Work-family conflict, occupational burnout, occupational stress, nursing practice environment, and sleep disorders are associated with workplace violence among emergency department nurses.
In a study of 1540 emergency department nurses in China, 85.0% reported experiencing workplace violence in the past year. Machine learning models identified work-family conflict, occupational burnout, and occupational stress as significant factors across all models, while sleep disorders and nursing practice environment were significant in random forest and decision tree models. Random forest achieved the highest sensitivity (0.916) and accuracy (0.859), while logistic regression had the highest specificity (0.667).
This article is automatically generated from the structured evidence profile behind the claim above. Scores reflect the quality and quantity of available research, not clinical advice.
Work-family conflict, occupational burnout, occupational stress, nursing practice environment, and sleep disorders are associated with workplace violence among emergency department nurses. The current body of evidence comprises 1 study. EvidenceHub rates the overall confidence at 34/100 (low).
The Claim
Work-family conflict, occupational burnout, occupational stress, nursing practice environment, and sleep disorders are associated with workplace violence among emergency department nurses.
This conclusion is most relevant to: 1540 emergency department nurses from various regions of China, surveyed between December 2023 and January 2024..
What the Research Shows
The conclusion draws on 1 linked study. Highlights from the cited literature:
- ▸Machine Learning Models for Identifying Factors Associated With Workplace Violence Among Emergency Nurses: A Comparative Study. (Emergency medicine international, 2026) —
How It Works
The proposed biological pathway:
- ▸Work-family conflict increases stress and burnout, reducing coping resources.
- ▸Occupational stress and burnout may lead to reduced tolerance and increased conflict with patients/visitors.
- ▸Poor nursing practice environment (e.g., staffing, support) may increase exposure to violence.
- ▸Sleep disorders may impair emotional regulation and increase vulnerability to violence.
- ▸Result: These factors collectively increase the likelihood of workplace violence experiences.
Who Might Benefit
Evidence fit by population:
- ▸1540 emergency department nurses from various regions of China, surveyed between December 2023 and January 2024.
Recommended Dose
N/A
Limitations & Caveats
Important context when interpreting this evidence:
- ▸Cross-sectional design prevents causal inference.
- ▸Data were self-reported, which may introduce recall bias.
- ▸Study conducted only in China, limiting generalizability to other countries.
- ▸Machine learning models may overfit; external validation not performed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the prevalence of workplace violence among emergency department nurses in this study?▼
85.0% of the 1540 nurses reported experiencing workplace violence in the past year.
Which factors were most strongly associated with workplace violence?▼
Work-family conflict, occupational burnout, and occupational stress were significant in all three models. Sleep disorders and nursing practice environment were also significant in random forest and decision tree models.
Which machine learning model performed best?▼
Random forest achieved the highest sensitivity (0.916), F1-score (0.915), and accuracy (0.859), while logistic regression had the highest specificity (0.667) and balanced accuracy. Logistic regression and random forest had similar AUC values (0.832 vs 0.834).
Can sleep quality predict workplace violence in nurses?▼
Yes, sleep disorders were identified as a significant associated factor in the random forest and decision tree models, suggesting that poor sleep may be linked to increased risk of workplace violence.
References
- 1.Lan L, Dai M, Chen Y, Zhang H, Zhong L, Tang S, Chen X. “Machine Learning Models for Identifying Factors Associated With Workplace Violence Among Emergency Nurses: A Comparative Study..” Emergency medicine international, 2026. PMID: 42621461 DOI: 10.1155/emmi/9275645