Objective To explore the perceived risk and coping strategies of type Ⅱ workplace violence among nurses, so as to provide a reference for improving the awareness and behavior of nurses to prevent violence. Methods A descriptive qualitative study was designed, and 20 clinical nurses from three grade A tertiary hospitals in Yangzhou city were selected using purposive sampling method to conduct face-to-face semi-structured interviews, and the interview data were organized and analyzed by using thematic analysis method. Results Three themes and nine sub-themes were inductively extracted: factors influencing the perception of risk of type Ⅱ workplace violence (work status, knowledge reserve, occupational background, and social network), the content of the perception of risk of type Ⅱ workplace violence (negative emotional reactions, bad consequences, and perceived probability), and coping strategies (active preventive behaviors and coping ability improvement). Conclusion The recognition on type Ⅱ workplace violence among nurses is insufficient, and their risk perception is at a low level. Nursing administrators should conduct stratified and multi-channel training for clinical nurses, so as to improve their risk perception ability, active prevention behavior and coping ability toward type Ⅱ workplace violence, so as to reduce the risk of type Ⅱ workplace violence and promote occupational health.