Consequences and coping strategies of nurses and registered nurses perceiving to work in an environment characterized by workplace bullying

Aim

The aim of this study was to analyze the well-being and coping strategies of nurses working in an organizational setting perceived as characterized by workplace bullying. The innovative aspect of this study is that we considered only those who perceive to work in an organizational environment characterized by workplace bullying, and not those who see themselves as victims and those who perceive they work in an organizational environment not characterized by workplace bullying.

Method

A questionnaire with the NAQ-R, PGWBI, Val.Mob. and Brief COPE scales was administered to nurses. To better understand this phenomenon, a comparison was made between 331 nurses and 166 workers in other professions who also work in an organizational environment perceived to be characterized by workplace bullying.

Results

In both groups (nurses and workers), the results were approximately the same in terms of personal bullying and workplace bullying episodes and the number of physical and emotive symptoms. The PGWBI score was lower for nurses than for workers in other fields. Among the individual symptoms, nurses and registered nurses were more likely to report gastritis, insomnia and heartburn than workers in other contexts. Workers in other contexts were more likely than nurses to report symptoms of anxiety, fear, feelings of insecurity, inferiority and guilt. In terms of coping strategies, nurses were more likely than other workers to report distraction, substance use, emotional support, disengagement, venting, positive reframing, humor, and religion. Workers in other professional context were more likely than nurses to report active coping, denial, instrumental support, planning, acceptance, and self-blame.

Conclusion

Results suggest that the consequences of working in a perceived organizational environment characterized by workplace bullying are similar for both groups of workers, with nonstatistical differences in perceived workplace bullying episodes and sum of physical and emotive symptoms.

Implication

Overall, findings suggest that workplace bullying prevention is a fundamental element in training workers in all types of workplaces and should be an integral part of curriculum activities.

Workplace Bullying among Healthcare Professionals: A Quanti-Qualitative Survey in a Sample of Women Working in an Italian Healthcare Setting

The main objective of this study was to analyze, in a sample of female healthcare workers in Italy, the training needs to improve positive relationships in the healthcare organization. To better understand these needs, perceived workplace bullying and its consequences in terms of professional commitment and well-being were analyzed from a descriptive and quantitative perspective (or mixed-methods analysis). A questionnaire was completed online in a healthcare facility in northwestern Italy. The participants were 231 female employees. The quantitative data showed that, on average, the sampled population perceived a low burden of WPB. The majority of the sample expressed moderate engagement at work and moderate perception of psychological well-being. It is interesting to note that one element seemed to be overarching in the responses to the open-ended questions: communication, which emerged as a problematic element that affects the entire organization. The research data provide useful evidence for intervention in favor of an environment that helps to recognize the phenomenon and intervene in time, offering the possibility of accepting the discomfort and fatigue of healthcare workers and offering useful interventions to the individual and the team.

Attitudes toward organizational change and their association with exhaustion in a sample of Italian police workers

Introduction

Change management is an important topic for organizations and some personal characteristics may help or hinder coping with change.

Methods

The aim of the present study was to find out whether attitudes toward organizational change can predict work-related exhaustion in a sample of police workers (N = 532) in northern Italy. Differences between groups in relation to role (police officers vs. other roles) and gender were also considered.

Results

The results of hierarchical regression showed that change beliefs were negatively associated to exhaustion, while resistance to change was positively related to exhaustion; role and gender were also significantly and positive associated with the dependent variable. Regarding differences between groups, police officers had lower positive change beliefs and higher levels of exhaustion compared to workers in other roles. Regarding gender, women reported higher levels of exhaustion than men.

Discussion

The results of the present study provide further insights into what aspects should be considered when promoting organizational change in the police work context.

Working during the COVID-19 pandemic: Demands, resources, and mental wellbeing

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between working conditions at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2020) and employees' mental wellbeing. According to the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, work intensification, increased difficulty in accomplishing work tasks, heightened risk of infection by COVID-19, and increasingly working from home may detrimentally relate to irritation. However, personal and job resources (e.g., occupational self-efficacy, social support) may buffer. Data from 680 employees from four European countries were analyzed by means of path analyses and polynomial regression. Work intensification was significantly positively associated with cognitive and affective irritation; other job demands were not. However, working from home prior to as well as during the pandemic was related to higher cognitive irritation. None of the moderators was of meaningful significance. Reducing work intensification as well as enduring home office seems to be crucial for interventions.

Organizational Justice and Health: A Survey in Hospital Workers

In complex systems such as hospitals, work organization can influence the level of occupational stress and, consequently, the physical and mental health of workers. Hospital healthcare workers were asked to complete a questionnaire during their regular occupational health examination, in order to assess the perceived level of organizational justice, and to verify whether it was associated with occupational stress, mental health, and absenteeism. The questionnaire included the Colquitt Organizational Justice (OJ) Scale, the Karasek/Theorell demand-control-support (DCS) questionnaire for occupational stress, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) for mental health. Workers were also required to indicate whether they had been absent because of back pain in the past year. Organizational justice was a significant predictor of occupational stress. Stress was a mediator in the relationship between justice and mental health. Occupational stress was more closely related to perceptions of lack of distributive justice than to perceptions of procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice. Physicians perceived significantly less distributive justice than other workers. In adjusted univariate logistic regression models, the perceptions of organizational justice were associated with a significant reduction in the risk of sick leave for back pain (OR 0.96; CI95% 0.94−0.99; p < 0.001), whereas occupational stress was associated with an increased risk of sick leave (OR 6.73; CI95% 2.02−22.40; p < 0.002). Work organization is a strong predictor of occupational stress and of mental and physical health among hospital employees.

Hopelessness in Police Officers and Its Association with Depression and Burnout: A Pilot Study

Hopelessness is a particularly critical condition and a risk factor for suicide. Many studies have reported that this condition is common in some occupations and is associated with high stress that is not properly managed. This study examined the prevalence of hopeless status (HS) in a sample of police officers (POs) and the association of hopelessness with depression, burnout, and suicidality. In total, 127 out of 231 POs participated in the survey; they were assessed with the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Beck Depression Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. A total of 26.5% of POs reported hopelessness, and a significant association was found with depression and burnout; in individual cases, these conditions were associated with suicidal thoughts. In a multivariate logistic regression model adjusted for confounding variables, depression, emotional exhaustion, and reduction of personal accomplishment were significantly associated with HP status. Depression (OR = 3.02, 95% CI: 1–9.12) and emotional exhaustion (OR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.06–3.32) significantly increased the risk of hopelessness, while personal accomplishment (OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.32–1) was a protective factor. Hopelessness appears to be a very important factor to consider when assessing POs’ mental health.

Victims of Known and Unknown Cyberstalkers: A Questionnaire Survey in an Italian Sample

Cyberstalking is a behavior in which an individual, group, or organization uses information technology to harass one or more people, with possible consequences for the victims. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of cyberstalking in terms of physical and emotional consequences, depression, anxiety symptoms, attitudes toward telling of cyberstalking experiences, and coping strategies, comparing young adult victims of known cyberstalkers with those harassed by strangers. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 689 individuals. Of these, 242 victims were included in the analysis: 115 victims of unknown (UC) and 127 of known cyberstalkers (KC). The results emphasize that victims of KC more often reported fatigue as a physical symptom and sadness and lack of trust in others as emotional symptoms. In addition, scores for depressive symptoms and anxiety did not differ significantly between the two groups, whereas significantly higher scores for trait anxiety were found among victims of KC. Finally, victims of KC were significantly more inclined to use alcohol and drugs, reduce social contact with friends, buy a weapon, and try to reason with the cyberstalker, while victims of UC were more inclined to block online contact and ask a social network administrator to intervene. Implications of the findings were discussed, such as the need to intervene immediately and to promote victims’ ability to seek help.

Identifying Organizational Stressors That Could Be a Source of Discomfort in Police Officers: A Thematic Review

The aim of this paper is to highlight the organizational factors that might influence perceived discomfort in police officers. The studies included in the thematic review referred to specific factors, not the general terms “organizational stressors” or “workplace stressors”. It is important to emphasize this distinction because most studies use the general term “organizational stressor” (referring to context) to distinguish from “operational stressor” (referring to content, such as exposure to danger, threat, and trauma). For our purposes, we selected the studies that examined specific organizational factors. The results indicate that organizational social support, organizational culture, leadership, and bureaucracy are the organizational factors associated with police officers’ perceived discomfort. These organizational factors could have negative impacts on individuals, perceptions of stigma when contacting support services, anxiety and depressive symptoms, burnout, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts, among others.

Media Exposure to Climate Change, Anxiety, and Efficacy Beliefs in a Sample of Italian University Students

The climate crisis poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of individuals. For many, climate change knowledge is derived from indirect exposure to information transmitted through the media. Such content can elicit a variety of emotional responses, including anger, sadness, despair, fear, and guilt. Worry and anxiety are especially common responses, usually referred to as “climate anxiety”. The main objectives of this study were to analyze how exposure to climate change through the media relates to climate anxiety and individual and collective self-efficacy, and to evaluate the relationship between climate anxiety and efficacy beliefs. A total of 312 Italian university students (aged 18–26 years) participated in the research by filling out an anonymous questionnaire. Participants reported being exposed several times per week to information about climate change, especially from social media, newspapers, and television programs. Moreover, the results showed that the attention paid to information about climate change was not only positively related to climate anxiety, but also to individual and collective self-efficacy. Most notably, participants’ efficacy beliefs were found to be positively related to climate anxiety. This somewhat controversial finding stresses that, in the context of pro-environmental behavior changes, a moderate level of anxiety could engender feelings of virtue, encouraging people to rethink actions with negative ecological impacts.

When Love Just Ends: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Dysfunctional Behaviors, Attachment Styles, Gender, and Education Shortly After a Relationship Dissolution

Much information is known about the long-term consequences of separation and divorce, whereas there is a paucity of studies about the short-term consequences of such experiences. This study investigates the adoption of dysfunctional behaviors (e.g., insistent telephone calls and text messages, verbal threats, and sending unwanted objects) shortly after a relationship dissolution. A total of 136 participants who declared to have been left by their former partner in the previous 6 months were included in this study (i.e., females: n = 84; males: n = 52; mean age = 30.38; SD = 4.19). Attachment styles were evaluated as explanatory variables when facing a relationship dissolution, in connection with a set of (1) demographic variables (i.e., gender, education, and current marital/relationship status), (2) dysfunctional behaviors, and (3) motivations on the basis of those behaviors. Results showed that a secure or dismissing attachment style, a higher education, and currently married (but awaiting separation) status were the protective factors in adopting such dysfunctional behaviors, while the preoccupied and fearful-avoidant subjects, especially females, tended to adopt dysfunctional behaviors (i.e., communication attempts and defamation) and reported fear of abandonment and need for attention as underlying motivations. Future study on longitudinal aspects of the relationship dissolution processes is required to have deeper insights into this phenomenon. This study sheds light on the relationship between adult attachment styles and the motivations behind the adoption of dysfunctional behaviors after a relationship dissolution.

Anxiety and Depression in Women Newly Diagnosed with Breast Cancer and Waiting for Surgery: Prevalence and Associations with Socio-Demographic Variables

Background and Objectives: Cancer is a threatening-life disease with a significant psychological burden. The psychological morbidity varies according to the phases of the illness and is influenced by multiple socio-demographic factors, that are useful to consider in order to identify the categories of patients most at risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The present study analyzes, in a sample of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, the relationships between their levels of anxiety and depression and several socio-demographic characteristics. The study was cross-sectional. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and seventy eight women newly diagnosed with breast cancer completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale during the pre-surgical phase. Results: Findings show that almost 40% of the sample had clinically relevant anxious symptoms and about a quarter of the sample had significant depressive symptoms. Their prevalence was higher in widows. Moreover, depressive symptoms were higher in older women and anxious symptoms were higher in patients with a lower educational level. In the pre-surgical phase, women can suffer from clinically relevant anxiety and depression, especially the widows, older women, and women with a lower educational level. Conclusions: Identifying the most psychologically vulnerable patients, due to specific socio-demographic characteristics, is essential in order to provide adequate psycho-oncological treatments to the categories of patients, who are most at risk of developing psychopathological concerns.

Trauma and Coping Strategies in Police Officers: A Quantitative-Qualitative Pilot Study

Background. Because of their work, emergency workers, such as police officers (POs), are exposed to traumatic events on a daily basis. These experiences can have consequences in terms of physical and emotional stress. Primary attachment relationships affect the development of coping strategies for dealing with stressful events (primarily hyperactivating strategies in entangled adults and hypo-activating strategies in dismissing adults). In this study, we explored how POs describe the experience of traumatic accidents, the effects they reported and their coping strategies related to their attachment style. Methods. We used a quantitative-qualitative method. Thirty-nine POs were administered the Beck Depression Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a semi-structured interview about traumatic events and reactions. Interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results. Traumatic events at work predominantly concerned aggressions, witnessing deaths, forced hospitalizations, and domestic violence involving children. POs with a responsible role were more likely than POs to use security-based strategies. Most POs narrated overactivation and deactivation strategies, which were associated with depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. Conclusions. These results can be useful to improve trauma-informed interventions for POs based on their different attachment styles and coping strategies.

Data on work-related consequences of COVID-19 pandemic for employees across Europe

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the work of employees across all continents. This article presents raw data that may be used to describe how the pandemic affected the work of employees in four European countries and how it influenced their job attitudes, feelings and work performance. In total, 726 respondents from Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy filled out an extensive online survey and provided information about changes in their workload, work difficulty, income, social contact, work from home, task performance and organizational commitment during the pandemic, and about the risk of being infected by COVID-19 during their workday. The employees also reported their actual work performance, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, intention to leave and irritation in the time of the pandemic. To reveal factors that might help employees cope with pandemic, the respondents filled out established questionnaires measuring servant leadership of their supervisor, perceived organizational support, social support provided by colleagues, their own occupational self-efficacy, resilience, job crafting and readiness for change. The data is unique as it was collected in a specific situation during the pandemic, when the work of employees was affected by security measures and lockdown introduced by governments in countries where they worked.

Secondary Traumatic Stress in Italian Police Officers: The Role of Job Demands and Job Resources

Police officers are among the workers most exposed to acute or chronic stressful events, which compromises their psychosocial well-being and physical health. Exposure to traumatic events, human suffering, problematic situations and episodes of violence can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress. The aim of this research is to explore the effect of job demands and job resources on secondary traumatic stress in police officers. To better understand this phenomenon and its consequences in this population, police officers were compared with health care professionals working as first responders. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to 112 and 286 health care professionals. The findings showed that compared with health care workers, police officers suffer from secondary traumatic stress to a greater extent. Moreover, the results showed that some police officers suffered more than health care professionals regarding certain consequences of secondary traumatic stress, such as negative emotions and burnout. This study suggests implications and offers insights for both police officers and the organizations in which they work: police officer organizations should contribute to preventing the phenomenon of secondary traumatic stress by proposing programs that implement resilience training and adaptive coping strategies.

Characteristics of the stalking campaign: Consequences and coping strategies for men and women that report their victimization to police

The study analysed cases reported to police by men and women who were victims of stalking. The objective was to describe the characteristics of the stalking campaigns experienced by men and women, their consequences, and the coping strategies adopted by the victims, as they are recorded in police case files. All the information was collected in three cities in the Northwest of Italy. Analyses were performed on 271 files classified by police officers as cases of stalking, reported by men (87, 32.1%) and women (184, 67.9%). The study revealed that men tended to let the stalking campaign last for a longer time than women before turning to the police. Procrastination had some consequences, especially in the emotional sphere, that affected the victim’s wellbeing. Moreover, the coping strategies used by men victims were not effective and even risked to hamper the work of the police officers intervening and investigating on the case.

Gender differences in reporting workplace violence: a qualitative analysis of administrative records of violent episodes experienced by healthcare workers in a large public Italian hospital

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to analyse, from a descriptive and qualitative point of view, the episodes of violence reported by healthcare workers (HCWs) in a large public Italian hospital. Qualitative analysis permits us to collect the victims' words used to describe the event and the ways in which they dealt with it. A comparison between genders was performed to better understand what type of different strategies could be used to improve the prevention of workplace violence for HCWs.

DESIGN AND SETTING

The retrospective observational study was carried out in 'Città della Salute e della Scienza', a complex of four interconnected hospitals situated in Northern Italy. This study analysed aggression data from the 4-year period of 2015-2018 that included all HCW categories. The data were obtained from the aggression reporting form.

PARTICIPANTS

The analysed records were supplied by 396 HCWs (3.6% of all HCWs in the hospital).

RESULTS

Male HCWs aged <30 years did not report violent episodes that occurred in the workplace, while male HCWs with 6-15 years of work experience reported more violent episodes than their female counterparts. Among the HCW professions, nursing was the profession, in which HCWs were more prone to experience a violent episode, while male medical doctors were more prone to report violent episodes than female medical doctors. Moreover, female HCWs experienced more verbal violence (insults) than male HCWs did, while male HCWs experienced more physical violence (bodily contact) than female HCWs did.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings from this explorative study suggest that there is a gender difference in the characteristics of workplace violence perpetrated by patients, patients' relatives and visitors and in the way in which these episodes are described. Consequently, it is important for informative and preventive courses to consider gender differences in experiencing a violent episode.

Health Care Professionals' Knowledge of Stalking Perpetrators, Victims, Behaviors, and Coping Strategies: A Preliminary Study among Italian Hospitals

The aim of this study was to investigate health care professionals' level of in-depth understanding about the various types and characteristics of stalking. In particular, the study examines knowledge on the characteristics of stalkers and their victims, acted behaviors, and coping strategies used to stop the harassment. The data were collected by means of an ad hoc questionnaire. The sample comprised 210 participants working in local health units in Turin, a large city located in the northern part of Italy. The majority were women (160, 76.2%). The participants were aged 20-64 years, and the mean age was 41.63 years (SD = 11.18). The majority of participants were psychologists (99, 47.1%), 31 (14.8%) were nurses, 31 (14.8%) had an unspecified medical profession, 29 (13.8%) were psychiatrists, and 20 (9.5%) were general practitioners. According to the findings, interventions with male victims of stalking, especially when the stalker is a woman, require attention in particular. Underestimating the stalking experience is a risk, so health care professionals in their interventions must explain to the men the emotive and physical consequences of the victimization. Moreover, in suggesting coping strategies, health care professionals must consider the victim's fear of reporting the incident not only to law enforcement authorities but also to family and friends. The findings showed that health care professionals need a better understanding of the stalking phenomenon. Education courses are a valuable tool to identify characteristics of the phenomenon, validate existing knowledge, and decrease the level of missing information to develop the skills needed to take appropriate action in cases of stalking.

Pre-Service Teachers' Intervention in School Bullying Episodes with Special Education Needs Students: A Research in Italian and Greek Samples

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the level of self-confidence in dealing with problems at school, the attitude towards bullying situations and the recommended strategies to cope with bullying in two samples of pre-service teachers (PSTs). The PSTs were in training to become teachers with special education needs students (SEN) and came from two different countries (Italy and Greece). Methods: A questionnaire survey was made involving 110 Italian and 84 Greek PSTs. Results: The results about self-confidence showed that Greek PSTs had lower outcome expectations and a higher external locus of causality than Italian PSTs. Teachers' training programs and school preventive intervention were also discussed. Conclusions: Because the participants in this investigation will be teachers in the near future, they require specific training on bullying in general and in students with SEN in particular.

Physical Practice and Wellness Courses Reduce Distress and Improve Wellbeing in Police Officers

BACKGROUND

The aim of this work was to evaluate a course to reduce distress in an Italian police force. Based on the findings from the first investigations on this population, courses to improve the ability to manage distress were tailored by management. Several free courses were proposed, including physical efficiency (e.g., total body conditioning) and wellness (e.g., autogenic training) classes. The goal of this research was to evaluate the courses and their impact on the perceived distress and general health of the participants, as well as the effectiveness in increasing the use of adaptive coping strategies.

METHODS

A descriptive investigation was conducted involving a sample of 105 police officers before (time 1) and after (time 2) they had participated in the courses.

RESULTS

Findings confirmed both physical and wellness courses affected, in participants, the perceived distress, thereby increasing the perception of wellbeing. The participants expressed having mental health benefits, the use of adaptive coping strategies increased, while the maladaptive coping strategies decreased.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms that these courses could effectively reduce the risk of chronic disease, a consequence of persistent exposure to distress.

Psychological Impact of Stalking on Male and Female Health Care Professional Victims of Stalking and Domestic Violence

The aim of this work was to investigate stalking experiences in a sample of Health Care Professionals, or HCPs, who experienced domestic violence in their previous relationships with an intimate romantic or non-romantic who had become their stalkers. A comparison between males and females was made to highlight the differences among the genders. The findings showed that, for the most part, the victims experienced stalking by a stalker that was not of the same gender. Moreover, the nature of the relationship was romantic, for the most part, for both female and male subjects, suggesting that the principal motivation of stalking is the disruption of an intimate relationship. Regarding domestic violence, females described the phenomenon from a different perspective, indicating verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, while males indicated only verbal abuse. Females tended to amplify, more than the males, depression, and state and trait anxiety. Even if all symptoms were expressed in both females and males, the males exhibited a lack of confidence in their bodies, and the emotional literacy made the expression of distress more difficult. At the same time, the expression of anxiety presented in the women permitted them to become progressively less victimized over time; depression and anxiety allow the recognition of these symptoms as signs of distress and to intervene to reduce them.

Organizational and Occupational Stressors, Their Consequences and Coping Strategies: A Questionnaire Survey among Italian Patrol Police Officers

Background: Traditionally, workers employed in police forces have been found to be exposed to a high risk of distress. Several studies reported that the main stressors were associated more with organizational aspects, whilst other researchers underlined that the main stressor were associated more with operational issues. The aim of this research was to investigate operational and organizational stressors, their consequences also in terms of anxiety and the coping strategies adopted. Methods: We compared Patrol Police Officers working in the Operational Service (Outdoor Patrol Officers) and those in the Interior Department (Indoor Patrol Officers) in the same Municipal Police force. Results: The results revealed that both Outdoor Patrol Officers and Interior Patrol Officers suffered from organizational and occupational stressor. Outdoor Patrol Officers appeared more willing to use different coping strategies, whereas Indoor Patrol Officers used avoidance strategies. This allows Outdoor Patrol Officers to explore new responses and approaches to deal with situations which-owing to the type of work-it is impossible to change. Outdoor Patrol Officers appeared better equipped to change their attitude to work than Indoor Patrol Officers. Conclusion: Interventions on both organizational and operational stressors would improve the quality of Patrol Police Officers' working life and have positive repercussions on the service offered to the general public.

Stalking nella professione infermieristica: comportamenti, conseguenze, strategie di coping e differenze di genere

BACKGROUND

The literature analysis has shown the risk of victimization in nursing professions. To date, very few studies have focused on the behavioral differences characterizing the stalking campaign, the consequences (physical and emotive), and the coping strategies adopted by victims (male and female nurses).

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this work was to compare the victimization experience of men and women working as nurses in public hospitals.

METHODS

2.154 nurses were asked to fill a self-administered questionnaire and 765 (35.5%) filled it. Victims were 221 (29.8%), 172 (77.8%) female and 49 (22.2%) male.

RESULTS

Findings show that the stalker is generally a man in the case of a female victim (76.2%) and a woman in the case of a male victim (71.4%). For both, the stalker is in most cases an acquaintance (for female victims=37.8%; for male victims=36.7%) who stalked for about one year. Stalking behavior causes in male nurses more physical symptoms (sleep and weakness disorders, respectively χ2=4.62, p=.024 and χ2=4.14, p=.043) than in female nurses. Female nurses (who cope by increasing social contact with friends and relatives and by talking to a psychologist) experienced more sadness (χ2=15.67, p=.000) and paranoia (χ2=10.07, p=.002) than male nurses.

CONCLUSIONS

Possible strategies for preventing the phenomenon are discussed, highlighting the percentage (8.2% among female victims, 5.8% among male victims) of those who have reported to the police.

Mobbing (bullying at work) in Italy: characteristics of successful court cases

Background:

Mobbing (bullying at work) refers to a form of psychological harassment that occurs in the workplace, in which the victim must be systematically and continuously persecuted for a long period of time. The aim of this work is to analyze the court judgments related to mobbing.

Methods:

The data, collected from a website that included judgments from an Italian court, were analyzed according to the literature, identifying the type of victims, consequences, methods of harassment, type of mobbers, and compensation decided by the court.

Results:

A total of 35 court sentences were analyzed. The findings showed that the duration of the mobbing campaign was on average 1.5 years and that the frequency of harassment was every day in most cases. In the majority of cases (17, 48.6%) the mobbing occurred in a private company. The gender of the victims who reported the mobbing experience was predominantly female (19, 54.3%), and on average, the victims were 44.54 years of age. The victims were classified as captives (12, 34.3%), scapegoats (8, 22.9%), ambitious (8, 22.9%), passives (5, 14.3%) and hypochondriacs (2, 5.7%). The mobbers were predominantly men (25, 71.4%) and on average 53.20 years of age. They were classified as casual (12, 34.3%), sadists (11, 31.4%), instigators (8, 22.9%) and choleric (4, 11.4%). The witnesses were described in the majority of cases as active, while the asymmetry of power was vertical. On average, the victims suffered 4.9 types of harassment, and the most cited consequences were anxiety disorder and physical symptoms. The motives for beginning the mobbing campaign were principally related to difficulties in relationships. The compensation imposed by the court ranged from less than 20,000 to more than 70,000 euros.

Conclusions:

The sentences analyzed showed that for different types of victims, there are behaviors, motives and consequences that are linked to different types of perpetrators.

Health Care Professionals as Victims of Stalking: Characteristics of the Stalking Campaign, Consequences, and Motivation in Italy

Stalking is a phenomenon characterized by a set of repetitive behaviors, intrusive surveillance, control, communication, and search of contact with a victim who is afraid and/or worried and/or annoyed by such unwanted attention. Literature analysis shows that Health Care Professionals (HCPs) are at greater risk of being stalked than the general population. As described by Mullen, Pathé, Purcell, and Stuart, stalkers may have different motives: relational rejection, an infatuation, an inability to express their own emotions and recognize those of others, or a desire for revenge. The aim of this study was to explore stalkers' motivation as perceived by their victims, characteristics of stalking campaigns, and consequences. A copy of the Italian modified version of The Network for Surviving Stalking (NSS) Questionnaire on Stalking, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State Trait Inventory (STAI) Y1-Y2 scales were distributed in six Italian state hospitals. Participants included 1,842 HCPs, 256 (13.9%) of which had been victims. The majority of victims reported that stalkers were Rejected (96, 37.5%), Intimacy seekers (41, 16%), Incompetent suitors (60, 23.4%), and/or Resentful (43, 16.8%; χ² = 163.3, p = .001). Stalking campaigns were characterized by several behaviors, principally contact (by telephone calls, text message) and following. The stalking campaign caused in victims both physical and emotional consequences, the most frequent being weight changes, sleep disorders, weakness, apprehension, anger, and fear. The most used coping strategies were moving away and moving toward, the less used was moving inward. Intervention programs and preventive measures (both individual and organizational) for HCP victims and those who could be considered at risk are also discussed.

Italian nurses' experience of stalking: a questionnaire survey

A literature analysis shows that nurses are at greater risk of being stalked both by ex-partners and acquaintances (such as colleagues and patients) and by unknown stalkers. The aim of this study was to explore Italian nurses' experience of stalking. A copy of the Italian modified version of the Networking for Surviving Stalking (NSS) Questionnaire on Stalking, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and State Trait Inventory (STAI) Y1-Y2 scales were distributed to 2,000 nurses working in 4 Italian state hospitals. There were 765 nurses who returned the questionnaire (38.4%), 107 of whom had been victims (14.0%). On average, victims had been stalked for more than 12 months by an acquaintance (41.1%), whose behavior included unwanted communications, following, control, and threatening behavior. The coping strategies used most involved offensive and interactional tactics. Stalking has both emotional and physical consequences for victims, although depression levels were not as high as we expected (BDI M = 11.05, SD = 8.84; STAI Y1 M = 42.11, SD = 11.75; STAIY2 M = 44.04, SD = 12.90). The need to adopt legal, organizational, and individual strategies is also discussed.