Violence prevention in special education schools - an integrated practice?

Research has shown that employees in special education settings are at high risk for work-related threats and violence. Previous research has not yet been able to identify the essential components of training programs that offer protection from work-related threats and violence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how employees in special education schools deal with prevention of work-related threats and violence. Group interviews were conducted with 14 employees working at 5 special education schools. Results show that employees use a wide range of prevention strategies drawing on specific violence prevention techniques as well as professional pedagogical approaches. We propose that the prevention of threats and violence in special education schools can be understood as an integrated pedagogical practice operating on three interrelated levels.

Social capital and workplace bullying.

BACKGROUND: Workplace bullying is a serious stressor with devastating short- and long-term consequences. The concept of organizational social capital may provide insights into the interactional and communicative dynamics of the bullying process and opportunities for prevention. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the association between organizational social capital and being a target or observer of workplace bullying. METHODS: Based on self-reported cross-sectional data from a large representative sample of the Danish working population (n = 10.037), logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore at the individual level the associations between vertical and horizontal organizational social capital with being a target or observer of workplace bullying. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted models, low organizational social capital (vertical and horizontal) was associated with significantly increased odds ratios of both self-labelled (vertical: OR = 3.25; CI = 2.34-4.51; horizontal: OR = 3.17; CI = 2.41-4.18) and observed workplace bullying (vertical: OR = 2.09; CI = 1.70-2.56; horizontal: OR = 1.60; CI = 1.35-1.89), when compared with high organizational social capital. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports that characteristics of the psychosocial work environment are of importance in the development of workplace bullying, and provides focus on the importance of self-reported organizational social capital.