Abstract(s)
Workplace violence can lead to serious consequences for victims, organizations, and society.
Most workplace violence prevention programs aim to train staff to better recognize and safely
manage at-risk situations. The Omega education and training program was developed in Canada
in 1999, and has since been used to teach healthcare and mental health workers the skills needed
to effectively intervene in situations of aggression. The present study was designed to assess the
impact of Omega on employee psychological distress, confidence in coping, and perceived exposure to
violence. This program was offered to 105 employees in a psychiatric hospital in Montreal, Canada.
Eighty-nine of them accepted to participate. Questionnaires were completed before the training,
after a short period of time (M = 109 days) and at follow-up (M = 441 days). Repeated-measures
ANOVAs and Cohen’s d effect sizes were calculated. Results demonstrated statistically significant
improvements in short-term and follow-up posttest scores of psychological distress, confidence in
coping, and in levels of exposure to violence. This study is one of very few to demonstrate the
positive impact of this training program. Further research is needed to understand how to improve
the effectiveness of the program, especially among participants resistant to change.