Prevalence of bullying at work and its association with self-esteem scores in a Spanish nurse sample.
BACKGROUND
Bullying has been recognized as an important and increasing problem for nurses, who are faced with different kinds of bullying. Recent research has suggested a possible association between bullying and low self-esteem.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of bullying at work in a sample of Spanish nurses; to examine the association between bullying and self-esteem; and to investigate the prognostic factors that determine bullying at work.


METHODS
A descriptive survey study was developed to represent the population of Spanish nurses.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 538 nurses who met the inclusion criteria of having worked for a minimum of one year in adult or paediatric services in the public or private heath care system of Principado de Asturias-Spain.


METHODS
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) and the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) standardized for Spain were used to measure self-esteem and bullying behaviours respectively.


RESULTS
Our results show that about one in five nurses (17%) experienced subjective bullying, and 8% of these cases reported weekly or daily bullying. The negative acts reported most frequently in bullied and non-bullied nurses were work-related bullying behaviours, such as 'Being given tasks with unreasonable or impossible targets or deadlines' (2.71 SD = 1.33). However, bullied nurses reported significantly higher rates in all questions of the NAQ, and self-reported bullying was significantly related to low self-esteem (χ(2) = 109; p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Prevalence of self-reported bullying is high among Spanish nurses and is clearly associated with higher exposure to bullying behaviours at work and lower levels of self-esteem.
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain.
Marta Elena
ME
Losa Iglesias
Ricardo
R
Becerro de Bengoa Vallejo
D000328:Adult; D058445:Bullying; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D013030:Spain; D017132:Workplace