Abstract
Introduction: The current project studies mobbing and its effects upon the health and quality of life of the workforce/employees. This harassment (mobbing) against the target-employee takes place as a methodic/systematic psychological attack and involves yelling, derogatory comments, distortion of the victims’ words, and threats/accusations for negligence of duty, when previously and deliberately vital information were not providing.
Aim: The current study aims to document and investigate mobbing at a public hospital. Additional goals were to assess aspects of mobbing, like its causes, the impact it has on the victims or on the organization, as well as the measures required to be taken for the prevention and dealing with the phenomenon.
Material and Method: The material of the study, concerning the theoretical approach, was both the Greek and international literature and search was performed on Pubmed and Google Scholar data, while the study sample consisted of ‘Agioi Anargyroi’ Oncology Hospital staff from various profession. For the conduct of the research, a version of the French edition of Leymann’s questionnaire on psychological terror in the workplace was used (Leymmann Inventory of Psychological Terror -LIPT), calibrated and translated in Greek; while, varied determiners that contribute to the appearance of mobbing were studied in particular.
Results: The research conducted confirms that mobbing affects employees in Public Health Care Sector. Out of the 83 members of participating staff, 49 have suffered mobbing (which corresponds to 59,0%). The most frequent/common psychological symptom they have experienced was intense stress (42,9%). The number of incidents of mobbing on various participants differs significantly according to their level of education. Specifically, holders of MSc or PhD title had to deal with significantly more incidents of ethical harassment behaviors.
Conclusion: The mobbing phenomenon appears to be an increasing threat to the health of workers in health sector, and both the state and health organizations must adopt and implement effective measures to address this threat.
