Impact of witnessed workplace violence on job burnout and turnover intention among healthcare workers: a multigroup analysis based on occupational categories.

Authors

Xiaoshuai Zhang, Yuzhu Hou, Yuxin Wang, Ziwu Yang, Yan Zhang, Shuowen Yuan, Yuanhang Zhang, Lei Gao

Published in

BMJ open. Volume 16. Issue 9. Pages e116672. Sep 29, 2026. Epub Sep 29, 2026.

Abstract

To examine how witnessed workplace violence (WPV) in hospitals influences healthcare workers' turnover intention, to test the mediating role of job burnout in the association and to compare this mediation across different occupational groups.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in six tertiary public hospitals across three provinces or municipalities in China (Shandong, Tianjin and Gansu). Participants were restricted to healthcare workers who only witnessed WPV (excluding those who directly experienced WPV or had no exposure). The final sample comprised 1049 participants. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, mediation regression and multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM) were employed to assess relationships and occupational differences.
92.6% of healthcare workers reported exposure to witnessed WPV in the past year. Spearman correlations revealed significant positive associations between witnessed WPV and job burnout, witnessed WPV and turnover intention, and job burnout and turnover intention (p<0.01). Mediation regression showed job burnout partially mediated the association between witnessed WPV and turnover intention (95% CI 0.098 to 0.229), accounting for 44.9% of the total effect. Multigroup SEM demonstrated significant mediation among nurses (indirect effect=51.3%) and doctors (34.5%), but not among medical technicians (95% CI -0.186 to 0.059).
High prevalence of witnessed WPV exists among Chinese tertiary hospital healthcare workers. Job burnout partially mediates the association between witnessed WPV and turnover intention pathway, with significant occupational variation. These findings support the development of occupation-specific intervention strategies.

PMID:
42810802
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 30 Sep 2026.

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