Pereira-Sanchez, V., Gürcan, A., Erzin, G., Rai, Y., Gnanavel, S., Fontaine, A., Vieira, J., Asztalos, M., and Szczegielniak, A.
Introduction: Workplace violence suffered by psychiatric trainees from the patients they treat jeopardizes their safety and the quality of their care. This phenomenon has been often described in many countries but had not been so far systematically surveyed in Europe. Objectives: The European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) -Research Working Group-Violence Against Psychiatric Trainees (VAPT) study aimed primarily at describing the extent and circumstances of the VAPT phenomenon in the European region (WHO). Methods: An online questionnaire of 15 items was designed following pilot surveys in Spain, France, and Turkey, and distributed to psychiatric trainees in European countries via national coordinators between June-December 2018. The questions asked for anonymous demographic data as well as information about violent episodes experienced, consequences, and surrounding circumstances. Statistical descriptive analyses were conducted in SPSS. This study was approved by an Ethics Committee in Spain. Results: 790 trainees from 38 European countries completed the survey (68.1% women and 80.1% trainees in adult psychiatry). 84.4% reported having ever been assaulted, most of them recently (77.5% verbally, 8.1% sexually and 47.7% physically). Most victims did not report the assault and experienced psychological consequences. Only a minority of respondents reported having proper preventive and management policies in their institutions. Conclusions: VAPT phenomenon is commonly reported by trainees across Europe and frequently incur psychological damage. However, a majority of trainees reported poor institutional policies to prevent and manage these events. These results encourage local and international policymakers to effectively tackle this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]