Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 9;20(1):57.
doi: 10.1186/s12912-021-00578-3.

Which nurses are victims of bullying: the role of negative affect, core self-evaluations, role conflict and bullying in the nursing staff

Atefeh Homayuni  1 , Zahra Hosseini  2 , Teamur Aghamolaei  3 , Shirin Shahini  4
Affiliations

Which nurses are victims of bullying: the role of negative affect, core self-evaluations, role conflict and bullying in the nursing staff

Atefeh Homayuni et al. BMC Nurs. .

Abstract

Background: Bullying among nurses is a universally recognized problem that has important consequences for nurses, patients and health institutions. This research was conducted with the aim of studying the relationship between role conflict, negative affect and core self-evaluations with bullying in nurses.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 329 nurses were selected by census method. Data were collected using PANAS Scale (negative affect), role conflict questionnaire, Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES), and the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R). Data were analyzed using t-test, one way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis with SPSS software (v. 22).

Results: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the mean bullying scores in according to gender and ward of affiliation. The influence of other variables (marital status, education level, years of experience, age group and work position) was not meaningful. Pearson correlation analysis results indicated that there is a significant positive relationship between role conflict (r = 0.47) and negative affect (r = 0.56) with bullying. Also there is a significant negative relationship between core self-evaluations and bullying (r = - 0.39). Moreover, regression analysis results revealed that negative affect, role conflict and gender can predict 44% of bullying variance significantly.

Conclusions: Based on these findings, core self-evaluations, negative affect and role conflict are good factors in predicting bullying among nurses. Consequently, hiring nurses with low negative affect and high core self-evaluations, improving nurses' self-esteem and self-efficacy and changing workplace conditions in order to reducing role conflict can be useful in reducing workplace bullying.

Keywords: Bullying; Core self-evaluations; Negative affect; Nurses; Role conflict.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Baumann A, Muijen M, Gaebel W. Mental health and well-being at the workplace: protection and inclusion in challenging times: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2010. Available at: http://www.euro.who.int/data/assets/pdffile/0018/124047/e94345.pdf.
    1. Einarsen S. Harassment and bullying at work: a review of the Scandinavian approach. Aggress Violent Behav. 2000;5(4):379–401. doi: 10.1016/S1359-1789(98)00043-3. - DOI
    1. Einarsen S, Hoel H, Notelaers G. Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at work: validity, factor structure and psychometric properties of the negative acts questionnaire-revised. Work Stress. 2009;23(1):24–44. doi: 10.1080/02678370902815673. - DOI
    1. Etienne E. Exploring workplace bullying in nursing. Workplace Health Saf. 2014;62(1):6–11. doi: 10.3928/21650799-20131220-02. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Berry PA, Gillespie GL, Gates D, Schafer J. Novice nurse productivity following workplace bullying. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2012;44(1):80–87. doi: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2011.01436.x. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources