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Salim Surani, Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States
Salim Surani, Rahul Kashyap, Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, United States
Rahul Kashyap, Department of Research, Wellspan Health, York, PA 17403, United States
Co-first authors: Reshon Hadmon and Daniella Myriam Pierre.
Author contributions: Banga A, Kashyap R, and Mautong H designed research; Hadmon R, Pierre DM, Banga A, Clerville JW, Mautong H, Akinsanya P, Gupta RD, Soliman S, Hunjah TM, Hunjah BA, Hamza H, Qasba RK, Nawaz FA, Surani S, Kashyap R collected the data; Hadmon R, Pierre DM, Banga A, Mautong H, Kashyap R analyzed the data; Hadmon R, Banga A, Kashyap R supervised the paper; Hadmon R, Pierre DM, Banga A, Mautong H, Kashyap R wrote the original draft; Hadmon R, Pierre DM, Banga A, Clerville JW, Mautong H, Akinsanya P, Gupta RD, Soliman S, Hunjah TM, Hunjah BA, Hamza H, Qasba RK, Nawaz FA, Surani S, Kashyap R reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Hadmon R and Pierre DM contributed equally to this work as co-first authors.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: The ViSHWaS study was granted an exemption from the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board. The consent requirements were waived.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The manuscript of the global study has been submitted in different sections and accepted as abstracts for presentation at different conferences. These include the annual meeting of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM 2023) in January 2023 in San Francisco, United States (which also garnered media attention); the third Abu Dhabi Integrated Mental Health Conference in January 2023 in Abu Dhabi, UAE; and the American Thoracic Society International conference in May 2023 in Washington, DC; the CHEST annual conference in October 2023. The manuscript of the main paper abstract and the LATAM sub-analysis have been submitted and published in its initial version on the Lancet SSRN preprint program and the Kenya sub-analysis has been submitted and published in its initial version on the Research Square preprint program.
Data sharing statement: Dataset is available from the corresponding author at srsurani@hotmail.com.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Salim Surani, FCCP, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, Texas A and M University, College Station, 40 Bizzell Street, TX 77843, United States. srsurani@hotmail.com
Received: February 12, 2024
Revised: April 24, 2024
Accepted: May 7, 2024
Published online: September 20, 2024
Processing time: 134 Days and 5.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) in the Caribbean continues to prevail yet remains underreported. Our aim is to determine the cause, traits, and consequences of violence on HCWs in the Caribbean.

AIM

To determine the cause, traits, and consequences of violence on HCWs in the Caribbean.

METHODS

This research adopted an online cross-sectional survey approach, spanning over eight weeks (between June 6th and August 9th, 2022). The survey was generated using Research Electronic Data Capture forms and followed a snowballing strategy to contact individuals using emails, social media, text messages, etc. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the variables that influence violence, including gender, age, years of experience, institution type, and night shift frequency.

RESULTS

The survey was completed by 225 HCWs. Females comprised 61%. Over 51% of respondents belonged to the 21 to 35 age group. Dominica (n = 61), Haiti (n = 50), and Grenada (n = 31) had the most responses. Most HCWs (49%) worked for government academic institutions, followed by community hospitals (23%). Medical students (32%), followed by attending physicians (22%), and others (16%) comprised the most common cadre of respondents. About 39% of the participants reported experiencing violence themselves, and 18% reported violence against colleague(s). Verbal violence (48%), emotional abuse (24%), and physical misconduct (14%) were the most common types of violence. Nearly 63% of respondents identified patients or their relatives as the most frequent aggressors. Univariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that female gender (OR = 2.08; 95%CI: 1.16-3.76, P = 0.014) and higher frequency of night shifts (OR = 2.22; 95%CI: 1.08-4.58, P = 0.030) were associated with significantly higher odds of experiencing violence. More than 50% of HCWs felt less motivated and had decreased job satisfaction post-violent conduct.

CONCLUSION

A large proportion of HCWS in the Caribbean are exposed to violence, yet the phenomenon remains underreported. As a result, HCWs’ job satisfaction has diminished.

Keywords: ViSHWaS; Healthcare workers; Violence; Survey; Workplace violence; Caribbean; Cross-sectional study

Core Tip: The ViSHWaS-Caribbean study followed the guiding principles from the ViSHWaS global study to identify the probable risk factors, characteristics, and outcomes of violence on Caribbean healthcare workers (HCWs). The results were in line with previous studies carried out worldwide and showed that a large proportion of Caribbean HCWs were exposed to violence, leading to job dissatisfaction. The solution to this problem would be to conduct longitudinal analysis/research. Stakeholders should enact regulatory changes to lessen this dispute, and social activities are necessary to strengthen the bonds between HCWs and the communities they serve.