Table 3.

Perpetrators of psychological violence and health care workers’ response to and method of dealing with psychological violence (N = 333

	General practitioner		Nurse
Perpetrator	N(156)	%	N(177)	%
Patient	59	37.82	57	32.20
Patient’s relative	76	48.72	93	52.54
Colleague	1	0.64	9	5.09
Supervisor	2	1.28	8	4.52
Others	18	11.54	10	5.65
Respond to the incident(Multiple choice)	N(410)	%	N(497)	%
No measures to take	36	24.32	52	28.11
Pretend nothing happened	74	50.00	69	37.30
Told the person to stop	45	30.41	52	27.66
Told friends/family	66	44.59	68	36.76
Sought counseling	18	12.16	19	10.11
Told a colleague	56	37.84	77	41.62
Transferred to another position	20	13.51	25	16.89
Reported it to a senior staff member	56	37.84	77	41.62
Completed incident/accident form	9	6.08	19	10.27
Pursued prosecution	15	10.14	16	8.64
Completed a compensation claim	7	4.73	9	4.86
Sought help from the union	8	5.41	14	7.57
The incident could have been prevented	N(156)	%	N(177)	%
Yes	88	56.41	105	59.32
No	68	43.59	72	40.68
Consequence for the perpetrator	N(156)	%	N(177)	%
None	89	57.05	109	61.58
Verbal warning issued by hospital managers	49	31.41	56	31.64
Stopping treatment	11	7.05	7	3.96
Reported to police	7	4.49	5	2.82