The Connection between the Experience of Mobbing, Job Characteristics and Physical Manifestations among Nurses/Technicians Working in Children’s Departments

Mobbing (bullying) at the workplace of nurses is a serious problem in the world today. Its manifestations can be very different, from psychological to physical manifestations, and can be related to the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder. The aim of this study was to examine the experience of mobbing at the workplace of pediatric nurses and its connection with physical manifestations. For this purpose, we conducted a study on 434 nurses/technicians in 18 hospitals in the Republic of Croatia. The research instrument consisted of two questionnaires and personal characteristics of the examinees. The examinees were between the ages of 36 and 45, those who had more than 6 years of experience, those who did not work in shifts, who did not work at the job they wanted, and examinees who believed that the conditions at their workplace were threatening their health, and those whose work was the cause of sick leave in the last year. Among the examinees who had experienced mobbing, compared to those who had not, there was a greater number of those who did not evaluate their cooperation with colleagues and their relationship with superiors positively or did not know how to evaluate that relationship. The results obtained with the Physical Symptoms Inventory scale showed that the examinees who had experienced mobbing had a significantly higher incidence of the examined symptoms for which they visited a doctor. In conclusion, nurses employed at children’s wards had a positive association of physical manifestations with the experience of mobbing at the workplace, for which preventive programs should be developed to prevent or reduce its occurrence, but also lifelong learning programs should be developed to empower those nurses who currently show symptoms of mobbing.