OCCUPATIONAL VIOLENCE IN THE SCHOOLS: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF PHYSICAL ASSAULT AGAINST EDUCATORS RESEARCH TEAM Susan Goodwin Gerberich, PhD Nancy M. Nachreiner, PhD Andrew D. Ryan, MS Timothy R. Church, PhD Steven J. Mongin, MS Patricia M. McGovern, PhD Mindy S. Geisser, MS Gavin D. Watt, BA Denise M. Feda, MS, PhD Starr Kelly Sage, MPH, PhD Evette Pinder, MPH, PhD Candidate Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Center for Violence Prevention and Control Center for Violence Prevention and Control Regional Injury Prevention Research Center University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

MINNESOTA EDUCATORS’ STUDY ABSTRACT Prior research has primarily focused on student-on-student school violence; yet, school educators are also at risk nationally and internationally. A two-phase study was designed to identify risk factors for assaults against educators (kindergarten-grade 12). Educators (n=26,000) were randomly selected from the Minnesota license database and screened for eligibility (6,180, eligible) by mailed questionnaire. Phase-1 (12-month recall) identified eligible cases (n=290) and controls (n=867) and violent event characteristics; Phase-2 (case-control - one-month recall prior to assault and randomly selected month, respectively) enabled identification of numerous exposures. Confounders were selected for multiple logistic regression analyses using directed acyclic graphs; reweighting adjusted for response and eligibility biases. For each study phase, response was 84%. Assault perpetrators were primarily students (95%). Risks (ORs; 95% CIs) increased for educators working in: Special Education (3.66, ) and Speech Pathology (2.34, ); urban (versus suburban) schools (1.96, ); schools with <50 (4.33, ) and (1.89, ) versus students; schools with inadequate resources (always/frequently versus sometimes: 1.89, ), inadequate building safety (always and frequently versus sometimes: 6.34, and 2.29, , respectively), soft light versus bright as daylight (1.40, ), and with physical barriers (1.54, ). Decreased risks were identified for having: routine locker searches (0.50, ); school sizes versus students (0.52, ) and easily accessible exits (0.33, ); and never (versus sometimes) having inadequate building safety (0.59, ). Results suggest opportunities for targeted interventions and further research to decrease assault risk to educators with benefits to others in school environments.

MINNESOTA EDUCATORS’ STUDY CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR WORK-RELATED VIOLENCE PHYSICAL ASSAULT EDUCATORS Personal Characteristics Demographics (gender; Demographics (gender; age; race; marital status; socioeconomic status) age; race; marital status; socioeconomic status) Body Mass Body Mass Stress Stress Education, including Education, including specialty training specialty training Illness/injury history, Illness/injury history, including assaults including assaults Violence Violence management/conflict management/conflict resolution training resolution training Work-Related Characteristics Work experience Work experience Job type Job type Workload; hours Workload; hours worked/week worked/week Student contact/week Student contact/week (hours; numbers) (hours; numbers)OTHERSCo-Workers Demographics (age; Demographics (age; gender; race) gender; race) Number/types of staff Number/types of staff Interaction/support Interaction/supportStudents Demographics (age; Demographics (age; gender; race) gender; race) Number/types Number/types Mental Mental status/impairment status/impairment History of assaultive History of assaultive behavior behavior Other relevant Other relevant behaviors/activities behaviors/activitiesENVIRONMENTFacility Type/Level/Size of School Type/Level/Size of School Area socioeconomic Area socioeconomic status status Location Location Physical design/attributes Physical design/attributes (openness; visibility; (openness; visibility; crowding; lighting; crowding; lighting; barriers; room barriers; room configurations) configurations) Security (systems; Security (systems; personnel; access personnel; access controls; parking; controls; parking; responsiveness) responsiveness)Administration/Management Administration attitude Administration attitude Tolerance of violence Tolerance of violence Support for employees Support for employees Employee Employee assistance/resources assistance/resources Support/resources for Support/resources for students students Policies/protocols Policies/protocols

MINNESOTA EDUCATORS’ STUDY ACKNOWLEDGMENT S Support for this effort is provided, in part, by the: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services (R01 OH007816); Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, Center for Violence Prevention and Control, and Regional Injury Prevention Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA; Zayas Graphics The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of our Educator Advisory Team members who were integral to this effort: Willarene Beasley; Charles Goodwin; Donald Hilts; Laura R. Langhoff; and Joseph P. Miller.

WEBSITES University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota USA Center for Violence Prevention and Control Center for Violence Prevention and Controlhttp://www1.umn.edu/cvpc/research.html Regional Injury Prevention Research Center Regional Injury Prevention Research Centerhttp://enhs.umn.edu/riprc/riprc.html Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safetyhttp:// Occupational Injury Prevention Research Training Program Occupational Injury Prevention Research Training Program ml