The problem of threats and violence at work has received increasing attention in Sweden in recent years. Exposure is especially high among health-care personnel in social services. A nationwide survey of prevalence, work environment and risk situations was conducted. A questionnaire was sent to a stratified sample of 2800 local government employees in the care and welfare sector, working mainly with the elderly or persons with developmental impairments. Seven occupational groups, including supervisors, specialists and other categories of carers, were included, and represented a population of more than 170 000 employees. The response rate was 85%. The results indicated that as many as 51% of the population had been affected by threats/violence, either verbally or physically, over the previous year. Moreover, the results suggest that over 9% of the employees in the care sector experienced acts of violence or threats on a daily basis, and several times a month by 67%. The most vulnerable groups were assistant nurses and direct carers. Verbal threats appear more common (79%), but 66% appear to have experienced physical assaults. Stratified estimates suggest that feelings of anger (41%) and helplessness (31%), but also minor physical injuries (18%), are frequent reactions. Organizational change in the workplace and high workload entailed increased risk. Threats and violence in health-care settings are a major work-environment issue. Greater knowledge of consequences for organization, work situation and health of personnel is needed.

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About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Elder abuse is an issue of great concern world-wide, not least in Europe. Older people are increasingly vulnerable to physical, psychological, financial maltreatment and sexual coercion. However, due to complexities of measurement, psychological abuse may be underestimated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of psychological abuse toward older persons within a 12 month period.Design/methodology/approach -The study design was cross-sectional and data were collected during January-July 2009 in the survey ''Elder abuse: a multinational prevalence survey, ABUEL''. The participants were 4,467 randomly selected persons aged 60-84 years (2,559 women, 57.3 per cent) from seven EU countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Sweden). The sample size was adapted to each city according to their population of women and men aged 60-84 years (albeit representative and proportional to sex-age). The participants answered a structured questionnaire either through a face-to-face interview or a mix of interview/self-response. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression methods.Findings -The prevalence of overall psychological abuse was 29.7 per cent in Sweden, followed by 27.1 per cent in Germany; 24.6 per cent in Lithuania and 21.9 per cent in Portugal. The lowest prevalence was reported in Greece, Spain and Italy with 13.2 per cent, 11.5 per cent and 10.4 per cent, respectively. Similar tendencies were observed concerning minor/severe abuse. The Northern countries (Germany, Lithuania, Sweden) compared to Southern countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) reported a higher mean prevalence (across countries) of minor/severe abuse (26.3 per cent/11.5 per cent and 12.9 per cent/5.9 per cent, respectively). Most perpetrators (71.2 per cent) were spouses/partners and other relatives (e.g. children). The regression analysis indicated that being from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain was associated with less risk of psychological abuse. Low social support, living in rented housing, alcohol use, frequent health care use, and high scores in anxiety and somatic complaints were associated with increased risk of psychological abuse.Social implications -Psychological abuse was more prevalent in Northern than Southern countries and factors such as low social support and high anxiety levels played an important role. Further studies are warranted to investigate the prevalence of psychological abuse and risk factors among older p...

BackgroundGlobally, the second leading cause of death among adolescents is suicide and in middle-income countries adolescents’ suicidal ideation is a neglected public health area. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation among 15–17-year-old high school students in Iran.MethodsSelf-administered, Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) questionnaires were distributed to a representative sample (N =1517) of high-school students aged 15–17 in the city of Tabriz. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between relevant independent variables (e.g. gender) and the dependent outcome variable (suicidal ideation in the past 12 months).ResultsOverall, 62 (4.1%, 95% CI= 3.1, 5.2) of 1,517 students had thoughts of suicide. Three hundred and thirteen (20.6%, 95% CI= 18.6, 22.7) students reported being bullied in the previous 30 days. In addition, 134 (8.8%, 95% CI= 7.5, 10.3) students reported having been sexually abused. Being worried that they could not eat or did not feel hungry (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 4.15; 95% Cl [1.71, 10.07]; current cigarette smoking (AOR = 3.00; 95% CI [1.69, 5.30]; thinking about using alcohol or other drugs (AOR = 4.28; 95% CI [2.41, 7.59]; and being sexually abused (AOR = 2.63; 95% CI [1.32, 5.24]) were all factors positively associated with suicidal ideation.ConclusionThe prevalence of suicidal ideation was lower in our school students than in earlier studies. Interventions that address the issue of current cigarette smoking, worries, thinking about using alcohol or other drugs and sexual abuse should be given more priority by the public health authorities.

A significantly increased risk of ill health remained in girls of foreign background after adjustment for socio-demographic indicators, grade and measurement year.