Moral harassment in the workplace: assistance nurses’ speech

Objective: to investigate the nurses’ comprehension about the practice of moral harassment in the workplace. Method: this is an exploratory research of qualitative nature conducted in a public hospital of the city of João Pessoa/PB/Brazil. Participated in the investigation twenty assistance nurses. Data were collected in the period of September to October 2011, utilizing a form and analyzed by the Technique of the Analysis of Collective Subject Discourse. The research project was approved by the Ethic Committee in Research Hospital Universitário Lauro Wanderley, CAEE 0048.0.462.126-11. Results: this study has showed three central ideas: conduct that exposes the worker to embarrassment and humiliation, attempting against the dignity of the worker, abuse of power. Conclusions: the study evidenced that although nurses have understanding of moral harassment, they didn’t mention that the practice of this phenomenon occurs in a repetitive and prolonged way, which indicates the need of a better comprehension of these professionals on the subject. Descriptors: Social Behavior; Moral Harassment; Nursing. RESUMO Objetivo: investigar sobre a compreensão de enfermeiros sobre a prática do assédio moral no ambiente de trabalho. Método: pesquisa exploratória, de natureza qualitativa, realizada em um hospital-escola público federal da cidade de João Pessoa/PB/ Brasil. Participaram 20 vinte enfermeiros assistenciais. Os dados foram coletados no período de setembro e outubro de 2011, utilizando-se um formulário e analisados mediante a Técnica de Análise do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo. O projeto de pesquisa foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do Hospital Universitário Lauro Wanderley, CAEE 0048.0.462.126-11. Resultados: evidenciaramse três Ideias Centrais: conduta que exponha o trabalhador a constrangimento e humilhação, atentado contra a dignidade do trabalhador, abuso de poder. Conclusão: embora os enfermeiros tenham compreensão acerca do assédio moral, eles não mencionaram nos relatos que a prática desse fenômeno ocorre de forma repetitiva e prolongada, o que vislumbra a necessidade de melhor compreensão desses profissionais sobre a temática. Descritores: Comportamento Social; Bullying; Enfermagem. RESUMEN Objetivo: investigar la comprensión de enfermeros sobre la práctica del acoso moral en el ambiente laboral. Método: se trata de una investigación exploratoria de naturaleza cualitativa realizada en un Hospital Público de la ciudad de João Pessoa/PB/Brasil. Participaron de la investigación veinte enfermeros asistenciales. Los datos recolectados en el período de septiembre y octubre de 2011, se utilizó un formulario y analizados por medio de la Técnica de Análisis del Discurso del Sujeto Colectivo. El proyecto de investigación fue aprobado por la Comisión de Ética en Investigación del Hospital Universitário Lauro Wanderley, CAEE 0048.0.462.126-11. Resultados: este estudio mostró tres Ideas Centrales: conducta que exponga el trabajador a la vergüenza y humillación, atentado contra la dignidad del trabajador, abuso de poder. Conclusión: el estudio hizo evidente que aunque los enfermeros tengan compresión del acoso moral, ellos no comentan que la práctica de este fenómeno ocurra de forma respetiva y continuada, lo que demuestra la necesidad de una mejor comprensión de estos profesionales sobre la temática. Descriptores: Comportamiento Social; Bullyng; Enfermería. Nurse graduated from Universidade Federal da Paraíba/UFPB. Specialist in Occupational Health Nursing. Researcher of the Center for Studies and Research in Bioethics UFPB. João Pessoa (PB), Brazil. E-mail: hemmilynobrega@hotmail.com; Nurse. Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Higher Education of Paraiba. Master of Nursing, Federal University of Paraíba/UFPB. Lecturer, Federal University of Paraíba / UFPB. Researcher of the Center for Studies and Research in Bioethics UFPB. João Pessoa (PB), Brazil. E-mail: leilafonsecarr@hotmail.com; Nurse. Ph.D in Nursing from the School of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto. Lecturer, Federal University of Paraíba/UFPB. Coordinator of the Center for Studies and Research in Bioethics UFPB. João Pessoa (PB), Brazil. E-mail: solangefgc@gmail.com; Nurse. Ph.D in Education from the Federal University of Paraíba/UFPB. Lecturer, Federal University of Paraíba / UFPB. Researcher at the Center for Studies and Research in Bioethics UFPB. João Pessoa (PB), Brazil. E-mail: patriciaserpa@oi.com.br; Nurse. Master's Program Graduate Nursing, Federal University of Paraíba/UFPB. Researcher of the Center for Studies and Research in Bioethics UFPB. João Pessoa (PB), Brazil. E-mail: anazaccara@hotmail.com; Nurse. Master of Science in Nutrition, Federal University of Paraíba/UFPB. Professor of Graduate Nursing UFPB. João Pessoa (PB), Brazil. E-mail: alvarengajose@yahoo.com.br ORIGINAL ARTICLE Ventura HN, Fonsêca LCT da, Costa SFG da et al. Moral harassment in the workplace: assistance... English/Portuguese J Nurs UFPE on line. 2012 Nov;6(11):2672-8 2673 DOI: 10.5205/reuol.2185-16342-1-LE.0611201208 ISSN: 1981-8963 Bullying is a problem socially constituted through history. 1 It started in Brazil in the colonial era, with emphasis on the lines of slavery regime, when the reporting relationships between Indians, blacks, and settlers reached its culmination.2 Currently, the phenomenon covers all classes and professions. Also known as moral violence at work is defined as exposure of the worker during the performance of their professional activities, situations involving, repeatedly and for prolonged periods, humiliation, embarrassment and discrimination. This practice can result in physiological disorders and psychological victims, withdrawal, isolation and embarrassment of a person so evil and abuse of power, leading to lose selfesteem assaulted and possibly suicide. All this points to a public health problem.3 The moral violence in health care represents a multidimensional psychosocial syndrome that causes the professionals, regardless of rank, illness, impairment of their mental health and often their performance at work. Although the phenomenon is to meet all the categories, it is emphasized that nurses are professionals who have a higher risk to suffer violent acts, especially those working in the hospital, especially the emergency departments and psychiatry. Are exposed to several factors that will inevitably involve the improper performance of their work, putting at risk the quality of care provided to clients at the expense of interpersonal relationships. Also involve problems of mental and physical health. The excessive workload, the hospital sector in which they fall, the stress that comes from a number of functions assumed, and still fragile interpersonal relationships, these are all factors that lead to the practice of bullying. 3 It is noteworthy that many of these professionals are unaware of the subject, which makes them unable to distinguish the defining characteristics of this humiliating practice or associate to symptoms to psychological suffering in everyday work. In the case of current issues of great importance in many areas of knowledge, particularly for nursing, the interest in developing this study is justified by the need for further research in the area, in view of the scarcity of studies about the phenomenon harassment moral. Given this reality, as researchers at the Center for Studies and Research in Bioethics, we are interested in developing this study that involves the practice of bullying in nursing. With the following objectives: ● To investigate the understanding of nurses about bullying in the workplace. ● To identify what measures recommended by the study participants to curb the practice of bullying in the workplace. This exploratory, qualitative approach. The scene investigation was a federal public hospital in the city of João Pessoa (PB) whose period of data collection occurred in September and October 2011. The study sample consisted of 20 professional nurses in that hospital, given to the following criteria: be in daytime at the time of data collection have at least one year of hospital work and agreeing to participate in research from the signature on the expiry of consent. To facilitate the collection of empirical data, we used a form with questions about the nurses' understanding about bullying. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively by a combination of discourse analysis of the collective subject. 8 This is a technique for organizing data that enables rescue the discursive understanding of a phenomenon in a given universe. The empirical analysis involved the following steps: 1st step selection of the key expressions of each individual speech, obtained for each question proposed for the study. 2st step-identifying the main idea of each of these key expressions, forming the synthesis of the content of these expressions. 3st step-grouping of central ideas similar or complementary. 4st step-construction of speech-synthesis, or the collective subject discourse, through the grouping of similar central ideas. Because it is a research involving human subjects, we followed the ethical observances contemplated in Resolution 196/96, in force in the country, the Ministry of Health, particularly with regard to the consent of the participant study.9 Researchers have also considered ethical observances covered by the Code of Ethics of Professional Nursing Resolution no. 311/2007, Chapter III. This addresses the responsibilities, duties and prohibitions concerning the teaching, research and scientific production. The survey was submitted to the Ethics Committee in Research of Hospital Universitário Lauro Wanderley (HULW) and approved under No. 414/2011, CAEE 0048.0.462.126-1. METHOD INTRODUCTION Ventura HN, Fonsêca LCT da, Costa SFG da et al. Moral harassment in the workplace: assistance... English/Portuguese J Nurs UFPE on line. 2012 Nov;6(11):2672-8 2674 DOI: 10.5205/reuol.2185-16342-1-LE.0611201208 ISSN: 1981-8963 To