title: Harassment in workplace among school teachers: development of a survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a questionnaire on harassment in the workplace among teachers at primary and secondary schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the existing questionnaires on harassment in the workplace and developed a new one was to specifically address harassment of teachers in the public education sector. The questionnaire was then experimentally applied to a sample of 764 primary and secondary school teachers in Split Dalmatia County, Croatia. It included three scales -exposure to harassment, witnessing harassment, and disturbance by harassment. Validity of the three scales was examined by factor analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All three scales showed satisfactory metric characteristics: Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.93 for exposure scale, 0.95 for witnessing scale, and 0.97 for disturbance scale. Out of 764 teachers surveyed, 164 (22.4%) were exposed to and 192 (31.7%) witnessed different kinds of harassment in the previous 12 months. There were significantly more of those who experienced harassment as witnesses (chi(2)(1)=249.301; P<0.001) than as direct victims. Eighty-six teachers (11.5%) reported having psychological and 76 (10.1%) physical health problems caused by their work. Exclusion as a consequence of harassment disturbed women more than men (chi(2)(1)=5.27; P=0.022). Those who were exposed to harassment had significantly lower median age (42; range 23-68) than those who were not exposed (45; range 23-65) (U=31401.50; z=2.129; P=0.033).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The questionnaire registered wide spectrum of harassment types, indicating the need for continuous monitoring and systematic work on the prevention of these phenomena. The study showed that exposure to harassment is associated with age, indicating that younger teachers should be the target population for detection and prevention of workplace harassment.
authors: University Centre for Professional Studies, University of Split, Kopilica 5, 21000 Split, Croatia. arusso@oss.unist.hr
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Russo
authors: Ranko
authors: R
authors: Milić
authors: Bojana
authors: B
authors: Knezević
authors: Rosanda
authors: R
authors: Mulić
authors: Jadranka
authors: J
authors: Mustajbegović
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017523:Croatia; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012574:Schools; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*