Workplace bullying and stress within the prison service
| Pages | 76-85 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17596591211208283 |
| Published date | 06 April 2012 |
| Date | 06 April 2012 |
| Author | Gayle Brewer,Emma Whiteside |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
Workplace bullying and stress
within the prison service
Gayle Brewer and Emma Whiteside
Abstract
Purpose – Consequences of workplace bullying include increased stress, poor physical and
psychological health and low job satisfaction. Workplace bullying is particularly prevalent in professions
that may involve a degree of aggression. Despite this, little information exists about the nature of
workplace bullying in a prison context. The current study aims to investigate the presence of workplace
bullying at one British prison.
Design/methodology/approach – Employees (n¼72) were invited to complete the Work Harassment
Scale and the Work Stress Symptom Scale.
Findings – A standard multiple regression revealed that direct experience of bullying significantly
predicted stress. Factor analyses identified four types of bullying experienced and three types of
bullying witnessed by prison employees. Subsequent analyses revealed that experiencing one specific
bullying behavior (i.e. dismissive of individual and their work) predicted physical, psychological
and behavioral symptoms of stress. Witnessing one form of bullying (i.e. dismissive, personal attack and
threats) also predicted the physical and psychological symptoms of stress.
Research limitations/implications – The study is reliant on self reported data and employs a relatively
small sample.
Practical implications – Dismissive behavior in particular is associated with employee stress.
Interventions should prioritise this type of workplace bullying.
Originality/value – Few studies have considered the nature of workplace bullying in a prison context.
The current study details the prevalence of bullying amongst prison employees, the extent to which
bullying impacts on employee stress, and the components of bullying that may be most harmful.
Keywords Bullying, Prison service, Stress, United Kingdom, Wellbeing
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Definitions of bullying and classification criteria vary considerably within the literature
(Saunders et al., 2007). The term workplace bullying has been employed, predominantly by
researchers in Europe, Australia and to some extent North America, to describe the
intimidation and harassment that occurs within the workplace. Alternate, terms such as
mobbing or emotional abuse have also been used (Keashly, 2001; Leymann, 1990). Whilst
most definitions suggest that repetition of bullying is important, there is no agreement on the
frequency and duration of bullying required (Cowie et al., 2002). In addition, other
researchers suggest that bullying can occur with a single act (Randall, 1997) and the
negative impact of single acts has been noted (Lee, 2000).
Workplace bullying is widespread with 35-50percent of American employees reporting being
the target of bullying at some stage during their working life (Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2007).
Bullying is, however, under-reported(Bjorkqvist et al., 1994; Namie, 2007) and research may
therefore underestimate the level of workplace bullying that occurs (Salin, 2001). Physical
bullying is rarely reported within the workplace (Einarsen et al., 1994), with covert forms
PAGE 76
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JOURNALOF AGGRESSION, CONFLICTAND PEACERESEARCH
j
VOL. 4 NO. 2 2012, pp. 76-85, QEmerald GroupPublishing Limited,ISSN 1759-6599 DOI 10.1108/17596591211208283
Gayle Brewer is a Senior
Lecturer and Emma
Whiteside is a Forensic
Psychologist (in training),
Gayle is in the Department
of Psychology, University of
Central Lancashire,
Preston, UK.
Emma is based in the
Prison Service, UK.
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