Abstract

Background and aims. Repeated negative behaviour in communication between employees can be qualified as workplace bullying (WPB); it harms the work environment as well as the health of employees.
In international studies, the main criteria for workplace bullying is negative behaviour which occurs at least once a week for six months. The aim of our study was to examine the occurrence of work- and person-related WPB and mental health problems among hospital workers and to analyse relationships between mental health problems and WPB.

Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the staff members of an active care hospital in Estonia. An online self-report survey was used for data collection. A questionnaire was created on the basis of two internationally validated questionnaires: Negative Acts Questionnaire – Revised (NAQ-R) and Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II (COPSOQ II). Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and Spearman correlation were used for analysis.
Results. A total of 257 workers (5% of hospital workers) responded to all the questions of the electronic questionnaire. During six months before the study, 4-16% of the participants had experienced one or more types of work-related WPB and 2-12% had experienced one or more types of person-related WPB that had occurred one or more times a week. Among the participants, burnout and stress were the most frequently experienced mental health problems. Burnout and depressive symptoms were most strongly associated with workand person-related WPB.
Conclusions. Work- and person-related WPB is an occupational problem among hospital workers, which can increase the likelihood of burnout, depressive symptoms, and other mental health problems. Causal relationships between workplace bullying and mental health problems should be investigated in the future.