Occupational violence in the schools: impact of environmental factors

Details

• Personal Author:
  Church, Timothy R. ; Feda DM ; Geisser MS ; Gerberich, Susan G. ; McGovern, Patricia M. ; Mongin, Steven J. ; Nachreiner, Nancy M. ; Pinder E ; Ryan, Andrew D. ; Sage SK ; Watt GD
• Description:
  Introduction: While teachers are known to be at high risk for physical assault, little is known about relevant risk factors. Data were analyzed to determine the effect of reported environmental exposures on assaults against educators (kindergarten-grade 12). Methods: From the Minnesota license database, 26,000 randomly selected educators were screened for eligibility by mailed questionnaire; 6,180 were eligible. Phase-1 (12-month recall) identified eligible cases (n=290) and controls (n=867) and violent event characteristics; Phase-2 (case-control - one-month recall prior to assault and randomly selected month, respectively) enabled identification of environmental exposures. Confounders were selected for multiple logistic regression analyses using directed ayclic graphs; reweighting adjusted for response and eligibility biases. Results: Response was 84% for each phase. Assaults were primarily student-perpetrated (95%). Respective assault risks (ORs; 95% CIs) increased for educators working in environments where they witnessed students involved in: assault 1-3 (2.68,1.80-4.00); 4-10 (6.21, 3.55-10.88), 10+ (17.31, 8.64-34.68) versus zero times; threat 1-3 (1.53, 1.02-2.32), 4-10 (3.81, 2.28-6.39), 10+ (6.94, 3.91-12.33) versus zero times; sexual harassment 1-3 (1.77, 1.21-2.61), 4-10 (2.97, 1.55-5.68), 10+ (7.20, 3.25-15.99) versus zero times; verbal abuse, 10+ versus zero times (3.52, 2.09-5.96); bullying, 10+ versus zero times (2.99, 1.79-4.99). Risks also increased for working in environments with soft versus bright lighting (1.4,1.0-2.0) and presence of physical barriers (1.5, 1.1-2.2). Decreased risk was identified with presence of easily accessible exits (0.3, 0.2-0.7). Conclusions: Results suggest opportunities for further research and interventions to decrease risk of assaults for educators and others in school environments. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Education Epidemiology Men Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Violence Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Violence Exposure-levels Force Hazards Humans Physical-stress Questionnaires Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Teaching Work-environment Workers

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• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043822
• Citation:
  APHA 136th Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Diego, California, October 25-29, 2008. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2008 Oct; :174013
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20040501
• Source Full Name:
  APHA 136th Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Diego, California, October 25-29, 2008
• End Date:
  20080430
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6210a2e3a88fe113972238cb1f45e5287fd84d9ae8b028d309d48f7823f5acab3ae74687d2bf0aeffb82875dd121888b4de2fccd76180a4311c667a3281bd6e1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199707/cdc_199707_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 55.87 KB ]