Investigator(s)
| Submitter |
Dolley Tshering Murdoch University, Australia Dolley Tshering 
|
| Principal Investigator |
Dolley Tshering Murdoch University, Australia Dolley Tshering
|
Title(s) and abstract
| Scientific title | Understanding How Healthcare Managers Perceive and Respond to Workplace Violence in Bhutan through Socio-Ecological Model Lens |
| Public title | Understanding How Healthcare Managers Perceive and Respond to Workplace Violence in Bhutan through Socio-Ecological Model Lens |
| Background | Globally, workplace violence (WPV) is a growing concern affecting various sectors and occupations. While all workplaces are vulnerable to violence, the magnitude and severity can vary significantly. Studies have consistently indicated that the healthcare sector is among those at the highest risk due to the nature of its work, patient dynamics, and systemic challenges. The healthcare sector in Bhutan is no exception. Despite the worldwide awareness of WPV, significant gaps remain in this area of research. Firstly, majority of previous studies were focused on the clinical aspects mainly emphasizing the experiences of frontline clinical staff, the perspective on managers’ perceptions and actions has been overlooked. In Bhutan, although the importance of managerial roles in reducing WPV has been generally acknowledged, there is limited exploration of how healthcare managers perceive and respond to WPV. Secondly, the theories used by existing literature often lack a multi-level, integrated perspective to fully capture the complexity of WPV as well as the interactions among relevant factors. Thirdly, most previous studies used quantitative research design, limiting a deeper understanding of WPV. This research aims to address these gaps by applying the socio-ecological model which integrates individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal/policy levels to provide a thorough and in-depth analysis of how healthcare managers in Bhutan perceive and respond to WPV. |
| Objectives | 1. To explore how healthcare managers in Bhutan perceive and respond to incidents of workplace violence within healthcare settings. 2. To identify the key challenges and barriers faced by healthcare managers at all levels of SEM in addressing workplace violence in the healthcare sector in Bhutan 3. To identify strategies that the healthcare managers in Bhutan employ at all levels of SEM to effectively mitigate and overcome challenges and barriers within healthcare settings |
| Study Methods | This research will be conducted in four broad components. The first component will consist of systematic literature review primarily on factors that contributed to WPV in healthcare. The second involves a review of secondary online incident reporting from one national and two regional referral hospitals in Bhutan. Likewise, the third component comprises of pilot study before the commencement of the main interview and the last component is the semi-structured face-to-face interview with the Bhutanese healthcare managers. The aim of a review of online incident reporting systems is conducted as part of the study to provide contextual background and complementary data that supports and enriches the primary qualitative findings. Moreover, by reviewing existing documentation and systems, the review helps triangulate data, enhances the credibility of the study, and informs more contextually grounded interpretations of healthcare managers' experiences and responses. The methodology will be based on an interpretivist paradigm, the inductive approach, and a qualitative design to conduct a profound study of managerial perceptions, strategies, and challenges in the Bhutanese healthcare system |
| Expected outcomes and use of results | This study will provide the critical theoretical and empirical contributions to the existing body of knowledge. This is because the proposed study addresses the research gaps on perception and response of Healthcare Managers in low-resource settings to violence in health, challenges and barriers at different levels of SEM while responding to WPV in healthcare settings and an effective strategy to overcome those challenges and barriers through the lens of SEM. Moreover, this study expands the application of the SEM within the WPV, providing theoretical guidance in understanding healthcare manager’s perception and response, challenges and strategies. Similarly, the current study will also offer the ppractical contributions as the findings from the study will provide the insights to the policy makers to formulate zero-tolerance policy on WPV due to the fact that Bhutan still does not have guiding policy and guideline in place on WPV. This findings from this study will also help the organization and institutions to develop strategic guidelines and standard operating guidelines (SOP) and further assist health managers to develop evidence-based health planning such as standardized training program and emergency preparedness plan. |
| Keywords | ‘workplace violence’ "workplace bullying" or ‘abuse’ or ‘assault’, or ‘aggression’ or, ‘harassment’, “healthcare workers” or ‘health worker’ or ‘health professional’, healthcare provider’ |
Research Details
| Student research | Yes |
| Institution: Murdoch University, Australia | |
| Academic degree: Ph.D. | |
| Supervisor of the student(s) | |
| Full Name and title: Dr. Ana Rita Sequeira | |
| Email: A.Sequeria@murdoch.edu.au | |
| Start Date | 15-Jan-2025 |
| End Date | 14-Jan-2029 |
| Key Implementing Institution | Ministry of Health |
| Multi-country research | No |
| Nationwide research | Yes, with randomly selected geographical areas |
| Bhutan, Bhutan, Bhutan, Bhutan, Bhutan, Bhutan | |
| Research Domain(s) | Non-communicable diseases & Healthy Lifestyles |
| Research field(s) | Other (Workplace Violence in Health) |
| Involves human subjects | Yes |
| Other(Secondary Data Review on "Online Incident Reporting specific to violence"),Qualitative Study | |
| Data Collection | Primary data |
| Proposal reviewed by other Committee | Approved |