title: Health care violence and abuse towards nurses in hospitals in north of Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In the current survey, we explored the prevalence of verbal and physical abuse against the nurses in different hospitals of north of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional survey. Nurses were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire (Staff Observation Scale Revised (SOAS-R)). The sample covered 400 participants from 5 hospitals of Mazandaran University of medical sciences, Sari, Iran.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sampling size involved 271 participants (271 forms from 400 forms (sampling population) were filled completely) including 193 female (71.2 %) and 78 male (28.8 %) participants. 79 (29.1%) participants experienced physical abuse and 260 (95.9%) participants were abused verbally. It was noted that in 35 cases (44.3%) the patients were the source of physical abuse and in 44 cases (55.6%) the members of patients' family were the source. In 79 (30.3%) cases the patients were the source of verbal violence and in 139 (53.4%) cases the members of patients' family were the source and in 42 (16.1%) cases coworkers were the sources.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Verbal abuse was a common type of violence in our study in north of Iran. There is a requirement to increase awareness about this significant problem among health care workers.
authors.affiliation: Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khademloo
authors.forename: Fatemeh Sheikh
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Moonesi
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gholizade
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010361:Patients; D015995:Prevalence; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017132:Workplace / Q000706:statistics & numerical data