Judith MacIntosh

EXPERIENCES OF WORKPLACE BULLYING IN A RURAL AREA

Employed people spend most of their waking hours in workplaces, but sometimes workplaces are made unbearable by bullying. This study examined how 21 people experienced workplace bullying in a rural and small city context and explored strategies for stopping workplace abuse. The research method of the learning circle was used because of its potential to reduce the isolation typically experienced by targets of workplace bullying, and its potential for peer dialogue and learning. This paper focuses on signs and experiences of workplace bullying, a phenomenon which produces both physical and emotional symptoms and often requires counseling.

Workplace Bullying in Health Care Affects the Meaning of Work

Our purpose in this grounded theory study was to explore the impact of workplace bullying (WPB) on women working in health care. We analyzed interviews with 21 women, professionals and nonprofessionals. The women experienced a change in their meaning of work (MOW) when they had experienced WPB, and they addressed this change through a process we called the shifting meaning of work. This process has three stages. The first, developing insight, involves recognizing causes of changed MOW as external. In the second stage, resisting, women defend against changed MOW by sustaining acceptable MOW and work performances, and by confronting causes. In the final stage, rebuilding, women try to adapt and modify approaches to work by coming to terms, adjusting work attitudes, and investing in self. We identified implications of this process for managing health and work issues with women, health care providers, and employers.

A Theoretical Understanding of Sickness Absence Among Women Who Have Experienced Workplace Bullying

Historically, we have assumed that workplaces, where employed individuals spend approximately one third of their days, provide safe and supportive environments and opportunities to enhance women’s capacities. Unfortunately, workplace bullying and consequent sickness absence are prevalent and costly realities that significantly influence women’s health. In this study, sickness absence among 18 Canadian women who were targets of workplace bullying was explored using a grounded theory secondary analysis. Findings show that although sickness absence is critical in attenuating the health consequences of being bullied, it is a partial solution because rehabilitation and successful return to work is challenged when working conditions remain unchanged. This problem is addressed using is a three-stage process of discerning a path that involves gaining space, making sense, and moving forward. Organizational support is critical to all stages of the process; it can reduce the risk of declines in health and sickness absence, and is essential for successful return to work.

Research with homeless people uncovers a model of health.

This grounded theory research study explored health experiences of 11 homeless persons in shelters in three New Brunswick cities and the strategies that they used to attain, maintain, or regain health. Audiotaped interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed. The model that emerged from analysis consists of three pathways to health. This model of health has two central components, person and health. Person is influenced directly by family values and beliefs, and directly and indirectly by societal values and beliefs. Health is the outcome and is reached through two mediating factors of lifestyle behaviors and sector services. The first pathway to health contains the mediating factor of lifestyle behaviors, the second contains the mediating factor of sector services, and the third contains both mediating factors. Pathway strategies of choosing, accessing, and appraising appropriateness of methods influence the active participation of the person that directs the action within the model. Implications of the study include that a fragmented system of help hinders access to services intended to promote health in this population.

Development of a program logic model to measure the processes and outcomes of a nurse-managed community health clinic

Evaluation is an essential process that permits assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of planned programs. In implementing a new nurse-managed Community Health Clinic targeting services for the homeless and underserved, the stakeholders considered an evaluation process integral to the planning stage of the clinic as a whole as well as of all the different programs being offered. The program logic model was chosen and modified to guide evaluation. Work to develop the evaluation model and its components began before the clinic opened. This article describes the development of the modified program logic model, how it was modified, and the rationale for its modifications. We highlight the process of developing the evaluation model because we found limited descriptions of the process in the literature. The evaluation process itself will be evaluated on an ongoing basis to determine if it is capturing the evaluation needs of the clinic project accurately.

How workplace bullying changes how women promote their health

Purpose – Workplace bullying is a prevalent and costly form of abuse influencing womens health. The purpose of this study is to expand knowledge of how women care for their health after experiencing workplace bullying and to explore variation in that process.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative feminist grounded theory method was used to study a community sample of 40 adult women across three Canadian provinces.Findings – Experiencing workplace bullying causes a disruption in womens health and this was identified as the central problem for women in this study. Women address health disruption using a three‐stage process the authors named “managing disruption” that involves protecting, mobilizing, and rebuilding. Womens efforts to care for health which they define broadly as including control over their lives are influenced by formal and informal support and by personal factors such as past experiences, perception of employability, values and beliefs, and relationship patterns.Research limitations...

Effects of Workplace Bullying on How Women Work

Work is central to well-being but working is problematic when people experience workplace bullying, which includes psychological, physical, and sexual abuse or harassment. The purpose of the present grounded theory study was to extend current understanding, from the perspective of women, of how workplace bullying affects their work and how they engage in the workforce. The study was conducted in eastern Canada with 36 English-speaking women who had been bullied in the workplace. They reported mainly psychological bullying. The central problem for women is they cannot continue working as they had before the workplace bullying. The authors named a four-stage process of how women address this problem as “Doing Work Differently.” The four stages are Being Conciliatory, Reconsidering, Reducing Interference, and Redeveloping Balance. The process is influenced by women’s support systems, the effects on their health, and financial circumstances. There are implications for public education, workplace policies, and health care workers.

Workplace Bullying Influences Women's Engagement in the Workforce

Workplace bullying creates hostile work environments, affects mental and physical health, and has social, economic, and career implications. Over 70% of targets of workplace bullying become unemployed either by losing their jobs or by leaving voluntarily. In a grounded theory study, we explored how experiencing workplace bullying and its health consequences affected 40 Canadian women. Further, I examined whether women stayed at or left workplaces after being bullied, how they left, and the influences on whether they stayed or left. Implications of this study are that bullied women and the organizations for which they work need to be assisted to manage this experience more effectively.

Discovering co-learning with students in distance education sites.

Distance education is promoted as an effective way to reach more students, but how effective are interactive learning strategies in distance nursing courses? The authors discuss how nursing students adjusted to distance technologies and became actively involved in creating an environment that enabled development of supportive co-learning relationships. Learner perspectives on teaching strategies, distance learning, and becoming nurses are described.

Gender and Workplace Bullying Men’s Experiences of Surviving Bullying at Work

Although men are targets of workplace bullying, there is limited research focused on their experiences. To address this gap, we used a qualitative grounded theory approach and interviewed a community sample of 20 Atlantic Canadian men to explore and explain their experiences of, and responses to, bullying. The main problem identified by men was a lack of workplace support to address and resolve the bullying, a challenge named abandonment. Men addressed this problem by surviving, a process that involved efforts to manage persistent bullying and the associated consequences. Men experienced physical, emotional, and social health consequences and, contrary to prevailing assumptions related to men’s help-seeking behaviors, men want support and many sought help to address the problem and its consequences. Responses to abandonment and the associated consequences varied according to a number of factors including gender and highlight the need for research aimed at understanding the gendered nature of bullying.