Health personnel, especially nurses, are often victims of workplace violence. Unfortunately, little is known about the nurses' experience of violence. A research study was initiated to further explore the nurses' accounts of workplace violence so as to make dimensions of the nurses' experience visible and more fully understood. Interpretive description was the research methodology adopted for this study. Using theoretical sampling, ten Registered Nurses from the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia participated in semi structured, audiotaped interviews. In this research, the nurses' experience of workplace violence emerged as a highly complex entity, deeply embedded in relationships and context. How nurses perceive the contextual factors of the organization, their immediate work environment and their individual attributes were found to play a significant role in how they respond to the phenomenon. The findings of this study suggest that organizational culture is an important determinant in managing workplace violence and that policy and administrative personnel play a pivotal role in influencing the problem. Nursing culture also influences the nurses' expectations, assumptions and actions towards violence. Participants voiced that role conflict often challenged their ability to enact acquired professional ideals and that that they routinely undertake roles in dealing with violence that are not appropriate to their level of knowledge or skill. Within the nurses' immediate work environment, bullying as well as physical and verbal abuse was commonplace. Overcrowding, long waits for service, poor environmental design and inadequate staff to patient ratios were seen as factors that increased nurses' risk. Individual factors were associated with emotional and psychological harms that nurses endured. Workplace violence affected self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy and the nurses' sense of control. Moral distress, self-blame, feelings of failure, loss of motivation and leaving the nursing profession were significant findings. The results of this study demonstrate a need to re-think how we can address workplace violence in nursing. Research and intervention is needed to further explore organizational policy and governing structures, the culture and climate of practice environments, and the fundamental role nursing education programs have in preparing nurses to manage workplace violence.

In conjunction with an investigation of past research, this study provides a measured account of changes in worker productivity resulting from changes including the application of new sensory design elements in a typical office environment. A case study is presented that follows a collection agencys relocation of offices in order to provide confirmation of a relationship between employee productivity and changes in the office environment. As noted, these changes included a general application of color in the new environment as compared to the neutral palette of the previous site. Data representing the total dollar amounts collected by individual employees is compiled for the two months directly prior (November and December 2004) and immediately following (January and February 2005) the companys relocation of offices to a space integrating various colors (red, blue, green, and gold) into the work environment. Information relating to a total of 10 client groups and the average volume per employee are compared for each of the months. In order to substantiate the findings, the monthly numbers are also compared to the same periods (November/December 2003 and January/February 2004) in the previous year.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-128).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-168). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Field problem. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-109). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-109). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Field problem. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis Ph. D. (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2009. / "Submitted to Department of Information Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-172)