The relationship between workplace violence, depression, burnout, subjective health status, job and life satisfaction of physical therapists in South Korea

Objective: To investigate the physical therapists’ actual experience of workplace violence and examine its relationship with depression, burnout, subjective health status, and job and life satisfaction. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The level of workplace violence was assessed using the Korean Workplace Violence Scale composed of 24 questions in the following 4 subscales of workplace violence. Depression was assessed using the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Burnout was assessed using the Korean version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, which is a 5-item scale. Subjective health status was measured on a 5-point scale. Job and life satisfaction was measured based on the assessment tool used in the World Values Survey. Results: There was a significant correlation between the three subscales of workplace violence and health indicators, including depression, subjective health status, job and life satisfaction (p<0.05). The organizational protective system subscale showed a significant negative correlation with depression and a positive correlation with subjective health status as well as job and life satisfaction (p<0.05). The area of ‘psychological and sexual violence from customers’ showed a significant moderate correlation with depression and job satisfaction (p<0.05). Also, there was a negative correlation that was significant between depression and subjective health status, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study suggested that future studies should continue to investigate and reveal the causal relationships between workplace violence and physical therapists’ health indicators.