Bullying in the Australian medical workforce: cross-sectional data from an Australian e-Cohort study

Abstract

Objective. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of perceived workplace bullying in the Australian medical workforce, and investigate the relationship between workplace bullying and job satisfaction, health status, and current and planned medical workforce participation.Methods. An electronic cross-sectional survey of doctors currently in the paid workforce, conducted between April 2008 and October 2009, was nested within a longitudinal cohort study investigating factors affecting the recruitment and retention of the Australian medical workforce. To address the specific aims of this study, a subset of questions in the survey investigated the prevalence of self-reported bullying; physical and mental health; workforce participation patterns; job satisfaction; and job stressors.Results. Seven hundred and forty-seven participants responded to the bullying question and were included in this analysis. Twenty-five percent of participants reported being bullied in the last 12 months. There were no differences in the reported rates of bullying across age groups, sex and country of medical qualification. Bullied doctors were least satisfied with their jobs (P < 0.001), had taken more sick leave in the last 12 months (P < 0.001), and were more likely to be planning to decrease the number of hours worked in medicine in the next 12 months (P = 0.01) or ceasing direct patient care in the next 5 years (independent of their age or the number of hours currently worked in patient care) (P = 0.006).Conclusions. Our findings suggest that Australian doctors, independent of age or sex, have experienced workplace bullying, and although no conclusions can be made about causal pathways, there were strong associations between this exposure and poorer health and wellbeing, and on remaining in the medical workforce.What is known about the topic? Bullying and harassment have a significant impact on mental health, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the workforce. Workplace bullying in healthcare organisations affects the individuals involved, the organisations and the patients. The prevalence of workplace bullying throughout the medical workforce in Australia or elsewhere has not been investigated, with previous studies focussing on subsets of doctors, particularly junior doctors. What does this paper add? This paper found that 25% of doctors participating in this study reported experiencing persistent behaviours in the last 12 months that had undermined their professional confidence or self-esteem. There were no differences in the prevalence of bullying observed between sexes, age groups, country of medical qualifications, or employment sector. Victims of bullying had poorer mental health, had taken more sick leave in the last 12 months, were less Journal compilation Ó AHHA 2012 www.publish.csiro.au/journals/ahr CSIRO PUBLISHING Australian Health Review, 2012, 36, 197-204 Research Note http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AH11048WORKFORCE satisfied with their current jobs and with being doctors, were more affected by job stresso...

A review of cyberbullying and suggestions for online psychological therapy

“…The results also found that social networking sites (e.g., Facebook) were the primary tool for cyberbullying. Another study found that bullying through electronic means (particularly email and phone) existed in a randomly selected sample of members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), but the prevalence rate was much less than traditional workplace bullying (10.7% compared to 34% for the latter; Askew et al, 2012).…”

Workplace bullying and the association with suicidal ideation/thoughts and behaviour: a systematic review

“…There are substantial financial costs to employers resulting from increased absenteeism, presenteeism and staff turnover. Research has shown that workplace bullying is associated with greater sickness absence9 and decreased job satisfaction and job commitment 10. A recent meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies found that those who were exposed to workplace bullying had 68% greater odds of subsequent poor mental health compared with those who were not exposed to bullying.…”

Racialised and Gendered Workplace Discrimination: The Case of Skilled Filipina Immigrants in Melbourne, Australia

“…What I raise is the need to deepen our understanding of how multifaceted identities frame individual-level strategies adopted to weather discrimination, and how these identities influence resistance and become reconfigured during the course of their resistance. Contemporary studies in Australia (Askew et al, 2012;Hawthorne, 1997Hawthorne, , 2002Hegney, Plank, & Parker, 2006;McDonald & Dear, 2008;Poynting & Noble, 2004;Stratton, 2006;Syed & Murray, 2009) continue to indicate the prevalence of workplace discrimination and harassment, especially toward the ethnic populations. These studies (with the exception of Syed & Murray, 2009), however, tend to privilege either the race and ethnicity or the gender dimension but seldom the intersection of these dimensions.…”

“…The present article, based on the results of my PhD, aims to assist in addressing this gap. The limited literature dealing directly with NESB women immigrants (Askew et al, 2012;Hawthorne, 1997Hawthorne, , 2002Ho, 2006;Iredale, 2005;Mapedzahama et al, 2012;Syed & Murray, 2009;Syed & Pio, 2010;Vasta, 1991) proves that discrimination persists, both at the structural level and in everyday dealings in the workplace. Moving away from conventional quantitative and theoretical approaches, this article continues the study of discrimination by looking at the rich, divergent, and sometimes conflicting narratives of Filipinas.…”

“…Verbal and physical aggression has caused Tasmania-based nurses to make mistakes that affect their productivity (Farrell, Bobrowski, & Bobrowski, 2006). Medical doctors are not spared from bullying: as many as 25% of 747 cross-sectional respondents in 2008-2009 had experienced persistent behaviour in the previous 12 months (Askew et al, 2012). This resulted in lowered professional self-esteem and poorer mental health, which could affect the quality of medical services provided to patients.…”