prevalence of workplace conflicts and the used coping strategies among nurses in teaching hospitals in qom city, iran: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: conflicts arise when a person or group perceives that another person or group opposes their interests, beliefs, and values. although conflict usually carries a negative sense, it may be productive for nurses, their colleagues, or patients in clinical settings.objective: this study aims to determine the prevalence of workplace conflict and the coping strategies used by nurses working in teaching hospitals in qom city, iran.materials and methods: this is a descriptive-analytical study with a cross-sectional design. study participants comprised 373 nurses in teaching hospitals affiliated with qom university of medical sciences. they were selected using simple random sampling. data collection tools were a demographic form, dubrin workplace conflict questionnaire, and putnam and wilson’s organizational communication conflict instrument (occi). the obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, fisher’s exact test, and a one-way analysis of variance (anova) and multivariate linear regression model.results: most participants were female (63.8%) with a bachelor’s degree (88.3%). their mean age was 34.78±5.96 years. the mean score of workplace conflicts was 10.04±3.93 and the mean score of the control strategy was significantly higher in nurses with a high level of workplace conflict (24.90±3.75). the multivariate regression results revealed that age, sex, marital status, educational level, type of employment, department of service, work experience, and three conflict resolution strategies could predict 32% of workplace conflict (adjusted r2=0.32, p=0.001).conclusion: workplace conflict among nurses of hospitals in qom is high. they mostly use the solution-orientated strategy followed by non-confrontation and control strategies.