Influencing factors of inter‐nursing lateral violence: A qualitative systematic review

Abstract

Background

Lateral violence is a global social problem that has attracted considerable attention in the field of public health. This has seriously affected the quality of care, the safety of patients' lives and the career development of nurses.

Objective

To systematically evaluate the factors influencing of nursing lateral violence and provide evidence for preventing and reducing inter-nursing lateral violence.

Methods

A systematic review of qualitative study was performed in accordance with the Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research (ENTREQ) guidelines. We collected qualitative studies on the factors influencing of inter-nursing lateral violence by searching PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, Science Direct, WanFang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP) and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM). Data from inception to September 2023. Literature screening and data extraction were independently conducted by two reviewers. The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) scale was employed to assess the quality of the studies, including objectives, methodologies, designs, results and contributions.

Results

A total of 25 studies involving 882 participants were included. The results of the thematic analysis indicated that inter-nursing lateral violence was influenced by hospital management, perpetrators, victims and sociodemographic factors.

Conclusion

Inter-nursing lateral violence was influenced by multidimensional factors. To reduce the occurrence of horizontal violence among nurses, hospitals need to explore the establishment and improvement of a horizontal violence resolution mechanism, and schools should pay attention to the joint support and education of nursing students, create a good working environment and harmonious nursing culture, and promote mutual respect among nurses.

Relevance to Clinical Practice

This review emphasises the importance of the influencing factors of horizontal violence among nurses, analyses the importance of influencing factors from different perspectives, and proposes corresponding measures to reduce inter-nursing lateral violence.

No Patient or Public Contribution

This study was mostly a literature review; neither patients nor pertinent staff were involved in either the design or conduct of the investigation.