Abstract

PETRONE, Patrizio. Mobbing - Moral Harassment: Prospective Study in Public Hospitals of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rev. argent. cir. [online]. 2018, vol.110, n.2, pp.96-100. ISSN 2250-639X.

Background: mobbing is defined as harassment, offense, social exclusion of someone and negative interference in their work tasks by one or more individuals from the same work environment. Objective: to identify the risk factors, origin and analysis of the incidence of mobbing, as well as its relationship with psychosocial risk factors and their involvement in health workers. Material and methods: prospective, observational, descriptive study with natural and field participant. Anonymous surveys were used for health personnel included in Laws No. 10471 and No. 10430 from public hospitals in the province of Buenos Aires, during a 12-month period. Results: a total of 147 participants were included, 101 (68.7%) were female, 42 (28.5%) were male, and 4 (2.8%) did not answer. The largest group corresponded to the age group 41-50 years (n= 51; 36%). The age of labor presented a bimodal distribution of groups 1-5 years (27.25%) and 16-20 years (24%). The number that was considered harassed was 86 agents (58.5% of the sample). There was greater preponderance of superiors as the main stalkers with 52.4% (n= 77). Conclusions: the incidence found is greater than that reported in the literature when comparing a single labor sector with the total of the active population (58.5% vs. 11.4%). Sociodemographic variables such as gender, national origin, marital status, level of studies completed and type of recruitment, were not associated with a higher incidence of mobbing, as were age and seniority in a direct proportion, confirming moral harassment as a chronic stressor at work. The reasons for leave of absence of a psychological nature (depression and crisis of anxiety) produced by mobbing, not only affects the psychosomatic symptoms evaluated, but also increase work leaves of absence, affecting the productivity of the hospital.

Keywords : Moral harassment; Work; Mobbing; Public health.