Table 1 Summary of semi-structured interview guide questions

“Can you tell me a bit about yourself and what led to your work in psychiatry?”

i. Probe for information regarding their role, responsibilities, work experience, context of the workplace (i.e. how many beds does the unit have, average workload/patient assignment?)

“What do you consider to be patient violence?”

i. Provide definition for patient violence that the study utilizes: When I talk about “patient violence” I am referring any incidents of aggression that is physical, verbal, or emotional that occurs when nurses are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work, but often everyone has their own considerations…

“Can you describe to me your experience (s) with patient violence?”

i. If there are several experiences, ask participant to choose one that “sticks” in their mind the most to start; if there are more than one incident, go through each separately

ii. What do you think the causes (antecedents) were leading up to the event?

iii. What was the client’s diagnosis?

iv. What time of day/night was it?

v. How many staff were you working with? Is this a typical staffing level?

vi. What happened during the event?

vii. How did it end?

viii. What were your feelings as this occurred and afterward?

ix. How distressing did you find your experience?

x. Probe: Compare these to other incidences participant has described

“What impact did your experience have on you personally?”

i. What were the immediate impacts?

ii. What were the longer term impacts?

iii. What are the different impacts of verbal vs. physical violence?

iv. What impact did it have on carrying out your role as an RN after the incident?

Probe: Compare these to other incidences participant has described

“What practice strategies influence your current response (management) to patient violence?”

i. What personal factors influence your response to patient violence?

ii. Probe for hospital policies, guidelines, unit norms, individual training and strategies

“In your opinion, what unit and organizational strategies facilitate prevention of violence?”

i. What do you as an individual do to stay safe and prevent violence? What about the unit as a whole? The organization?

ii. What are those strategies that increase your risk of violence?

iii. How confident do you feel in using these strategies?

iv. Probe: Compare responses and needs to various incidents described by participant

“What do nurses’ need from the unit and/or organization for management of patient violence?”

“What do nurses’ need from the unit and/or organization following an incident of patient violence?”

i. What support and follow-up did you receive after your patient violence event?

ii. Was there anything you felt was necessary to support you that did not occur?