NCJ Number
219778
Journal
Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health Volume: 21 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2006 Pages: 101-118
Date Published
2006
Length
18 pages
Annotation
After defining workplace violence and identifying its impact, this article defines resilience with respect to such events and suggests strategies that promote resilience in the face of repeated workplace violent events.
Abstract
Workplace violence is broadly defined as any event in the workplace setting whose impact has devastating physical and/or psychological effects on workers. Such events can include industrial or natural disasters, worksite accidents, organizational changes, suicide, homicide, robbery, assault, threats of violence, and even terrorism. Some impacts of these events in the workplace include workers' increased use of alcohol and/or illegal drugs, increase in worker absenteeism, a decrease in attention to appearance and hygiene, depression and withdrawal, outbursts of anger, verbal abuse of coworkers, suicidal tendencies, and physical symptoms of stress. "Resilience" refers to a "series of adaptive strategies employed by individuals to aid them in managing traumatic stress and coping with disasters and disruptive events" (Allen and Toder, 2005). Adaptive strategies may include using social support, accepting change, developing new skills aimed at self-development, and adopting a long-range focus. Resilience and its accompanying adaptive strategies enable an adult to maintain relatively stable, healthy levels of physical and psychological functioning, even after a highly disturbing event. This article outlines some social factors and personality traits that promote resilience. It also describes strategies in the workplace that can help workers deal with the trauma caused by workplace violence. The focus is on operations, management, and staff training. The article concludes with suggestions for preventing workplace violence. 19 references