Psychological Distress and Workplace Bullying Among Registered Nurses

Abstract

Workplace bullying (WPB) behaviors are pervasive in some healthcare organizations leading to difficult work environments for registered nurses. We conducted an exploratory quantitative dominant (QUANT/qual) mixed method design study to determine the differences in respondents in three Midwestern states on psychological distress symptoms using WPB exposure levels and select nurse characteristics. This article discusses background information and WPB consequences. We report on the study purpose, methods, and Phase I qualitative results, including significant differences with perceived stress, anxiety, and posttraumatic symptoms reported by persons with frequent to daily WPB behavior exposure. The discussion section considers significant differences found between respondents related to age and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Narrative analysis on strategies used after bullying also illuminates the discussion. Finally, we examine implications for nurse leaders and empowerment of their direct reports to resolve minor interpersonal conflicts and move swiftly to resolve escalating bullying.

Antecedents and consequences of bullying among nurses: a review study

“…These findings imply that the more the levels of hope, resilience, positive affect, and optimism are, the lower the levels of bullying complications will be. Moreover, we found that two of the reviewed studies had reported a negative relationship between bullying and age, implying that younger nurses experienced more bullying and more stress (21,22), while a study had reported no significant relationship between age and perceived stress or anxiety (24). This contradiction may be due to the fact that those two studies had assessed the prevalence of bullying-related stress (21,22), while the other study had assessed perceived bullying-related stress (24).…”

Determinants and consequences of workplace violence against hospital-based nurses: a rapid review and synthesis of international evidence

“…WPV against nurses was reported to negatively affect nurses' physical and mental health resulting in illness, hospital admissions, physical damage, posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychosocial impairment, reduced psychological safety, psychological disturbance, increased depression, and suicidal thoughts (Banda et al 2016;Berry et al 2016;Myers et al 2016;Choi and Lee 2017;Sauer and McCoy 2017;Arnetz et al 2019;McPherson and Buxton 2019). Chang and Cho (2016) and Choi and Lee (2017) reported that WPV against nurses results in increased burnout.…”

Incidence and impact of incivility in paramedicine: a qualitative study

“…Exposure to this behaviour led to increased job dissatisfaction, intention to leave, increased levels of moderate to severe stress and workplace absence. Workplace incivility has been shown to be a contributor to staff turnover, 12 Long-term absence, 13 loss of work motivation 14 and incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. 10 There is considerable anecdotal evidence about both verbal and physical aggression being displayed to paramedic's whilst on duty.…”