Content area
Background:
Lack of psychological safety within surgical teams and fear of damaging one’s career or reputation may counteract the effect of formal reporting as a tool for preventing bullying. Also, personality traits of cardiothoracic surgeons may promote bullying. In the current study, we evaluate these factors and their association with bullying in cardiothoracic surgical teams.
Methods:
Forty-four cardiothoracic surgeons filled in the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, Safety Attitude Questionnaire, and Big Five Inventory.
Results:
Of the 44 participants, 18 (40.90%) experienced bullying during their careers. Psychological safety was negatively associated with work-related bullying and positively associated with the agreeableness and openness personality factors.
Conclusion:
Bullying within the cardiothoracic surgical teams is a prominent problem that is negatively associated with psychological safety. Psychological safety is positively associated with agreeableness and openness, and interventions focusing on promoting an organizational culture based on such factors may improve the effectiveness of such interventions.
Details
; Spindler, Helle 2
1 Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of General and Medical Psychology, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine
2 Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark