Begging to Differ: Fallacies in Nicola Magnavita’s Article on Workplace Violence

In Nicola Magnavita’s article, “The Exploding Spark: Workplace Violence in an Infectious Disease Hospital – A Longitudinal Study,” the author discusses the validity of workplace violence occurrences in a hospital which specializes in infectious disease or any other highly specialized hospital. A study was performed in 2003 and again in 2005 where hospital workers were asked to discuss and describe any acts of violence that had occurred in the past year. Workers were assessed as well for anxiety and depression by use of a Goldberg scale. The correlation according to the author is that due to the violence in the workplace, these workers have a higher propensity for a depressive order.

This article shows an immediate fallacy of a hasty generalization because the belief that the author purports is that violence occurs in this specific setting therefor all hospitals specializing in infectious disease are at risks for such acts of violence. This generalization is made only from one such study and not giving the audience a sufficient amount of proof. Furthermore, the final statement in the article suggests that all specialty hospitals should “be accompanied by intervention to reduce occupational stress and improve worker’s well-being” (Magnavita, 2013, p. 7-8). This as well is a hasty generalization because the statistics and study in this article were based upon one type of specialty hospital. 

Begging the question is another fallacy presented in this article. The author states, “…according to recommendations for environmental infection control in health-care facilities, visitor routes are different from those used by patients and medical staff. This explains why aggression towards the staff on the part of friends, relatives, and visitors is unusual” (p. 2). This does not explain why nor does it prove that all people who take this out of the way route become aggressive due to their having to divert the normal route given to the public.

While Magnavita does show impressive results and uses empirical data to prove his hypothesis, the over generalization and fallacies introduced give the audience false reasons for proposed outcomes. With violent behavior monitored in any specialized hospital, a study should offer more than contextual and individuals factors thereby allowing a more thorough identification of factors to provide future prevention.

Reference

Warren, B. (2011). Workplace violence in hospitals: safe havens no more. Journal Of Healthcare Protection Management, 27(2), 9-17.