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Workplace violence and fear of workplace violence: An assessment of prevalence in the UK by industrial sector

Workplace violence is a significant problem with underexamined productivity effects. In a global survey, just under 1 in 5 workers reported exposure to psychological violence and harassment at work, and 1 in 10 reported exposure to physical violence during their working-lives. In the United Kingdom (UK), the Health and Safety Executive (the regulator for workplace health and safety) found 1% of all adults of working age, in the 12 months prior, experienced a physical assault or threat of assault at work.

Workplace violence covers a broad range of adverse social interactions and behaviors committed by or towards employees. It includes encounters between colleagues and between workers and service users. It can also include incidents of domestic abuse experienced at work, with abusers known to pursue victims in the workplace.

Direct and indirect exposure to violent acts or threats of violence at work can be anticipated to lead to anxiety and fear of further victimization. Workplace violence, especially when persistent, may cause psychological disorders including common mental disorders (CMD) of generalized anxiety and depression

VISION researchers Dr Vanessa Gash (City St George’s University of London) and Dr Niels Blom (University of Manchester) used the United Kingdom Household Panel Study, a nationally representative survey with mental health indicators to examine the prevalence of violence and fear of violence by sector and the effect of violence on common mental disorders (CMD) risk. They also supplemented the analyses with the views of those with lived experience.

Their study, Workplace violence and fear of violence: an assessment of prevalence across industrial sectors and its mental health effects, examined variance in the prevalence of workplace violence and fear of violence in the UK by industrial sector and determined the mental health effects thereof using longitudinal data.

Results showed that a high prevalence of workplace violence and fear of workplace violence was found in multiple different UK industrial sectors – >1 in 10 workers were exposed to violence in the last 12 months in 30% of sectors and >1 in 20 workers were exposed in 70% of sectors. Workers employed in public administration and facilities had the highest risks of workplace violence. The second highest sector was health, residential care, and social work. Workplace violence increased CMD risk as did fear of violence at work. Also, the effect of violence and fear of violence on CMD remained when the researchers investigated CMD one year later.

Recommendation

The researchers recommend better recognition of the extent to which workplace violence is experienced across multiple sectors and call for better systems wide interventions to mitigate the associated harms.

To download: Workplace violence and fear of violence: an assessment of prevalence across industrial sectors and its mental health effects

To cite: Gash, V, Blom, N. ‘Workplace violence and fear of violence: an assessment of prevalence across industrial sectors and its mental health effects’. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4230

For further information, please contact Vanessa at vanessa.gash.1@citystgeorges.ac.uk

Illustrations from Geisa D’Avo and copyright owned by UKPRP VISION research consortium

The benefits system: source of support or hindrance to victims of violence?

Previous VISION research showed how 4% of domestic violence victims lose their job as a result of abuse and that half of unemployed women have experienced intimate partner violence in their lives.

A report just published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) further confirms high levels of trauma and mental distress among people not in employment and approaching benefits services for support. The report focuses on those in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) aimed at people with an impairment or health condition that affects how much work they do.

VISION researcher Sally McManus, with colleagues Claire Lapham and Ann Conolly from the National Centre for Social Research, analysed the government’s main mental health study. They found that nearly one in three (30%) ESA recipients screened positive for post-traumatic stress disorder. This was more than twice the rate for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants (12%), and ten times that of employed people (3%). The analyses show that the claimant population experienced high levels of stress, in which self-confidence was low and anxiety high. Compared to those in employment, few ESA claimants owned their home and many faced serious debt arrears.

Sally presented findings from this study as oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee’s Inquiry into Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants, including domestic violence victims. She drew attention to calls from Women’s Aid for reform they highlight is needed to make the benefits system the lifeline survivors need, rather than a source of re-traumatisation and further harm.

Women’s Aid recommendations include implementing a named domestic abuse lead in every Jobcentre Plus and ensuring staff receive regular, specialist domestic abuse training, so that work coaches and other frontline staff are better able to recognise claimants experiencing domestic abuse. Specialist domestic abuse services need to be properly funded to support and advocate for survivors in making their claims to DWP. Extending the domestic violence easement to up to a year would also help, alongside exempting those who are moving to or from refuges from repayment of Jobcentre Plus advances.

The report can be downloaded from the DWP website: A health, social and economic profile of ESA recipients: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014 – GOV.UK

To cite:

Claire Lapham, Anne Conolly, Sally McManus (2024): A health, social and economic profile of ESA recipients: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014 DWP ad hoc research report no.79.

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Mental health outcomes of being a close relative of a serious assault victim

There is a now sizeable body of evidence that shows how violence can harm health, across different populations (e.g., violence experienced by older people or by people with insecure migration status) and contexts (e.g., violence within the workplace).

However, much less is known about the effects of violence on the close relatives of victims. This is particularly surprising considering the critical role that relatives play in providing support, care, and advocating for victims in the aftermath of violence.

VISION researchers, Dr Elizabeth Cook and Professor Sally McManus, address this gap in their recently published, Indirect victims of violence: mental health and the close relatives of serious assault victims in Englan d, an open access article in Social Science & Medicine. They conducted a secondary analysis of the 2014 APMS (a cross-sectional, household mental health survey of 7,519 adults in England). Lizzie and Sally wanted to find out what proportion of the population was closely related to a victim of serious assault, and to assess whether being a relative was associated to poorer mental health outcomes.

They found that approximately 1 in 20 adults were closely related to a serious assault victim. The analyses showed that relatives were:

more likely to be anxious and twice as likely to be fearful in their neighbourhood
more likely to be dealing with multiple, other types of adversity such as their own experiences of serious assault and financial strains

Check out their piece, Families of victims of violent assault have double the risk of anxiety – new study, in The Conversation, where they discuss their findings further as well as the implications for government approaches to counting the costs of the effects of violence for society.

To read the article or download it free of charge:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624007329

To cite:

Cook, E. and McManus, S. (2024). Indirect victims of violence: mental health and the close relatives of serious assault victims in England. Social Science & Medicine.

To contact the authors:

Elizabeth (Lizzie): elizabeth.cook@city.ac.uk
Sally: sally.mcmanus@city.ac.uk

Photography licensed by Adobe Photo Stock

Dr Annie Bunce receives award at Lancet Public Health Science conference

Dr Annie Bunce, VISION Research Fellow, was awarded Best Oral Presentation at the Lancet Public Health Science conference in London this November. She presented on the Prevalence, nature and associations of workplace bullying and harassment with mental health conditions in England: a cross-sectional probability sample survey.

Annie’s research, conducted with VISION colleagues Ladan Hashemi, Sally McManus, and others, presents the first nationally representative findings on the prevalence of workplace bullying and harassment in England for over a decade. Annie analysed data from the 2 014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) to demonstrate: the prevalence of workplace bullying and harassment (WBH) in the working population in England; the nature of WBH experienced, who it was perpetrated by and the types of behaviour it involved; and associations between the experience of WBH and indicators of adverse mental health.

The study is unique in that the APMS makes robust assessments of mental health – operationalising diagnostic criteria – which provides an accurate assessment of clinical need. Implications for employers, policymakers, health services and researchers are outlined.

For the article, please see: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02066-4/fulltext

Please contact Annie at annie.bunce@city.ac.uk for further information.

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

Intimate partner violence: Factor in chronic health problems

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is increasingly recognised as a contributing factor for long-term health problems; however, few studies have assessed these health outcomes using consistent and comprehensive IPV measures or representative population-based samples. Health implications of IPV against men is also relatively underexplored. Given the gendered differences in IPV exposure patterns, exploration of gender patterns in men’ and women’s IPV exposure and health outcomes is needed.

We used data from the 2019 New Zealand Family Violence Study, a cross-sectional population-based study of ~2,800 ever-partnered women and men which was conducted across 3 regions of New Zealand.

We found that women’s exposure to any lifetime IPV, as well as specific IPV types (physical, sexual, psychological, controlling behaviors, and economic abuse), was associated with increased likelihood of reporting adverse health outcomes (poor general health, recent pain or discomfort, recent health care consultation, any diagnosed physical and mental health condition). Furthermore, a cumulative pattern was observed that is women who experienced multiple IPV types were more likely to report poorer health outcomes.

Regarding men exposure to IPV, we found that while men’s exposure to IPV was associated with increased likelihood of reporting 4 of the 7 assessed poor health outcomes, specific IPV types were inconsistently associated with poor health outcomes. Experience of a higher number of IPV types among men did not show a clear stepwise association with number of health outcomes. These findings indicate that IPV against men, unlike women, does not consistently contribute to their poor health outcomes at the population level.

In sum, our findings warrant gender-appropriate clinical approaches when IPV is identified. Specifically, health care systems need to be mobilized to address IPV as a priority health issue among women. However, these findings do not warrant routine inquiry for IPV against men in clinical settings, although appropriate care is needed if IPV against men is identified.

For further information please see: Association Between Men’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Self-reported Health Outcomes in New Zealand | Global Health | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network and Association Between Women’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Self-reported Health Outcomes in New Zealand | Intimate Partner Violence | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network

Or contact Dr Ladan Hashemi at ladan.hashemi@city.ac.uk

Mental health and wellbeing data – webinar for researchers

This webinar focused on quantitative analysis of secondary data, to provide insight into population mental health and its social determinants. It took place on Teams Monday, 6 March 2023, at 14:00-15:30.

Speakers included VISION researcher Sally McManus, who discussed England’s main mental health survey, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS). The survey series covers anxiety and depression, alongside items on violence and abuse.

This webinar formed part of a series organised by Understanding Society, UK Data Service, Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) and the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM). The Data Resource Training Network is a collaboration between a number of ESRC-funded resource centres working together to promote the value and use of social science data.

Photo credit: Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash