Results

Female victims of VHCW in Niassa are usually younger (63% of females were less than 35 years of age, compared to 45% of males, p=0.020) and more inexperienced than their male colleagues [men (11.3+ 7.5 years) had a longer working presence in the health sector than women (8.0+4.9)(Anova p=0.003)].
Our results indicate that the health center (HC) is a higher risk environment than the hospital and the percentage of female victims of VHCW working at the HC (n=14/65, 22%) is higher (n=6/75, 8%) than the percentage of male victims (Fisher exact test p=0.020). The relative percentage of women (n=39/65, 60%) doing night shifts (working from 18:00 hours to 07:00 hours) was higher than men (n=33/75, 44%)(Fisher exact test p=0.043).
Women (n=58/65, 89%) more than men (n=53/75, 71%) reported not knowing if the health services had any policies or procedures to deal with VHCW (likelihood ratio p=0.040). Females (n=42/64, 66%), more than males (n=34/74, 46%), were not encouraged to report VHCW (Fisher exact test p=0.016).
Women were more frequently threatened by different-sex aggressors than men (table 1).
Table 1. Sex of the aggressors cross-tabulated with sex of victims of workplace violence