The effect of workplace bullying on fatigue in school teachers: the moderating roles of gender and spirituality

ABSTRACT

Workplace bullying is quite prevalent and has been linked to many health complaints. The relationship between workplace bullying and fatigue was documented in previous studies. However, knowledge on how this relationship develops with the interplaying factors of spirituality and gender was not investigated before especially among schoolteachers. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between workplace bullying and fatigue as moderated by spirituality and gender among schoolteachers in Lebanon. This is a cross-sectional study, where 215 schoolteachers aged 18 till 64 and employed for a minimum of 6 months were recruited through systematic sampling. Six private and six public schools in Beirut participated in the study. Online questionnaires using validated scales were used. Both simple and multiple ordinal logistic regression were performed for the statistical analysis. Results showed that workplace bullying is a predictor of fatigue with an odds ratio of 2.74 and p-value 0.008. Gender was found to be an effect modifier for this relationship, mainly among females (OR 2.66, p-value 0.047) but not among males. Anxiety and depression also predicted higher levels of fatigue (OR 5.75, p-value 0.017). Spirituality did not moderate this relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace bullying
• spirituality
• gender
• fatigue
• moderating effect
• schoolteachers
• mental health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data is available upon reasonable request.

Authors statement

GH contributed to data collection, data analysis and writing of the manuscript. NM contributed to study design, overseeing the study, and writing of the manuscript. MEJ did the data analysis and contributed to writing the results section. DR reviewed the final manuscript and gave her input.

Ethics approval

Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC).

Additional information

Funding

The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency from the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.