ORIGINAL PAPER
Workplace bullying and mental health among teachers in relation
to psychosocial job characteristics
and burnout
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1
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
(Department of Population Studies, Institute of Cardiology)
2
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
(Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine)
3
Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania
(Department of Health, Physical and Social Education)
Online publication date: 2017-04-20
Corresponding author
Lina Bernotaite
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Department of Population Studies, Institute of Cardiology, Sukileliu av. 15,
Kaunas LT-50161, Lithuania
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2017;30(4):629-40
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: The objective of the study has been to assess the associations between psychological distress and exposure
to workplace bullying, taking into account possible influence of adverse psychosocial job characteristics and occupational
burnout in a sample of Kaunas (Lithuania) teachers. Material and Methods: The study sample included 517 teachers
from 13 secondary schools and was conducted in 2014. The participants filled in the anonymous questionnaire (response
rate 71.3%). Twenty-two-item Negative Acts Questionnaire (H. Hoel and S. Einarsen) was used for measuring the exposure
to workplace bullying, Goldberg 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) – psychological distress, Maslach
Burnout Inventory (MBI) – occupational burnout, Karasek Demand-Control questionnaire – psychosocial job stressors.
The IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.0 was used for performing the statistical analysis. Associations between psychological
distress, exposure to workplace bullying, psychosocial job characteristics and occupational burnout were analyzed in the logistic
regression and expressed in terms of odds ratios (OR). Statistical significance was determined using the 95% confidence
interval (CI) level. Results: Workplace bullying was prevalent among Kaunas teachers (occasional – 8.3%, severe
– 2.9%). Twenty-five percent of teachers suffered from psychological distress. High emotional exhaustion was found
in 25.6% of them, high depersonalization in 10.6% and low personal achievement in 33.7% of cases. Almost a half of
respondents (47.4%) reported job strain and 59.6% – low social support at work. Occasional and severe bullying was associated
with psychological distress after adjusting to job strain, social support and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization,
personal accomplishment (adjusted OR was 3.27, 95% CI: 1.56–6.84 for occasional and 4.98, 95% CI: 1.27–19.62 for severe
bullying). Conclusions: Occasional and severe bullying were strong predictors for psychological distress. Burnout did not
mediate those associations. The effect of job strain and low social support decreased to the insignificant level in the final
model. Preventive measures are necessary to improve psychosocial working conditions in secondary education institutions.
Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(4):629–640