Bullying & Incivility in Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Overview
Modules 1 – 3

Module 1: Bullying & Incivility in the Rehabilitation Workplace

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Here we will be exploring the PREVELANCE and EFFECTS of workplace incivility and bullying in the healthcare workplace setting.

Let’s start with some definitions…

  • The persistent exposure to interpersonal aggression and mistreatment from colleagues, superiors or subordinates (Einarsen, Hoel, & Notelaers, 2009).

  • Low intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms for mutual respect (Petitta & Jiang, 2019).

This video from ReachOut Australia shows some behaviors that are considered bullying in the workplace…

Prevalence of Bullying

Workplace Incivility has been documented throughout many fields of healthcare:

  • Several studies that indicated a moderate to high prevalence of workplace incivility.

    (Alshehry et al., 2019; Elmbald, Kodjebacheva, & Lebeck, 2014; McPherson & Bruxton, 2019)

  • Studies indicate that 63% of respondents experience bullying in the workplace.

    (Trad & Johnson, 2014)

  • Studies indicate that 25% of participants encountered bullying in the workplace.

    (Stubbs & Soundy, 2013)

  • Within this profession, 47.4% of respondents indicated that they experienced bullying from coworkers or supervisors at least once a week.

    (Cash, White-Mills, Crowe, Rivard, & Panchal, 2019)

  • 50% of medical students reported to have experienced verbal abuse

Literature indicates that over 60% of employees are likely to experience bullying in the workplace

(Trad & Johnson, 2014).

Prevalence of bullying and incivility across healthcare settings ranges from 17% to 85%

(Meires, 2018).

Effects of Bullying 

Short Term Effects:

  • Feelings of dread upon returning to work the next day after experiencing bullying

  • Decrease in desire to engage with activities outside of work

(Cash et al., 2019)

*These can lead to larger mental health concerns and long term negative impacts on well-being*

Long Term Effects:

  • Decreased job satisfaction

  • Compromised quality of life and well-being

  • Feelings of dread and degradation

  • Physical and mental health issues

    • emotional distress

    • depression

    • fatigue

    • gastrointestinal complications

(Cash et al., 2019; Trad & Johnson, 2014)

(Elmblad et al., 2014; Eun Jung Lee, Mi-Hae Sung, Hye-Kyong Ahn, & Yun Ah Kim, 2019; McPherson & Buxton, 2019)

(Alshehry et al., 2019; Johnson & Trad, 2014; MacPherson& Buxton, 2019)

Effects may escalate to the point of professional burnout

(McPherson & Buxton, 2019)

Academics

  • Literature reveals little to no evidence addressing the incidence of bullying and incivility during occupational therapy fieldwork.

  • The mentorship in occupational therapy between the FWE and occupational therapy student has been cited as the principal influence on the student learning process (Grenier, M.L., 2015).

A recent study was done to determine the prevalence and types of bullying in OT fieldwork. However, this is a stand-alone study it is important to conduct further research to understand what constitutes bullying and incivility in OT fieldwork and how we can avoid such occurrences.

Knowledge Check

Instructions: Please answer the following questions to review the information discussed in the first module. Click “Submit” when finished.