Defense Date

4-20-2016

Graduation Date

Fall 1-1-2016

Availability

Worldwide Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Nursing

School

School of Nursing

Committee Chair

Linda Goodfellow

Committee Member

Luann Richardson

Committee Member

Alison Colbert

Committee Member

Cheryl Anderson

Keywords

management, nursing, verbal abuse, violence, work place

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the relationships among organizational power, Registered Nurses (RN) perceptions of physician-perpetrated verbal abuse, and stress/coping behavior by exploring the following research questions: 1) What relationships exist between RNs’ perceptions of physician-perpetrated verbal abuse, perceived stress, and coping? 2) What is the relationship between RNs’ perceptions of physician-perpetrated verbal abuse and perceptions of power within an organization? 3) What are the relationships between RNs’ perceptions of stress and coping, and perceptions of power within an organization? 4) What relationships can be noted between RNs’ perceptions of physician-perpetrated verbal abuse, perceived stress and coping, organizational power and demographic variables? and, 5) What are the relationships among RNs’ perceptions of power within an organization and perceptions of physician-perpetrated verbal abuse, perceived stress, and coping? The exploration of the above research questions was accomplished by selecting 1,200 RNs randomly from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing using the Microsoft Access random number generator. Following the mailing of an introductory postcard to each selected participant and a survey packet and two reminder postcards, a sample of 293 RN were enrolled in the study. Survey data were collected and entered into SPSS version 17 for analysis. Results revealed that RNs perceived a significant, mild relationship between verbal abuse and coping and a very mild to nonexistent relationship between organizational power and the presence of abuse. Additional findings were non-significant. Findings revealed that RNs’ perceived physician-perpetrated verbal abuse to be occurring and that low levels of organizational power existed. However, abuse and organizational power were only mildly related, suggesting additional variables may influence RNs’ perceptions of organizational power and require future research. Yet, research findings are believed to have added to the body of knowledge regarding RNs’ perceptions of physician-perpetrated verbal abuse, stress, coping, and organizational power and may lead to additional interventions that can strengthen present interventions aimed at reducing Work Place Violence (WPV).

Format

PDF

Language

English

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