Effectiveness of interventions for workplace bullying among nurses: A systematic review

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for workplace bullying among nurses. Methods: First, risk factors of workplace bullying were categorized in order to create analysis criteria. A search of 8 databases, and manual searching resulted in the identification of 3,096 relevant articles. Three of the authors did article selection, data extraction, and quality assessment using the Risk of Bias (RoB) and the Risk of Bias for Nonrandomized studies (ROBANS). Results: Interventions in workplace bullying were classified as individual, interactions, and organizational approach. Twelve intervention studies (10 individual interventions, 1 team approach, 1 multi-level approach) were selected. Four of the individual interventions decreased bullying, but three had no effect. One multi-level intervention reported that bullying did not occur. Individual interventions improved bullying awareness in four articles, decreased turnover intention in two articles, and increased skill and knowledge of bullying management in five articles. One team approach increased nurse interactions and group cohesion. The quality of selected articles was low overall. Conclusion: Individual interventions have a possibility to improve awareness and knowledge about bullying, but there is a lack of evidence on preventing bullying. Further research is required on multi-levels interventions with well-designed controlled trials.