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Workforce & wellbeing
Workplace violence follows prehospital staff home
Violence Against Out-Of-Hospital Emergency Healthcare Professionals: A Qualitative Exploration of Lived Experiences, Microaggressions, and Coping Mechanisms
Journal of Clinical Nursing · Added 3 November 2026
An Italian qualitative study of 15 prehospital nurses and ambulance drivers who had experienced workplace violence described violence being taken home, under-recognised microaggressions shaped by gender and culture, and coping built on de-escalation, situational awareness and peer support amid thin organisational backing.
- Study type
- Qualitative
- Design
- Qualitative interpretative study, semi-structured interviews, inductive content analysis
- Participants
- 15 prehospital nurses and ambulance drivers, northeastern Italy
- Main finding
- Three themes: 'Violence is taken home', 'Microaggressions: the invisible violence', and coping via communication, de-escalation, situational awareness and peer support; organisational support perceived as insufficient
- Caveat
- Purposive sample of staff who had all experienced violence, single region, qualitative design not generalisable
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Workplace violence is a live issue for crews everywhere, and the lived-experience themes — microaggressions, carrying it home, patchy organisational support — translate directly to Australian ambulance work.
Learning goal
Understand how workplace violence and microaggressions affect my wellbeing and the coping strategies I rely on.
More
- Topic: Workforce & wellbeing
- Daily scan: 3 November 2026
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