Mobbing and Its Association with Quality Of Life in Health Professionals (Published)
Background and objectives: The impact of mobbing on the quality of life of Health Professionals (HP) has been studied to a limited extent in Greece. The purpose of this study is the effect of mobbing and the effect of demographic characteristics on the quality of life of health professionals. Materials and Methods: In the present cross-sectional study HP from 11 public Greek hospitals are involved. The sample was (N = 1536) HP, (A = 528) and (C = 1008), average age 39.2 years (SD = 10.3 years). A demographic data form and two tools were used anonymously, self-fulfilling. The World Health Organization questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) that measure the quality of life and the WPVB that measures violent psychological behaviour in workplaces. The two-sided level of statistical significance was set at 0.05, while the data analysis was performed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 22.0. Results: Women had lower scores in the Mental Health Scale and the quality life level of independence compared to men (p = 0.003). The tendency of individuals to declare that they had no health problem was associated with higher scores in the four domains of life quality (p <0.001). The tendency of individuals to declare that they have been subjected to mobbing in all domains (p <0.001) was associated with poor quality of life in all its factors (p <0.001). Married suffering mobbing reported better QOL (p = 0.003) and a healthier environment (p = 0.012) than married with children with poor QOL (p = 0.001), poor physical (p <0.001) and mental health (p = 0.009) and reduced social relationships (p = 0.001). The HP (doctors and nurses) with overall mobbing score, p = 0.001, had a better mental health and better social relations than those HP, who worked as Administrative and Technical Staff. Support by friends, relatives, family showed that they are associated with a better quality of life in all its factors. Health Professionals suffering any form of mobbing (p<0,001) have a poor quality of life (p<0,001), poor physical (p<0,001) and mental health (p<0,001) and poor social contacts (p<0,001). Conclusions: Taking into account the results of statistical controls on the effect of mobbing, demographic and other factors (sex, age, job, working years, etc.), it was found that mobbing negatively affects the QOL in general as the working environment is affected, their socio-demographic profile of both genders and their physical, mental and social well-being. Further studies are needed to show the universality of these results.
Keywords: Health, Quality of life, Working Environment, health professionals, mobbing, occupational health