STUDY ABSTRACT - Workplace Bullying Link to Sleep Disturbances

Workplace Bullying and Sleep Disturbances:

Findings from a Large Scale Cross-Sectional Survey in the French Working Population

Isabelle Niedhammer, PhD1,2; Simone David, MSc1; Stéphanie Degioanni, MSc1; Anne Drummond, PhD2; Pierre Philip, MD, PhD3; 143 occupational physiciansa

1INSERM, U687-IFR69, Saint-Maurice, France; 2UCD School of Public Health & Population Science, Dublin, Ireland; 3Clinique du Sommeil, CHU Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France

Study Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between workplace bullying, the characteristics of workplace bullying, and sleep disturbances in a large sample of employees of the French working population.

Design:
Workplace bullying, evaluated using the validated instrument developed by Leymann, and sleep disturbances, as well as covariates, were measured using a self-administered questionnaire. Covariates included age, marital status, presence of children, education, occupation, working hours, night work, physical and chemical exposures at work, self-reported health, and depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression analysis and was carried out separately for men and women.

Setting: General working population.

Participants:
The study population consisted of a random sample of 3132 men and 4562 women of the working population in the southeast of France.

Results:
Workplace bullying was strongly associated with sleep disturbances. Past exposure to bullying also increased the risk for this outcome. The more frequent the exposure to bullying, the higher the risk of experiencing sleep disturbances. Observing someone else being bullied in the workplace was also associated with the outcome. Adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Additional adjustment for self-reported health and depressive symptoms diminished the magnitude of the associations that remained significant.

Conclusions:
The prevalence of workplace bullying (around 10%) was found to be high in this study as well was the impact of this major job-related stressor on sleep disturbances. Although no conclusion about causality could be drawn from this cross-sectional study, the findings suggest that the contribution of workplace bullying to the burden of sleep disturbances may be substantial.
Keywords:Sleep disturbances, workplace bullying

Citation: Niedhammer I; David S; Degioanni S; Drummond A; Philip P. Workplace bullying and sleep disturbances: findings from a large scale cross-sectional survey in the French working population. SLEEP 2009;32(9):1211-1219.

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Workplace Bullying Linked to Insomnia - Survey in the French Working Population

Being bullied at work may make you toss and turn all night.

Researchers have found that people who are intimidated, insulted, or otherwise harassed on the job are more likely to have sleep disturbances than are other workers. Their findings appear in the Sept.1 issue of the journal Sleep.

Workplace bullying may be a common occurrence, according to the new study, which involved more than 7,600 middle-aged workers in southeast France. The study participants answered questionnaires regarding their work environment and ability to fall asleep and return to sleep after early awakenings.

In the study, 11% of women and 9% of men reported being exposed to bullying at work at least once a week for at least six months of the previous year. Workplace bullying was defined as "hostile behavior on the part of one or more persons in the work environment that aim continually and repeatedly to offend, oppress, maltreat, or to exclude or isolate over a long period of time."

The researchers found that women exposed to bullying on the job every day or nearly every day were about twice as likely as their peers to have sleeping difficulties. Men who had to deal with such hostile behavior now or in the past had more than two times the sleep disturbances as men who had not.

The more often someone was bullied on the job, the more likely they were to have sleeping difficulties. The results took into consideration other factors that can affect sleep, such as age, occupation, work hours, and symptoms of depression.

Sleep Also Eludes Observers
The sleep woes also affected those who saw someone else being bullied. Slightly more than a third of workers said they witnessed bullying on the job in the previous 12 months. Among the findings:

• Men who observed workplace bullying had an estimated 60% higher chance of having sleep disturbances.
• The odds for disturbed sleep were 20% higher in women who saw someone else being bullied.

The chances for sleep problems increased more if the workers both saw and experienced bullying. The study authors say their findings highlight the need for greater efforts to prevent bullying in the workplace.

"Workplace bullying may be considered as one of the leading job stressors and would be a major cause of suicide and other health-related issues," Isabelle Niedhammer, PhD, epidemiologist and researcher at the UCD School of Public Health & Population Science at the University College Dublin in Ireland, says in a statement. "Our study underlines the need to better understand and prevent occupational risk factors, such as bullying, for sleep disorders."

Adjustment insomnia is the medical term for sleep difficulties that result from an identifiable stressor, such as workplace bullying. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, symptoms may also involve anxiety, worry, depression, muscle tension, and headaches. Adjustment insomnia usually goes away within three months, but it may linger if the person remains in the stressful environment or can’t otherwise adapt to the situation.

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This story has hit the news today also, interesting how it has been reported... take a look ..

Work Bullying Linked With Poor Sleep

The reach of the work bully extends well beyond the office.

New research shows that victims of work bullying often have sleep problems once they get home. The trauma of bullying in the workplace is so great that it even appears to affect those who witness a co-worker being mistreated, according to a study published in the medical journal Sleep.

Workplace bullying can include everything from belittling comments and yelling to spreading gossip and excluding someone from an important meeting. Victims often are helpless to defend themselves because many companies don’t have procedures in place to combat the behavior. A study last year found that workplace aggression can be more damaging than sexual harassment.

Work Bullying Linked With Poor Sleep
A study last year found that workplace aggression can be more damaging than sexual harassment. In the latest study, researchers from the French national ...
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