Risks of Violence Against Educators Based on Hours Exposed

Background/Purpose: Violence is a major occupational problem; yet, the population of educators has been neglected. The objective was to identify their potential risks for physical assault (PA) and nonphysical violence (NPV), based on hours exposed. Methods: From a random sample of 26,000 licensed kindergarten through grade 12 Minnesota educators, 6,469 eligible educators were included. Data were collected, using specially designed mailed questionnaires (12-month recall). Calculated PA and NPV rates, per 100,000 working hours, used generalized linear models with Poisson distribution. Directed acyclic graphs identified confounders for multivariable analyses, adjusted for non-response and unknown eligibility. Results/Outcomes: NPV rates were higher than PA rates (26.37 and 5.31). Subcategory NPV rates were: threat (34.82); sexual harassment (7.58); verbal abuse (55.48); bullying (19.62). Multivariate analyses for respective PA and NPV models revealed increased rate ratios (95% CIs) for those: not married (1.28[1.00,1.64]; 1.20[1.07,1.34]) vs. married; worked in public alternative (1.73[1.11,2.68], 1.93[1.59,2.34]), vs. public schools; worked in special education (4.39[3.13,6.16], 1.45[1.23,1.72]) and multiple activities (4.01[2.42,6.63], 1.41[1.09,1.83]), vs. classroom teaching; worked with class sizes <10 (2.71[1.92,3.82], 1.43[1.20,1.71]), vs. 10 to <25 students. Decreased risks for respective PA and NPV models were identified for: males (0.73[0.56,0.94], 0.85[0.76,0.94]), vs. females; those working as educators for 20-29 (0.66[0.45,0.95], 0.66[0.56,0.78]), and more than 30 years (0.55[0.35,0.86]; 0.60[0.49,0.73]), vs. <10 years; and worked in their current school for >20 (0.39[0.21,0.73], 0.80[0.63,1.01]) vs. < five years. Conclusions: Results provide information about factors associated with violence against educators and a basis for further investigation and interventions to reduce violence in the school environment.