Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108334

Mario H. Rodriguez, PhD, MPH, School of Public Health, Health Services Administration Department, University of Puerto Rico, P O Box 365067, San Juan, PR 00936-5067, 787-767-5878, mhrodriguez@hotmail.com and Miguel Martinez, PhD, Carlos Albizu University, PO Box 9023711, San Juan, PR 00902-3711.

Problem: Workplace bullying occurs when someone at work is systematically subjected to aggressive behavior from colleagues or superiors over time, finding it difficult to defend him or herself or to escape the situation. Such treatment tends to stigmatize the target and may have psychological and physical consequences. Objective: This study investigated the effects of workplace bullying and the psychological and physical consequences in a sample of health services organization workers in Puerto Rico. Procedure: A self-administered questionnaire including demographic and organizational questions and the Experience of Workplace Bullying profile was given to a convenience sample of 308 health services organization workers in Puerto Rico. Results: In this study 11% of the workers reported being bullied in their current workplace and 15% in their previous workplace. Bullying in co-workers was recognized by 20% of the subjects. The behaviors most associated with bullying were abusive workload increase, questioning the decision-making process, and prejudiced supervisory actions. Public sector workers (53.6%) present higher prevalence of workplace bullying than private sector workers (46.4%) (p < .05). Workers report 45 physical and psychological symptoms related to bullying. Statistically significant differences were observed in the number of related symptoms between bullied (19.43 ±11.08) and non-bullied (3.63 ±6.77) workers (p <.001). Conclusion: Workplace bullying is associated with physical and psychological symptoms. Bullying must therefore be regarded as a problem for the entire work unit and not merely as a problem of the target. This should be taken into account when designing health promotion and wellness programs.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the problem of workplace bullying as an occupational health problem.
• Recognize work sector differences in the prevalence of workplace bullying.
• Recognize the importance of consequences of the workplace bullying in the workplace environment.

Keywords: Occupational Health, Worksite

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.