Archives of Hellenic Medicine

Last update:

23-Jan-2024

Arch Hellen Med, 41(1), January-February 2024, 25-32

ORIGINAL PAPER

Health professionals' perceptions of mobbing based on their personal characteristics

C.G. Platis,^1,2 A. Gavriilidou,^2,3 M.E. Psomiadi,⁴ P. Theodorou,² E. Lahana^2,5
¹Greek DRG Institute SA, Athens,
²School of Social Sciences, Postgraduate Healthcare Management Program, Hellenic Open University, Patras,
³"Asklepieio Voulas" General Hospital, Athens,
⁴Directory of Operational Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies, Ministry of Health,
⁵Department of Nursing, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

OBJECTIVE To explore the incidence and extent of mobbing syndrome among the personnel of "Asklepieio Voulas" General Hospital, while investigating the potential correlations between the stance of healthcare professional stance towards it and their socio-demographic characteristics.

METHOD To serve the purpose of this study, a crosssectional survey was designed. The study sample consisted of 158 employees of "Asklepieio Voulas" who enrolled in the study through the completion of an anonymous, structured, closed-ended questionnaire. This research tool was formulated by two distinct self-completed questionnaires, one recording participants' demographics, and the other exploring moral and psychosocial harassment through the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ). The statistical analysis was carried with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM), v. 21.0.

RESULTS One in five participants in the study admitted undergoing mobbing to a high extent whilst one in three at a very high. Out of the healthcare professionals participating in the study, 10% reported not having been subjected to any form of harassment, while low and moderate levels were reported by 15.0% and 22.5%, correspondingly. Regarding sample's demographics, it was found that gender, age, number of children, and educational level did not present a statistically significant effect on the levels of total self-reported mobbing contrary to marital status, current occupation, and years of service.

CONCLUSIONS Mobbing cases identified within the health unit under study mainly concerned nurses and doctors. Groups with specific socio-demographic characteristics appeared as more vulnerable to workplace psychosocial harassment with a multitude of potential implications to their personal and professional life. Raising awareness on mobbing is imperative, as well as interventions to prevent and combat it. Further research endeavors shall explore more profoundly the causes, extent, and consequences of this phenomenon.

Key words: Harassment, Healthcare professionals, Mobbing, Public hospital personnel, Workplace bullying.