Workplace Bullying Among Nurses: Developing a Model for Intervention

Workplace bullying is endemic to the nursing profession and it threatens nurses' health and ability to work safely. However, effective interventions to prevent workplace bullying are lacking. A sample of hospital nurses (n = 15) explored experiences of bullying and ideas for intervention via four focus groups in 2016. Four main themes emerged from the qualitative content analysis: (a) characteristics that define bullying behavior; (b) facilitators of bullying; (c) consequences of bullying; and (d) possible interventions. Although personal characteristics played a role, bullying was primarily facilitated by workplace and organizational factors that hindered the establishment of collegiality and team trust among nurses. Findings have informed a conceptual model for prevention of nurse-to-nurse bullying with ethical leadership and communication, trust, and social cohesion in work teams as key elements.