Correlation Between Chinese Surgical Nurses' Perception of Holistic Humanistic Caring and Their Experience of Workplace Violence: A Cross-Sectional Study.

aimsTo understand the current perceptions of holistic humanistic caring among Chinese surgical nurses and the prevalence of workplace violence they experience, and to conduct a correlation analysis between them.

backgroundThe incidence of workplace violence against nurses is high in China, yet preventive measures tailored to nurses' perspectives remain inadequate. Humanistic caring, as a beneficial resource, requires continuous replenishment to be effectively delivered. Nurses must continually enrich their holistic humanistic caring perception system to sustain compassionate patient caring. Providing compassionate caring to patients and colleagues may help reduce nurses' risk of workplace violence. However, empirical evidence directly examining the association between nurses' holistic humanistic caring perception and their experiences of workplace violence remains limited.

methodIn December 2024, a convenience sampling method was employed to select surgical nurses from 30 tertiary and secondary general hospitals across 12 regions in Hubei Province as research participants. The data collection instruments comprised a self-developed general information questionnaire, the Holistic Humanistic Caring Perception Scale for Nurses, and the Revised Hospital Workplace Violence Survey Questionnaire, each of which demonstrated robust reliability and validity within the context of this study. Data collection was facilitated through the Chinese online platform QuestionStar. Out of 937 distributed questionnaires, 895 valid responses were obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Version 26.0.

resultsThe median (IQR) total score of the Holistic Humanistic Caring Perception Scale among the 895 surgical nurses was 168.00 (151.00, 194.00). The score rates for the six dimensions-self-caring, hospital managers' caring, department coworkers' caring, patients' caring, family caring, and friends' caring-were 82.46%, 79.20%, 84.83%, 80.27%, 86.43%, and 84.56%, respectively. In terms of workplace violence experienced by nurses, verbal abuse was the most frequently reported form of WPV, followed by verbal threats, physical assault, and sexual harassment. The findings suggested a negative association between the frequency of various WPV experiences and overall holistic humanistic caring perception among the surveyed surgical nurses.

conclusionIn this study, 895 surgical nurses surveyed scored above 80% on five dimensions of perceived holistic humanistic caring, with one dimension scoring below 80%. Among these, participants reported the highest level of perceived caring for families and the lowest for the hospital managers, particularly showing deficiencies in hospital management participation. This suggests hospital managers should further streamline channels for nurse participation in management, genuinely implement "shared governance," and encourage nurses to contribute suggestions for hospital development. This approach would enhance their job satisfaction and sense of belonging while reducing turnover rates. Simultaneously, nurses' holistic humanistic caring perceptions showed a significant negative correlation with the occurrence of various types of workplace violence. This not only provides empirical evidence and data support for the proposition that enhancing nurses' holistic humanistic caring perceptions helps reduce incidence of workplace violence but also further suggests that nurses who have experienced workplace violence should receive more comprehensive humanistic caring to alleviate psychological trauma and promote health recovery. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Hospital administrators and nursing managers should fully recognize nurses' need for caring, understand their overall perception of holistic humanistic caring, and continuously provide humanistic caring to nurses while requiring them to deliver humanistic caring to patients, thereby enriching the comprehensive humanistic caring system. Simultaneously, hospitals should deepen the implementation of "shared governance," opening channels for nurses to voice their concerns. By listening to their innermost thoughts, hospitals can optimize nursing management systems, enhance job satisfaction and professional resilience among nurses, and provide robust support for delivering high-quality nursing services and improving patient satisfaction.