OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of workplace violence on sub-health status of nurses and to provide the theoretical basis for preventing the workplace violence in the hospitals and improving the health status of nurses.

METHODSA total of 679 nurses were selected by using stratified cluster sampling method. The Chinese version of workplace violence scale (WVS) and sub-health scale were used to measure workplace violence and sub-health status, respectively.

RESULTSThe subjects with middle age (30-45 years) were found to have the highest incidence of physical assault (24.5%) and emotional assault (52.2%) as compared with other subjects (P<0.05). The prevalence (23.6%) of emotional assault of subjects with lowest education levels was significantly lower than that of others (P<0.05). The nurses with work shift were more vulnerable to emotional assault (45.1%) than those without work shift (36.8%)(P<0.05). The prevalence of the workplace violence of nurses in the psychiatric department and emergency department was significantly higher than that of nurses in other departments (P<0.05). The results of multivariate analysis showed that workplace violence was an important risk factor for sub-health status of nurses when other potential confounding factors were taken into account.

CONCLUSIONThe results of present study showed that workplace violence plays an important role in sub-health status of nurses after adjusting other potential confounding factors. It is important to develop the prevention strategies for reducing the incidence of workplace violence and improving the sub-health status of nurses.