Workplace incivility, lateral violence and bullying among nurses. A review about their prevalence and related factors

Abstract

Background: Negative interactions among nurses are well recognized and reported in scientific literature, even because the issues may have major consequences on professional and private lives of the victims. The aim of this paper is to detect specifically the prevalence of workplace incivility (WI), lateral violence (LV) and bullying among nurses. Furthermore, it addresses the potential related factors and their impact on the psychological and professional spheres of the victims. Methods: A review of the literature was performed through the research of papers on three databases: Medline, CINAHL, and Embase. Results: Seventy-nine original papers were included. WI has a range between 67.5% and 90.4% (if WI among peers, above 75%). LV has a prevalence ranging from 1% to 87.4%, while bullying prevalence varies between 2.4% and 81%. Physical and mental sequelae can affect up to 75% of the victims. The 10% of bullied nurses develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. Bullying is a predictive factor for burnout (β=0.37 p<0.001) and shows a negative correlation with job efficiency (r=-0 322, p<0.01). Victims of bullying recorded absenteeism 1.5 times higher in comparison to non-victimized peers (95% CI: 1.3-1.7). 78.5% of bullied nurses with length of service lower than 5 years has resigned to move to other jobs. Conclusions: There is lack of evidence about policies and programmes to eradicate workplace incivility, lateral violence and bullying among nurses. Prevention of these matters should start from spreading information inside continue educational settings and university nursing courses.