Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 64. No. 2, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20471/acc.2025.64.02.12
The Connection between the Experience of Mobbing, Job Characteristics and Physical Manifestations among Nurses/Technicians Working in Children’s Departments
Antun Bajan
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Institute of Emergency Medicine of Osijek-Baranja County, Osijek, Croatia
Dubravka Matijašić-Bodalec
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Mlinarska School of Nursing, Zagreb, Croatia
Antonija Krstačić
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Department of Traumatology, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center, Zagreb, Croatia
Petra Mamić
; Division of Anti-Doping, Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Slavica Đorđević
; Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia; Belgrade Academy of Applied Studies, Department of School of Applied Health Science, Belgrade, Serbia
Nikola Bajan
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Andrea Milostić-Srb
; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Nika Srb
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Vedrana Makarović
orcid.org/0009-0000-9996-1204
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; Emergency Department, Osijek University Hospital Center, Osijek, Croatia
*
Tomislav Kizivat
; Osijek Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Irena Habazin
; CODIM, Center of Family, Children and Young People, Zagreb, Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Mobbing (bullying) at the workplace of nurses is a serious problem in the world
today. Its manifestations can be very different, from psychological to physical manifestations, and
can be related to the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder. The aim of this study was to examine
the experience of mobbing at the workplace of pediatric nurses and its connection with physical
manifestations. For this purpose, we conducted a study on 434 nurses/technicians in 18 hospitals in
the Republic of Croatia. The research instrument consisted of two questionnaires and personal characteristics
of the examinees. The examinees were between the ages of 36 and 45, those who had more
than 6 years of experience, those who did not work in shifts, who did not work at the job they wanted,
and examinees who believed that the conditions at their workplace were threatening their health, and
those whose work was the cause of sick leave in the last year. Among the examinees who had experienced
mobbing, compared to those who had not, there was a greater number of those who did not
evaluate their cooperation with colleagues and their relationship with superiors positively or did not
know how to evaluate that relationship. The results obtained with the Physical Symptoms Inventory scale showed that the examinees who had experienced mobbing had a significantly higher incidence of
the examined symptoms for which they visited a doctor. In conclusion, nurses employed at children’s
wards had a positive association of physical manifestations with the experience of mobbing at the
workplace, for which preventive programs should be developed to prevent or reduce its occurrence,
but also lifelong learning programs should be developed to empower those nurses who currently show
symptoms of mobbing.
Keywords
Mobbing; Bullying; Nurses, pediatric; Physical symptoms
Hrčak ID:
337593
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2025.
Visits: 146 *