Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Workplace aggression against medical staff is widely recognized as a major threat to employees’ health and well-being, yet evidence regarding the long-term effects of nonphysical aggression, the most common form of aggression perpetrated by patients or visitors, is scarce. The present study aimed to test the longitudinal relationships between nonphysical aggression and employees’ burnout and turnover intention and examine the joint effect of social sharing and occupational coping self-efficacy (OCSE) in these relationships. A sample of 274 healthcare employees completed online self-reported questionnaires at two time points (T1 and T2), a year apart. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. Findings indicate that nonphysical aggression and OCSE, both measured at T1, were significant predictors of depersonalization at T2. OCSE moderated the relationship between nonphysical aggression and T2 emotional exhaustion. The results support the existence of a three-way interaction in the prediction of T2 depersonalization, such that nonphysical aggression was more strongly associated with depersonalization when social sharing was high and OCSE was low. The same interaction pattern, although failing to reach significance (0.07), was observed in predicting T2 turnover intention. The study’s findings suggest that nonphysical aggression should not be overlooked since it may have long-term negative effects on employees’ well-being. The results further indicate that individuals’ ability to benefit from social sharing may depend on OCSE levels; for individuals with a lower sense of confidence in their ability to handle work stressors, social sharing may be a counter-effective emotion-regulation strategy, leading to increased feelings of detachment and cynicism toward patients. The results of this study emphasize the need to develop intervention programs aimed at promoting employees’ self-efficacy.

Keywords

nonphysical aggression healthcare occupational coping self-efficacy social sharing longitudinal design

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1991). Multiple regressions: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.

Andrade

(2020). The limitations of online surveys. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 42(6), 575–576. https://doi.org/10.1177/0253717620957496

Bandura

(1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Prentice-Hall.

Bandura

(1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman and Company.

Baranik

L. E.

Wang

Gong

Shi

(2017). Customer mistreatment, employee health, and job performance: Cognitive rumination and social sharing as mediating mechanisms. Journal of Management, 43, 1261–1282. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314550995

Boafo

I. M.

Hancock

Gringart

(2016). Sources, incidence and effects of non-physical workplace violence against nurses in Ghana. Nursing Open, 3(2), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.1002//nop2.43/full

Cammann

Fichman

Jenkins

G. D.

Klesh

J. R.

(1983). The Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaires. In Seashore

S. E.

Lawler

E. E.

Mirvis

P. H.

Camman

(Eds.), Assessing organizational change: A guide to methods, measures, and practices (pp. 71–138). Wiley.

Chakraborty

Mashreky

S. R.

Dalal

(2022). Violence against physicians and nurses: A systematic literature review. Journal of Public Health, 30, 1837–1855. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-021-01689-6

Chang

Y. C.

Hsu

M. C.

Ouyang

W. C.

(2022). Effects of integrated workplace violence management intervention on occupational coping self-efficacy, goal commitment, attitudes, and confidence in emergency department nurses: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), Article 2835. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052835

10.

Consiglio

Borgogni

Di Tecco

Schaufeli

W. B.

(2016). What makes employees engaged with their work? The role of self-efficacy and employee’s perceptions of social context over time. Career Development International, 21(2), 125–143. https://doi.org/:10.1108/CDI-03-2015-0045

11.

Curci

Rimé

(2012). The temporal evolution of social sharing of emotions and its consequences on emotional recovery: A longitudinal study. Emotion, 12, 1404–1414. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028651

12.

Dall’Ora

Ball

Reinius

Griffiths

(2020). Burnout in nursing: A theoretical review. Human Resources for Health, 18, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-00469-9

13.

Dawson

J. F.

Richter

A. W.

(2006). Probing three-way interactions in moderated multiple regression: Development and application of a slope difference test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 917–926. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.4.917

14.

Dehghan-Chaloshtari

Ghodousi

(2020). Factors and characteristics of workplace violence against nurses: A study in Iran. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(1–2), 496–509. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516683175

15.

Delroisse

Rimé

Stinglhamber

(2023). Quality of social sharing of emotions alleviates job burnout: The role of meaning of work. Journal of Health Psychology, 28(1), 61–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053221091039

16.

Dopelt

Davidovitch

Stupak

Ayun

R. B.

Eltsufin

A. L.

Levy

(2022). Workplace violence against hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel: Implications for public health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), Article 4659. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084659

17.

Duprez

Christophe

Rimé

Congard

Antoine

(2015). Motives for the social sharing of an emotional experience. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32(6), 757–787. http://doi.org/10.1177/0265407514548393

18.

Ellis

Ganzach

Castle

Sekely

(2010). The effect of filmed versus personal after-event reviews on task performance: The mediating and moderating role of self-efficacy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 122–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017867

19.

Goussinsky

(2020). The moderating role of rumination and social sharing in the relationship between mistreatment and service sabotage and depersonalization: A cross-sectional study of hospital nurses. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 110, Article 103705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103705

20.

Grandey

Foo

S. C.

Groth

Goodwin

R. E.

(2012). Free to be you and me: A climate of authenticity alleviates burnout from emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025102

21.

Gross

J. J.

(2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0048577201393198

22.

Hobfoll

S. E.

Halbesleben

Neveu

J. P.

Westman

(2018). Conservation of resources in the organizational context: The reality of resources and their consequences. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 103–128. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104640

23.

IBM. (2021). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0. IBM Corp.

24.

Jakobsen

J. C.

Gluud

Wetterslev

Winkel

(2017). When and how should multiple imputation be used for handling missing data in randomised clinical trials: A practical guide with flowcharts. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 17, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-017-0442-1

25.

Kelly

E. L.

Fenwick

K. M.

Brekke

J. S.

Novaco

R. W.

(2017). Sources of social support after patient assault as related to staff well-being. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2(1), 54–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517738779

26.

Lamothe

Boyer

Guay

(2021). A longitudinal analysis of psychological distress among healthcare workers following patient violence. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 53(1), 48–58. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000187

27.

Liu

Gan

Jiang

Dwyer

Yan

Sampson

Wang

Zhu

Chang

Yang

Chen

Song

(2019). Prevalence of workplace violence against healthcare workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 76(12), 927–937. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2019-105849

28.

Maslach

Jackson

S. E.

(1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2(2), 99–113. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030020205

29.

Maslach

Leiter

M. P.

(2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311

30.

Maslach

Schaufeli

W. B.

Leiter

M. P.

(2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397–422. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397

31.

McCance

A. S.

Nye

C. D.

Wang

Jones

K. S.

Chiu

(2013). Alleviating the burden of emotional labor: The role of social sharing. Journal of Management, 39(2), 392–415. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310383909

32.

Pauw

L. S.

(2023). Support provision in a digitalized world: The consequences of social sharing across different communication channels. Current Opinion in Psychology, 52, Article 101597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101597

33.

Pauw

L. S.

Medland

Paling

S. J.

Moeck

E. K.

Greenaway

K. H.

Kalokerinos

E. K.

Hinton

J. D. X.

Hollenstein

Koval

(2022). Social support predicts differential use, but not differential effectiveness, of expressive suppression and social sharing in daily life. Affective Science, 3, 641–652. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00123-8

34.

Pauw

L. S.

Sauter

D. A.

van Kleef

G. A.

Sels

Fischer

A. H.

(2024). The dynamics of interpersonal emotion regulation: How sharers elicit desired (but not necessarily helpful) support. Emotion. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001382

35.

Pina

Llor-Zaragoza

López-López

Ruiz-Hernández

J. A.

Puente-López

Galián-Munoz

Martínez-Jarreta

(2022). Assessment of non-physical user violence and burnout in primary health care professionals: The modulating role of job satisfaction. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, Article 777412. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.777412

36.

Pisanti

Lombardo

Lucidi

Lazzari

Bertini

(2008). Development and validation of a brief Occupational OCSE Questionnaire for nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(2), 238–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04582.x

37.

Price

Baker

Bee

Lovell

(2015). Learning and performance outcomes of mental health staff training in de-escalation techniques for the management of violence and aggression. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 206, 447–455. http://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.114.144576

38.

Rimé

(2009). Emotion elicits the social sharing of emotion: Theory and empirical review. Emotion Review, 1(1), 60–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073908097189

39.

Rimé

Bouchat

Paquot

Giglio

(2020). Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social outcomes of the social sharing of emotion. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.024

40.

Schwarzer

Knoll

(2007). Functional roles of social support within the stress and coping process: A theoretical and empirical overview. International Journal of Psychology, 42(4), 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590701396641

41.

Siemsen

Roth

Oliveira

(2010). Common method bias in regression models with linear, quadratic, and Interaction Effects. Organizational Research Methods, 13, 456–476. http://doi.org/10.1177/1094428109351241

42.

Sommovigo

Bernuzzi

Setti

(2022). Investigating the association between patient verbal aggression and emotional exhaustion among Italian health care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Nursing Management, 30(6), 1713–1723. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13578

43.

Spencer

Sitarz

Fouse

DeSanto

(2023). Nurses’ rationale for underreporting of patient and visitor perpetrated workplace violence: A systematic review. BMC Nursing, 22, Article 134. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-023-01226-8

44.

Stajkovic

A. D.

Luthans

(1998). Social cognitive theory and self-efficacy: Going beyond traditional motivational and behavioral approaches. Organizational Dynamics, 26(4), 62–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0090-2616(98)90006-7

45.

Suñer-Soler

Grau-Martín

Flichtentrei

Prats

Braga

Font-Mayolas

Gras

M. E.

(2014). The consequences of burnout syndrome among healthcare professionals in Spain and Spanish speaking Latin American countries. Burnout Research, 1(2), 82–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burn.2014.07.004

46.

Tanna

V. J.

MacCann

(2023). I know you so I will regulate you: Closeness but not target's emotion type affects all stages of extrinsic emotion regulation. Emotion, 23(5), 1501–1505. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001073

47.

Tremmel

Sonnentag

(2018). A sorrow halved? A daily diary study on talking about experienced workplace incivility and next-morning negative affect. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(4), 568–583. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000100

48.

Yan

Chen

Xiao

Wang

Song

(2024). Patient mistreatment, social sharing of negative events and emotional exhaustion among Chinese nurses: The combined moderating effect of organizational support and trait resilience. BMC Nursing, 23(1), Article 260. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-01924-x

49.

Yang

Kelly

(2016). The positive outcomes of “socially sharing negative emotions” in workteams: A conceptual exploration. European Management Journal, 34(2), 172–181. https://doi.org./10.1016/j.emj.2015.10.005

The Role of Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy in Determining the Effectiveness of Social Sharing Following Patient Aggression: A Longitudinal Study Among Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References