Estudio comparativo sobre el hostigamiento psicológico o mobbing en personal de enfermería de Brasil y España

Resum

In the last twenty years, the scientific community has shown the psychological and social risks derived from the interpersonal relationships in the conflict development at the work environment. In this regard, the objective of this PhD Thesis, entitled “Psychological harassment or mobbing in nursing staff in Brazil and Spain: A comparison”, is to study the experience of psychological harassment in the nursing staff from two different geographical contexts. A cross sectional study was carried out at two hospitals with similar characteristics: Hospital Universitario Son Espases, formerly Son Dureta, in Palma de Mallorca (Spain); and Hospital do IPSEMG (Instituto de Previdência dos Servidores do Estado de Minas Gerais) in Belo Horizonte (Brazil). In these hospitals, 285 and 274 volunteers participated in Spain and Brazil, respectively. Data were gathered using self-administered questionnaires. The following instruments were used: Socio-demographic and occupational data questionnaire specifically designed for this study, Psychological Harassment in the workplace-Revised version Questionnaire (HPT-R), atributional styles , Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) and Stress Symptoms Questionnaire. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were women, ca. 40-years old. The perception of the psychological harassment was higher in the nursing staff from Brazil than in those from Spain. The psychological harassment was mainly from the colleagues, i.e. nurses, which lead to serious stress symptoms. The female gender, the desire of leaving the profession and the lack of participation in the decision making processes were positively correlated with the perception of psychological harassment; as well as the “humiliation and personal derogation” factor. In contrast, the search of solutions was negatively correlated with the psychological harassment. The copping strategies registered were “Active” in Brazil and “Avoidant” in Spain. This study highlights that the psychological harassment in the nursing staff is a deliberate behavior in which the hostility uses to come from the colleagues, which increments the vulnerability of the nursing staff to this phenomenon.