Objective:

This study adopted a descriptive design in order to reveal the experience of violence among the nurses, who worked in public health institutions in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Method:

Universe of the study comprised 180 nurses that worked in public health institutions in Famagusta District of North Cyprus. Data were collected by the researchers between 27 November 2016 and 20 April 2017. The study comprised 140 of these nurses. The Workplace Violence in Nursing Questionnaire was used to collect data. Cumulative frequency and percentage analysis were used to analyze the questions with multiple answers.

Results:

This study found that 57.1% of the participants aged 41 years and above, 78.6% were married, 38.6% had bachelor’s degree, 20.0% graduated from vocational school of health, and 45.0% had a professional experience of 20 years and above. 67.1% of the participants experienced violence, including physical violence (15.0%), verbal abuse (63.6%), and sexual harassment (6.4%). 98.6% of the participants expressed the absence of any institutional system to report workplace violence.

Conclusion:

In this study, 98.6% of the participant nurses expressed the absence of a system to report workplace violence. The findings of the study imply the need for safety measures, legal amendments, and communication systems against violence.

Keywords: Nurse, physical violence, sexual harassment, verbal harassment, violence