title: A study conducted on the demographic factors of victims of violence in support and administrative departments of hospital in 2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Violence is now regarded as a serious problem and its complication causes heavy costs on the healthcare systems. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between some demographic characteristics and confrontation with violence. Since there is no study on the prevalence of violence among the support and administration staff of hospitals in Iran, this study was conducted to investigate violence in these departments.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive-analytical and correlation survey was carried out by census among the support and administrative staff interacting with patients and their companions in Al-Zahra University Hospital of Isfahan in 2013. Research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire including five domains: Personal information, workplace information, verbal violence, physical violence, and other violent acts. Its validity was evaluated by experts reviewing it and its reliability by test-retest (r =0.9). Finally, data were analyzed using descriptive statistical indicators and statistical tests such as Chi-square for sex, marital status, and work department and Mann-Whitney U test for age, level of education, work experience, and violence types by the statistical software SPSS version 20.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the results obtained, 81% of subjects had been abused at least once and the most reported violence was related to verbal violence (78.4%). There was significant correlation between sex and violence and men were the main victims of violence, but there was no relation between marital status, age, and violence. Work experience was correlated to physical violence and other violent acts conversely. There was also an inverse correlation between physical violence and education; also, security staff faced more violence than others.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As high prevalence of violence was found especially among the security staff and personnel with less education and work experience, it is suggested to take actions such as educating about patient accompaniment and visiting condition, holding training workshops on confronting with violence and appropriate communication with patients and families, using experienced and patient staff to interact with clients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keyvanara
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Maracy
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economics and Management, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Najmeh Bahman
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Ziari
keywords: Demographic factors; hospital; support and administrative departments; violence