Prevalence and Forms of Workplace Bullying Among Health-care Professionals in Cyprus: Greek Version of “Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror” Instrument

Abstract

BackgroundWorkplace bulling is a pervasive phenomenon with negative consequences for the health of victims and the productivity of organizations. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence and forms of workplace bullying among employees working at the public health-care sector of Cyprus using the Greek version of Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT) instrument.MethodsA translation process was followed from the French to the Greek version of LIPT questionnaire. Test–retest reliability expressed by Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.98 indicating excellent reproducibility. Internal consistency reliability assessed by Cronbach α coefficient was 0.87 suggesting high reliability. LIPT instrument was distributed among 403 employees working at the primary health-care setting and at the largest public hospital of Cyprus with response rate of 73.4%.ResultsWomen comprised the majority of participants (71.4%). Mean age was 43.3 years. Prevalence of workplace bulling according to Leymann's definition was 5.9%. Most common forms of bullying were “Being continuously interrupted” (17.2%) and “continuously being given new work assignments” (13.5%). Women were significantly more often exposed to at least one mobbing behavior than men within the previous year (49% vs. 35.7%, p = 0.038), whereas nurses were significantly exposed to at least one mobbing behavior as compared to physicians (53.3% vs. 31.4%, p = 0.004).ConclusionThis was the first study that examined the prevalence of workplace bullying in the public health-care sector by elaborating the Greek version of LIPT instrument. Results showed that workplace bullying is a common and complex phenomenon among health-care organizations.

Workplace Mobbing and the Role of Human Resources Management

“…Heinz Leymann, a Swedish psychiatrist, introduced the term "mobbing" to denote a specific form of bullying against employees. He insisted that workplace mobbing involves both hostile and unethical communications directed by one or more individuals towards a person who is forced into a helpless and defenseless position due to mobbing activities (Zachariadou 2017). Workplace mobbing can be remembered through its root-word "bullying," and encompasses actions that are collectively coordinated by members of a group toward a specific target.…”

Factors Determining Work Arduousness Levels among Nurses: Using the Example of Surgical, Medical Treatment, and Emergency Wards

“…Next, based on the standards set out in the questionnaire [12], individuals with high stress levels due to work arduousness in the different areas were distinguished, which allowed determining the burden intensity of particular elements of work. e ranking of the elements of work in terms of frequency of occurrence to a degree causing high stress levels is shown in Figure 2.…”

“…e complexity of work in the case of nurses is first and foremost the necessity to perform many activities requiring attention and accuracy, such as administering the right doses of medicines, carrying out measurements (e.g., blood pressure), handling medical devices that are interlaced with hard physical work. A significant source of stress is conflict at the workplace, which include conflicts with other nurses and superiors, including frequent cases of bullying [12,13].…”

Healthcare Professionals and Mobbing

“…Similar results were also obtained when studies were examined on the country basis. For example, in a study conducted by Zachariadou et al (2018) in Greece, it was stated that mostly the women had been exposed to mobbing. In a study conducted in Portugal by Norton et al (2017), nurses were stated to be the most common victims of mobbing.…”