Coping with Workplace Bullying: Strategies Employed by Nurses in the Healthcare Setting

Purpose. As regards nursing professionals, workplace bullying is characterized by a set of repeated and banalized negative behaviors carried out by the aggressors that have more power than victims. Such behaviors adversely affect both the victims and the healthcare institutions where the events occur. Upon repeated exposure to workplace bullying, the victims use coping strategies to modify their work environment and adapt to the aggressor, as they try to reduce the discomfort caused by the bullying behavior. The present work aims to describe the psychometric characteristics of the NAQ-R (Negative Act Questionnaire-Revised) and COPE (COPE Inventory) assessment instruments. In addition, it aims to assess the coping strategies employed by nurses who were victims of workplace bullying. Methods. This study is quantitative, descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional in nature. Data were collected through a digital survey which consisted of sociodemographic and professional components. The NAQ-R and COPE scales were used to evaluate these components. The study included a total of 2015 Portuguese nurses in the sample. Results. Talking to coworkers and confronting the aggressors were the main strategies adopted by nurses who experienced bullying behaviors at work. Also, based on the first and third evaluation criteria, nurses who faced workplace bullying presented a higher average value of “support seeking” and “substance use” and resorted more to “evasion” when compared to those who had not been bullied. Based on the second assessment criterion, nurses who endured workplace bullying resorted more to “evasion” and “substance use” and exhibited less “acceptance.” Conclusions. When confronted with workplace bullying, nurses predominantly chose negative coping strategies and, in their majority, nurses had not received training on that topic. In this regard, nurses’ training is considered important, so as to encourage the use of positive coping strategies that minimize the negative effects of the phenomenon.