Risk and protective factors associated with being a victim of aggression in the health sector. Research protocol

Background: aggression against healthcare workers is an alarming issue worldwide. However, there is lack of data on psychological vulnerability factors (such as personality traits, attachment style) which can constitute a risk or a protective factor for being a victim of an episode of violence in the health sector. Methods/design: the present protocol is a cross-sectional study on prevalence and characteristics of violent episodes experienced by nursing students in the clinical setting. Its aim is to identify risk and protective factors for becoming a victim of verbal and/or physical aggression among healthcare workers. Participants will undergo an intensive battery of psychometric tests, dealing with episodes of aggression in the previous year, attachment style, personality traits, perceived stress, health related quality of life and job strain. Conclusions: the findings derived from this study may be of value in identifying vulnerability factors in experiencing an episode of aggression in the health sector. In this respect, it is a step towards the development of valid training and support focused on health workers, aimed at teaching them how to modulate and manage their vulnerability factors in an efficient way.