Mobbing in the Case of Primary Health Care Providers

Objectives: Primary healthcare workers are the main drivers of the population-oriented health education programs. In this work, we aim to offer an account of the conditions that lead to mobbing in Primary Health Care Employees, and of the ways to address this problem and its consequences. Methods: This study has been conducted on the medical staff in primary health care units in the province of Antalya, with the permission of the Provincial Health Directorate and the approval of the ethics board of the Antalya Education and Research Hospital. It was planned as a cross-sectional study; survey forms were filled out by 752 employees during an internal training for primary health care in 2017. After informing the subjects regarding the aims of the study, we gave them a survey of 21 questions. The average time for the individuals to answer the questions was 30 minutes. The survey was designed to ask the individuals their age, gender, educational background and occupation, whether they know of any case of mobbing, whether they were subjected to mobbing themselves and for how long, the position and the gender of the perpetrator, and whether and how they addressed the issue. The answers of the participants were analyzed with descriptive statistical analysis, the frequencies were determined and chi-square test was used. Results: 72.2% (543) of the participants declare that they heard the words "mobbing" or "psychological harassment" before. In our study, the rate of exposure to mobbing was found to be 30.4% among primary care providers. We have found that mobbing exposure was significantly higher among females and midwives and nurses. Our study reveals that in every occupational group perpetrators are mostly in management positions; that 36-45 age group was the most victimized group by both genders; that the most common method in order to handle mobbing is the loss of communication which is a new problem between the perpetrator and the victim and that the most common response to mobbing is to share it with friends; and our study finds that the period of mobbing in the midwife-nurse group is mostly 19 months and more, while this period takes to 9-12 months in the case of doctors. Discussion: One of the most important steps in preventing mobbing is to take timely measures in organizations and to prevent the problem from harming the organization and employees. Educating employees about emotional assault within their working environment is proposed as an important solution for them to protect themselves when they are subjected to harassment.