More than half of healthcare workers in a hospital setting experienced workplace bullying, but nearly three-quarters of those affected never reported the mistreatment to their institution. According to the research, mistreatment is widespread within the healthcare environment and carries substantial psychological and occupational burdens. Although interpersonal hostility has long been recognized as a pervasive challenge, empirical evidence regarding reporting patterns and organisational resolution mechanisms has remained limited. The study clarifies how healthcare personnel respond to mistreatment, showing that the vast majority of victims endure bullying in silence rather than seeking formal institutional redress.

The investigation was conducted by Adekola B. Ademoyegun, Oluwafunmilayo A. Adeniyi, Adebukola Ibitoye, David O. Fabuluje, and Chidozie E. Mbada, and appeared in BMC Health Services Research. The authors set out to address critical gaps in occupational health literature by evaluating the relationships between workplace bullying, reporting behaviors, institutional resolution, mental health, and work productivity. By analyzing institutional responses and individual outcomes, the researchers evaluated how workplace practices intersect with employee well-being and productivity.

To evaluate these dynamics, the investigators conducted a cross-sectional study among 516 healthcare workers at a Nigerian teaching hospital, covering clinical, technical, administrative, and ancillary personnel. The researchers utilized validated assessment instruments to capture each dimension of the participants’ experiences. Workplace bullying was measured using the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, while participants’ mental health symptoms were quantified through the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. In addition, the team evaluated occupational functioning using the Healthcare Productivity Survey, establishing a standardized methodological framework to examine interpersonal mistreatment alongside personal well-being and day-to-day job performance.

Across the cohort of 516 healthcare employees, the survey identified a high prevalence of both mistreatment and psychological distress. A total of 267 participants, representing 51.7 percent of the surveyed population, met the standardized criteria for workplace bullying. Alongside these elevated rates of mistreatment, the assessment documented widespread mental health symptoms throughout the workforce. Symptoms of depression were observed in 51.6 percent of the participants, while anxiety symptoms were detected in 58.7 percent of respondents. Furthermore, 31.0 percent of the surveyed staff exhibited measurable stress symptoms, confirming substantial psychological burdens among the hospital personnel.

Despite the high prevalence of bullying, formal reporting among affected workers was remarkably uncommon. Among the 267 workers meeting the bullying criteria, 197 individuals, or 73.8 percent, did not report the mistreatment to the organisation. Among the 70 individuals who did submit a formal report, institutional responses varied widely and often proved unsatisfactory. Specifically, 21 workers, or 30.0 percent of those who reported, stated that no action was taken by the institution. Another 23 participants, accounting for 32.9 percent of complainants, were dissatisfied with the action taken, whereas only 26 workers, or 37.1 percent, reported being satisfied with the organisational response.

To determine what influenced an employee’s decision to report mistreatment, the authors performed binary logistic regression analyses among the 267 workers who met the bullying criteria. In adjusted statistical models, several factors were significantly associated with the odds of reporting. Male gender and holding a supervisory role were associated with higher odds of reporting mistreatment, whereas clinical employment was associated with lower odds of lodging a report. In addition, workers were significantly more likely to report bullying when the perpetrator was a colleague rather than a superior, and when the incidents involved physically intimidating behaviors compared with other types of bullying behaviors.

Among the subset of 70 workers who formally reported bullying incidents, the researchers examined satisfaction with the organisational response using bivariate comparisons. These analyses revealed that satisfaction with how management handled complaints was significantly associated with several key workplace and demographic variables. An employee’s supervisory role, the source of the bullying, their educational attainment, and their employment duration were all linked to their evaluation of the institutional response. Furthermore, social support within the workplace proved critical, as levels of supervisor support and colleague support were both significantly associated with an employee’s satisfaction regarding the resolution of their complaint.

Analysis of variance was employed to compare psychological scores and productivity metrics across bullying sources and reporting categories. Unadjusted comparisons demonstrated that depression, anxiety, stress, and work productivity scores differed significantly based on the source of the bullying behavior. Furthermore, productivity scores differed significantly across reporting and resolution categories, with the data indicating that satisfactory organisational resolution was associated with higher work productivity. In contrast, mental health scores did not show statistically significant differences across reporting and resolution categories, indicating that institutional action was not reflected in improved psychological metrics in these unadjusted comparisons.

In their conclusions, the authors emphasized that workplace bullying represents a common problem characterized by substantial underreporting and limited satisfactory resolution for victims. Because satisfactory resolution was associated with higher work productivity, the researchers highlighted the importance of accessible, trusted, and responsive organisational mechanisms for managing workplace bullying in healthcare settings. At the same time, the authors explicitly emphasized an essential methodological caveat: because the investigation relied on a cross-sectional study design, causal relationships between bullying, reporting, organisational resolution, mental health, and productivity cannot be inferred from the findings.

Subject of Research: Workplace bullying prevalence, reporting patterns, organisational resolution, and occupational outcomes among healthcare personnel

Article Title: Workplace bullying among healthcare workers: reporting, organisational resolution, and associations with mental health and work productivity

Article References: Ademoyegun, A. B., Adeniyi, O. A., Ibitoye, A., Fabuluje, D. O., & Mbada, C. E. (2026). Workplace bullying among healthcare workers: reporting, organisational resolution, and associations with mental health and work productivity. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-16147-w

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-16147-w

Keywords: workplace bullying, healthcare workers, teaching hospital, Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, Healthcare Productivity Survey, incident reporting, organisational resolution, work productivity, occupational health, supervisory roles, physically intimidating behaviour, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, job stress, cross-sectional study, colleague support