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Table 3 Categories, sub-categories and codes

From: The components of workplace violence against nurses from the perspective of women working in a hospital in Tehran: a qualitative study

Meaning unit

Code

Subcategory

Category

Unfortunately, there is so much workload and pressure that when we go home we take our tiredness home, and if your spouse says something, your child says something, we become agitated, and take whatever anger and violence we see there out on the poor ones …

Irrationally high workload

Organizational coercion

Organizational

"No one wants overwork of 50 or 100 h, but in our work overtime is mandatory, maybe I don't want to, but our job is mandatory and we all have to put in overtime work."

Forced shifts

for example, they put me who work at CCU at the surgery ward, then put the person skilled in all the surgeries at the CCU, all of this will affect …

Compulsory placement in hospital wards

"Every visiting patient is really stressing. When a child is hospitalized, I have to spend three hours trying to figure out why he is hospitalized? When I should discharge him? How is he going to afford the costs? These issues altogether start a stressful day or a harsh day … "

Workplace Stressors

"Many of such things happen. The relative starts shouting and cursing, so why did it happen? Because there weren't enough beds in the emergency room

Lack of facilities

"Nurses are always forced to consent, we are always forced to give consent, they never follow up, they were never our supporter, that if they were our supporter, it wouldn't be like this and no one would allow himself to disrespect the nurse …

Lack of managers' support during violence

vertical Violence

"Some men officials can't understand women at all. Well, women have menstrual periods that hormonally agitates them. When a man is in charge, you can't go and say anything

Managers' lack of understanding of women's problems

"Most of the times, people can easily harass a woman by bolding her relationship with the manager, and she is forced to neglect her job position to support her family, preferring not to make so much progress in her job position, but keep safe his family and the family foundation…"

Hidden violence against female nurses

Lateral or (horizontal) violence

Interpersonal

I believe that there is a hidden violence against women in the workplace, you know, in the Iranian administrative system, for example, if your abilities are a little greater than them and they see that you are getting ahead of them, they use that hidden violence. They use that force to show that you are a woman, and they can use this tool, it is very intangible though

In two or three cases, I myself have seen that you, as a woman, are somehow vulnerable, though very intangible, especially they may start tongues a-wagging, and you may be somehow weakened, for example, it is so hidden, but it exists…

we are not safe, we sit in the station, when we are two people, I have to wake up and my colleague can rest for an hour, I'm not safe at the station … and any moment the patient's relatives may come and argue, I try to take anything that might be dangerous out of hand, because maybe something hit you in the head any moment …"

 

Violence on the part of patients and companions

"A statement that is said a lot, even insults that may be given in the emergency room are because their patient is not stable, and he is very upset and angry and sees his patient dying and is angry, and takes it out all on the defenseless nurses especially when his patient is critical, and it is very annoying

Patient and his relative's physical violence

 

Verbal violence of the patient or his relative

 

Patient ingratitude or patient companions

"Sometimes because of the working conditions the personnel may do something, because we are dealing with patients, and my colleague may forget something, and in any case, in this crowd, for example, he was not paying attention, maybe because of that, we have disputes and conflicts… "

Verbal violence between staff

Among colleagues

"I can't accept that the aggressiveness of nurse manager. I can't accept that the hospital head, the hospital manager, any of them have violence. They should advise in a calm environment, we have enough stress, it just worsens everything…"

Managers' verbal violence

managers