Almost half (48 percent) of healthcare workers aged 16 or older experience verbal aggression, such as swearing or shouting. A relatively large group also experiences bullying (25 percent) or physical aggression (21 percent) from patients or their relatives (family or friends). Healthcare workers least often report threats or intimidation (10 percent).
Especially social workers and group and residential counselors experience aggression: 79 percent report this. They experience aggression in almost all forms. Caregivers relatively often experience sexual intimidation and physical aggression, while social specialists (such as social workers and psychologists) mainly experience threats and discrimination.
Cleaners and kitchen helpers, including domestic helpers, relatively rarely experience aggression from patients (30 percent). This also applies to pedagogical workers (36 percent), who mostly work in childcare within the healthcare and welfare sector. For them, it mainly concerns verbal aggression and bullying by relatives of the children.
Employees in healthcare and welfare who experience too high a workload experience aggression from patients more often than colleagues who perceive their workload as good: 68 percent versus 54 percent. This also applies to those who say they have insufficient time to give attention to their patients or clients: 75 percent of them experience aggression, compared to 57 percent of their colleagues who do have enough time.
Healthcare workers who experience aggression from patients are almost as enthusiastic about their work as colleagues who do not. However, they more often experience psychological fatigue as a result of their work: 19 percent say they feel burned out. Among employees not experiencing aggression, this is 12 percent. They also more often report feeling frustrated by their work: 16 percent versus 9 percent.
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