Mental Health Expenditures: Association With Workplace Incivility and Bullying Among Hospital Patient Care Workers. Issue 8 (August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sabbath, Erika L.; Williams, Jessica A.R.; Boden, Leslie I.; Tempesti, Tommaso; Wagner, Gregory R.; Hopcia, Karen; Hashimoto, Dean; Sorensen, Glorian
• Is Part Of: Journal of occupational and environmental medicine. Volume 60:Issue 8(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-08
• Subjects: bullying -- health care costs -- health care utilization -- health expenditures -- hospital personnel -- mental health -- workplace; Medicine, Industrial -- Periodicals; Environmental health -- Periodicals; Occupational Medicine -- Periodicals; Environmental Medicine -- Periodicals; Environmental health; Medicine, Industrial; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.9803
• DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001322
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1076-2752

Abstract

Abstract : Objective: Bullied workers have poor self-reported mental health; monetary costs of bullying exposure are unknown. We tested associations between bullying and health plan claims for mental health diagnoses. Methods: We used data from 793 hospital workers who answered questions about bullying in a survey and subscribed to the group health plan. We used two-part models to test associations between types of incivility/bullying and mental health expenditures. Results: Workers experiencing incivility or bullying had greater odds of any mental health claims. Among claimants, unexposed workers spent $792, those experiencing one type of incivility or bullying spent $1557 ( P for difference from unexposed = 0.016), those experiencing two types spent $928 ( P = 0.503), and those experiencing three types spent $1446 ( P = 0.040). Conclusion: Workplace incivility and bullying may carry monetary costs to employers, which could be controlled through work environment modification.