VIOLENCE AT WORKPLACE IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Project based on a research by WHO/ILO/ICN/PSI

Project duration: 5 years Partners in the project: Institute of Health Policy and Economy (IZPE) Trade Union of the Health Service and Social Care of the Czech Republic (OS ZSP ČR) Research Institute of Safety at Work (VÚBP) Funding: Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic (MPSV)

Basic aim of the project: To contribute to better understanding of workplace violence in the health and social care sector and to implement in practice the knowledge gained.

Further partial aims: The initial materialization of the workplace violence problem in the sector of health and social services, using the standardized questionnaire research of ILO/WHO/ICN/PSI and published studies concerning workplace violence in the health and social care in the Czech Republic and in an international comparison.

Further partial aims: Follow-up quantitative and qualitative research on changes in working and other relations in health and social services in the context of ongoing modernisation of the society and reforms of public services in the Czech Republic; studying causes of workplace violence.

Further partial aims: International comparative analyses of the present knowledge and attitudes concerning workplace violence in health and social services (UK, Australia, Sweden, USA, EC, ILO, WHO).

Further partial aims: Creating a specific file in the library of the Institute of Health Policy and Economy with publications and databases on the issue of workplace violence in health and social services, which would be possible to use for further studies, development of managerial practices and creation of social and health policy.

Further partial aims: Research on the development in the quality of services and relations between clients and service providers from the point of view of a wider concept of workplace violence.

Further partial aims: Application of the knowledge gained in the educational system, in post- graduate education, recommendations for managerial practice in health and social care institutions, for further development in creation of health and social policy, publications and dissemination of results.

Project hypothesis: The problem of violence at workplaces in health and social services is becoming a significant cause of lowering the quality of the provided services.

Questions: How big and significant is the problem of violence at workplaces in the Czech Republic at the moment in the view of international comparison? How is the available foreign knowledge used in the system of post-graduate education in the Czech Republic?

Questions: What measures are used in the managerial practice and in the following development of the legal framework in the Czech Republic as compared to the development abroad? Which key factors of the modernising Czech society play the leading role in increasing violence at workplaces?

Questions: To which extent is it possible to confirm the published conclusions about failing healthcare reforms (Afford, 2003), and how important are they from the point of view of their reflection in industrial relations and, above all, in relations between providers and clients of the services?

Questions: How have the values and expectations been changed in Czech stakeholders (patients, clients, service providers, public administration, elected representatives)?

Questions: Are the aspects of human resources development in the health and social care sector understood in our modernising society as a decisive factor for managing the reforms in those public services? Are they given the proper attention, or has the development been going on spontaneously?

Questions: Does the 10-year-long stress put on purely economic aspects of health and social services represent a cause of rising serious problems in the area of value development, ethics, problems in relations between providers and consumers of services?

Questions: How are these problems understood and solved abroad? How important is the foreign development of legal framework and its implementation at solving the problems of violence at the workplace? What knowledge and processes represent efficient resources for solving the problems of workplace violence abroad?

Expected results and their implementation: New knowledge in the sphere of theoretical concepts of existence and manifestation of violence in the working process. Analysis of workplace violence and implementation of the new knowledge into the system of education and post- graduate training, managerial practice, concept building, creation of health and social policy.

Methodological approach: Combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, analyses of available statistical data and policy documents; international comparative analysis

The expertise of the project team is based on research and pedagogical activities in the area of analyses of public policies, health and safety at work, sociological research, research into the state of health, health determinants, economy of health etc.

Trade Union of the Health Service and Social Care gave the first impulse for taking up this project. The extension to several years opens up further possibilities: for an international comparative research for the possibility of a more profound research on the issue for practical implementation of the results

Thank you for your attention