Association between workplace bullying and burnout, professional quality of life, and turnover intention among clinical nurses

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 20;14(12):e0226506. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226506. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Workplace bullying experienced by clinical nurses is associated with burnout, a factor that threatens the quality of nursing care and patient safety. This study examined the association of workplace bullying with burnout, professional quality of life, and turnover intention among clinical nurses. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire. Data were collected from 324 nurses and were analyzed using t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple regression. Controlling for the general characteristics of the participants, workplace bullying had a significant association with emotional exhaustion (B = 0.29, p < 0.01) and depersonalization (B = 0.15, p < 0.01) among the subdomains of burnout, compassion fatigue among the components of professional quality of life (B = 0.15, p < 0.01), and turnover intention (B = 0.05, p < 0.01). Thus, preventing workplace bullying is important to reduce clinical nurses' burnout and turnover. The role of nursing leadership is crucial to develop interventions that reduce workplace bullying and successfully create a professional, nurturing, and supportive work culture.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bullying / psychology*
  • Burnout, Professional / epidemiology*
  • Burnout, Professional / psychology
  • Compassion Fatigue / epidemiology*
  • Compassion Fatigue / psychology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Male
  • Nursing Staff, Hospital / psychology*
  • Personnel Turnover / statistics & numerical data*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

HL received funding. This Research was supported by the Chung-Ang University Research Grants in 2018.