Status quo and influencing factors of posttraumatic growth of nurses exposed to nurse-to-nurse horizontal violence: a cross-sectional multicenter study

• DOI: 10.1186/s12912-024-02609-1
• Publication Date: 2024-12-20T11:20:06Z
• Authors: Mengqi Liu; Zhiwei Wang; Zeping Yan; Huimin Wei; Yanhua Wang; Yue Wang; Xiaole Hu; Xiaorong Luan
• Keywords: Cross-sectional study; Nursing management

BACKGROUND: Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) relieves physical and psychological stress symptoms in nurses who exposed to nurse-to-nurse horizontal violence (HV), has great intervention potential to reverse the negative effects of HV events. Therefore, in-depth exploration of the overall characteristics of PTG in HV-exposed nurses and its influencing factors are of great practical significance to provide them with precise psychological adaptive interventions. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to describe the current state of PTG of HV-exposed nurses and its influencing factors. METHODS: The staged cluster sampling method used to recruit nurses. Nurses completed the Chinese version of the nurse-to-nurse Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ-R), the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF), Colquitt’s Organizational Justice Measure (OJM), Inclusive Leadership Scale (ILS), 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) and provided their sociodemographic characteristics. Data were collected between February, 2023 ~ March, 2024, and were analyzed using correlation analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate linear stepwise regression analyses. RESULTS: The prevalence of HV within eight tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province amounted to 45.03%. On average, nurses scored 18.30 ± 14.33 in PTGI-SF. There were significant differences in PTGI-SF score according to departments (F = 2.589, p < 0.01), and educational background (F = 4.587, p < 0.01). The results of correlation analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between score in CD-RISC-10 (r = 0.120, p < 0.01), DEX (r=-0.069, p < 0.05), and PTGI-SF. The results of multivariate linear stepwise regression showed that resilience, dysexecutive, educational background, and type of department might be the influencing factors of PTG in HV-exposed nurses (R(2) = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to HV posed a moderate risk for nurses, while PTG levels among HV-exposed nurses were low to moderate. Overall, the current study suggests that educational background, department type, resilience, and dysexecutive were the main factors influencing PTG in HV-exposed nurses. The study found that resilience had a positive effect on PTG, while dysexecutive had a slight negative effect. Consolidation of resilience and alleviation of dysexecutive, while dialectically looking at educational background and department type, is necessary to improve PTG in HV-exposed nurses. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-024-02609-1.