Chatbot to Support Healthcare Professionals Experiencing Workplace Aggression

Overview

This study aims to design, develop, and validate a chatbot (SANIDAD SEGURA) intended to support healthcare professionals who experience workplace aggression. Workplace violence in healthcare settings is a growing global concern and has been associated with negative psychological, professional, and organizational consequences. Despite the existence of prevention and reporting protocols, many incidents remain underreported and affected professionals often lack immediate, confidential access to guidance and support. SANIDAD SEGURA is a digital conversational agent designed to provide accessible information, guidance, and referral to institutional, psychological, and legal resources following aggressive incidents. The study will evaluate the usability, readability, and preliminary effectiveness of the chatbot among healthcare professionals working in emergency and critical care units. The study seeks to determine whether a chatbot-based tool can serve as a feasible and acceptable digital resource to assist professionals exposed to workplace aggression and facilitate access to support resources while contributing to improved reporting and understanding of workplace violence in healthcare settings.

Workplace aggression toward healthcare professionals has become an increasingly significant occupational and public health concern worldwide. Exposure to physical, verbal, or psychological aggression can lead to adverse consequences including emotional distress, burnout, reduced job satisfaction, and increased turnover intention. Additionally, workplace violence negatively affects healthcare organizations by increasing absenteeism, reducing productivity, and potentially compromising patient safety. Although healthcare systems have implemented prevention protocols and reporting mechanisms, underreporting of aggressive incidents remains common. Barriers such as fear of retaliation, normalization of violence, lack of time, and limited access to confidential support mechanisms often discourage healthcare workers from formally reporting incidents or seeking assistance. Digital health technologies, particularly conversational agents or chatbots based on natural language processing, have emerged as promising tools to provide scalable, accessible, and continuous support. These tools can deliver real-time information, psychoeducational guidance, and referral pathways, potentially reducing barriers to help-seeking behaviors. The SANIDAD SEGURA chatbot has been developed to address this gap by providing healthcare professionals with an accessible digital platform to obtain guidance following workplace aggression. The chatbot integrates information on institutional procedures, psychological coping strategies, and legal resources while facilitating confidential reporting and documentation of incidents. This mixed-methods study will include the design and development of the chatbot, expert content validation, and pilot testing among healthcare professionals working in emergency and critical care settings in the Almería Health District (Spain). The evaluation will focus on the usability, readability, and acceptability of the chatbot, as well as its feasibility as a supportive tool within existing workplace violence prevention frameworks. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of innovative digital strategies aimed at improving the management, reporting, and prevention of workplace aggression in healthcare environments