VIOLENCE PERCEPTION BY USERS HOSPITALIZED IN CLINICAL SERVICES OF A PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN THE REGION OF LA ARAUCANIA - CHILE

Abstract

Violence as a global process affecting contemporary reality has become a public health problem, including the aspect of violence in health contexts. This quantitative research was a descriptive correlational cross – sectional study, whose aim was to describe the perception of violence by users hospitalized in surgical and medical services at a public hospital in the Region of la Araucanía. A non probabilistic sample was conformed by 510 hospitalized patients, in which 88 belonged to the medical service and 422 to surgery service during 2008; to whom previous informed consent, we applied the instrument, which was produced and validated by the authors. Among the results, it was observed that for the question about perceived violence, 12.9% of respondents answered affirmatively. Some of the variables that were statistically significant in patients who perceived violence or not, were the number of hospitalizations of users, current hospital days, having been abused in adulthood, alcohol and smoking. We conclude that there is perception of violence in hospitals, in a space that should be for
healing , where people expect you to deliver quality care with respect, dignity and without violence.