WORKPLACE BULLYING IN NURSING: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to gain in-depth understanding on the effects of workplace bullying on nurses and effective ways of managing workplace bullying in the nursing environment. To attain the objective of this thesis, the deductive approach and content analysis approach have been used. Under the first objective of the study three themes emerged; physiological, physical and mental effects of nursing. Under the second objective, the study results achieved four categories of approaches to dealing with workplace bullying. All the themes that have been used in the study emerged from existing theoretical and literature works that have been explored in this thesis. Theoretical background to the thesis has been obtained from the literally works of people like Vartia-Vaananem (2012), Berlingeire (2015) and reports by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Works. The theory of human caring by Jean Watson has be utilized to develop a theoretical perspective for the study of workplace bullying. Findings from this study demonstrate that workplace bullying can lead to wide range of effects, mental, physical and physiological in nature. Equally, the findings show that measures to curb workplace bullying can be at various levels, right from the individual nurse to international entities.