A typology of bullying behaviours: the experiences of Australian nurses.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to explore the nature of bullying in the Australian nursing workplace.


BACKGROUND
While there is widespread concern about the extent and consequences of bullying among nurses, to date, there have been no published reports cataloguing the types of behaviours that constitute bullying.


METHODS
Reported here are findings from the first stage of a three-stage sequential mixed methods study.


METHODS
The first, qualitative stage of this study employed in-depth, semi structured interviews with 26 nurses who had experienced bullying from two Australian area health services. Content analysis of the verbatim interview transcripts was performed using the nvivo 7 software program.


RESULTS
The analysis identified six major categories and constituent sub-categories. The typology of bullying behaviours reported here is one of these major categories.


CONCLUSIONS
The typology of behaviours developed from the study provides detailed insights into the complexity of bullying experienced by nurses. The behaviours were labelled: personal attack, erosion of professional competence and reputation, and attack through work roles and tasks. These themes provide insight into the construct of bullying by providing a detailed catalogue of bullying behaviours that show that bullying is frequently masked in work tasks or work processes and focused on damaging the reputation and status of targets.


CONCLUSIONS
The detailed catalogue of bullying behaviours draws attention to the breadth of the bullying experience. It is anticipated the typology will be of use to nurses, managers and other professionals who are interested in responding to the problem of bullying in nursing.
Hutchinson
Marie
M
School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Lismore, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. marie.hutchinson@scu.edu.au
Vickers
Margaret H
MH
Wilkes
Lesley
L
Jackson
Debra
D
D001315:Australia; D006801:Humans; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence; D017132:Workplace