Service user violence against social workers in Italy: Prevalence and characteristics of the phenomenon

Abstract

Summary Client violence in social services is perceived as constantly increasing in Italy, raising deep concern. This article presents the results of the first online survey on the phenomenon. Involving 20,112 social workers, the aim was to determine the prevalence and forms of client violence towards social workers and to identify key factors associated with such events. Findings The results suggest that the vast majority of Italian social workers experience client violence during their careers. Verbal aggression and threats were most common forms of violence, followed by physical attacks and property damage. Young and less experienced social workers appeared more likely to be victims of violence, as well as those who more frequently work in isolation or without their colleagues’ support. Social workers in child protection services, services for adults and municipality services accessible to the entire population were found to be at higher risk of client violence. The social workers considered the quality of the client/professional relationship and communication skills to be critical in preventing and dealing with aggression by users. Unfulfilled clients’ expectation was considered to be one of the main factors contributing to frustration and the consequent hostile behaviour. Applications Violence against social workers is a ‘wake-up call’ that makes the weakening of welfare services, and therefore of professional social work, more visible. The first nationwide study on service user violence reported by this paper may significantly contribute to raising awareness about the phenomenon in Italy and to the devising of effective prevention programmes.

COVID-19 and client violence toward healthcare social workers in Chile

“…In relation to experiences with violence and coping strategies, the study confirmed that the context and causes of client violence among social workers lead the workers to adopt passive -and mainly individualized -coping strategies. As previously shown (Sicora et al, 2021;Zelnick et al, 2013), professionals in Reconnecting assume violence to be a part of their work. An important result in this case is that supervisors also normalize client violence through collective meetings.…”

“…In this way, Ringstad (2005) reports that 60 percent of the participants were victims of client violence, and similar to the Australian study, verbal aggression was the most commonly reported form of client violence ( Jayaratne et al, 2004 ). In Italy, a national study that centered on more than 20,000 social workers ( Sicora et al, 2021 ) found that most professionals experienced client violence. In addition, the study confirmed that verbal aggression and threats were the most common forms of client violence, and to be male, young, and working alone were most at-risk factors of experiencing client violence, as previous studies on social workers had also noted ( Balloch et al, 1998 ; Choi and Choi, 2015 ; Jayaratne et al, 2004 ; Littlechild et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Workplace violence is a serious and growing problem that affects social work and healthcare professionals (Di Martino et al, 2003; Sicora et al, 2021). In social work, studies show that most professionals have been victims of client violence (Enosh and Tzafrir, 2015; Jayaratne et al, 2004; Koritsas et al, 2010; Lovašová, 2014).…”

“…Client violence in the workplace is defined as any incident in which a client harasses, threatens, or physically assaults a worker during the worker’s performance ( Milczarek, 2010 ). In social work practice, client violence has been a topic of growing interest due to its effects on workers, social work clients, and organizations ( Sicora et al, 2021 ). In fact, client violence affects social workers’ job satisfaction, stress, and turnover intention ( Harris and Leather, 2012 ; Lamothe et al., 2018 ; Lee, 2017 ).…”

Client Violence Towards Social Workers in Spain: A Systematic Review

“…The word violence is the most used as a keyword or word in the title of an article. It is customary to combine it with the client concept, as a causal agent of violence towards the professional (Sicora et al, 2021;Sousa et al, 2014;Virkki, 2008).…”