If further research shows that no difference exists in the treatment of male and female nurses in relation to assault events, education and training must still be addressed to provide nurses with information and support prior to assault, so that they are not fearful that reporting an event will result in retaliation or have negative consequences on assessments of their job performance. In addition, reports of strong emotional response to an assault event by the female nurses in the current study indicate a need for psychosocial support when an assault occurs