Levels and Consequences of Exposure to Service User Violence: Evidence from a Sample of UK Social Care Staff

Workplace violence is a serious occupational hazard for many social care staff. In this paper, we detail the results of an investigation into the levels of client violence experienced by a sample of 363 social care staff working in a UK Shire County Department. We also explore the consequences of such violence upon job satisfaction and self-reported stress symptoms. The results reported show that levels of client violence differ across areas of social care work, with residential staff being the most at risk and home care workers the least at risk. The data presented also show that, as exposure to violence increases, job satisfaction diminishes and the reporting of stress symptoms increases. Fear, or feeling vulnerable, is found to be both an important consequence of client violence and a mediator of its association with diminished job satisfaction and elevated stress symptom reporting. It is concluded that theory and practice in tackling violence in social care should more fully address the important role played by fear.