Effectiveness of interventions for the prevention or management of workplace violence in student nurses during clinical placement: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of workplace violence management or prevention interventions, including strategies, protocols, and policies, to address violence against, and provide support to, registered nursing students (RNSs) following incidents of violence during clinical placement. Introduction: Workplace violence is a global issue that affects the victims’ physical and mental health. RNSs are especially vulnerable to workplace violence because of their limited work experience and confidence. Such students often feel shocked and unprepared when experiencing workplace violence due to limited education and support provided by educational institutions or clinical sites. Workplace violence can lead to anxiety, decreased confidence, and professional attrition. Therefore, there is a need to systematically synthesize the evidence on workplace violence management and prevention to support nursing students during clinical placement. Inclusion criteria: The review will consider studies assessing the effectiveness of interventions to address workplace violence or improve support for RNSs. Studies that report on educational interventions or pre-clinical placement strategies and measure the preparedness of students will also be considered. Study designs will be limited to quantitative methods that evaluate intervention effectiveness. Methods: Databases to be searched will include MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, Embase (Ovid), Cochrane Central, ERIC (ProQuest), ProQuest Central, ProQuest Social Science Premium Collection, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. Two independent reviewers will screen, review, appraise, and extract data from eligible articles. For data synthesis, studies will be pooled using JBI SUMARI. The GRADE approach for grading the certainty of evidence will be followed and a summary of findings will be created using GRADEpro GDT. Review registration number: PROSPERO CRD42022377318