A Circle of Violence - Are Burnout Disengagement and Self-Efficacy in Non-University Teacher Victims of Workplace Violence.pdf
applied
sciences
Article
A Circle of Violence: Are Burnout, Disengagement
and Self-Efficacy in Non-University Teacher Victims
of Workplace Violence New and Emergent Risks?
Daniela Acquadro Maran and Tatiana Begotti *
Department of Psychology, Università di Torino, 10124 Torino, Italy; XXXXXXXXXX
* Co
espondence: XXXXXXXXXX
Received: 10 June 2020; Accepted: 29 June 2020; Published: 2 July 2020
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Abstract: Workplace violence (WV) is defined as an intentional misuse of power, including threats of
physical force against another person or group, which can cause physical, mental, spiritual, moral o
social harm. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence, characteristics and consequences
of WV in a sample of Italian teachers. Our hypothesis was that WV impacted workplace satisfaction,
self-efficacy and burnout. A self-administered questionnaire was answered by 331 teachers. A total
of XXXXXXXXXX%) subjects reported experiencing a physical or psychological form of WV. Overall,
findings confirmed our hypothesis: teacher victims of WV showed high levels of burnout—both
in terms of exhaustion (F = 3.96; p = 0.04) and disengagement (F = 5.85; p = 0.016), lower levels
of workplace satisfaction (F = 13.24; p < XXXXXXXXXXand regulatory emotional self-efficacy—especially
for negative emotions (F = 5.45; p = 0.02) compared with teachers who have never experienced
WV. This investigation suggests the importance of preventing WV and offering support to victims.
Doing so will increase teachers’ ability to manage and cope with violent behavior. Prevention and
intervention may also decrease serious consequences in relation to victims’ wellbeing, and improve
the general stability of the classroom, as well as motivation and academic commitment.
Keywords: workplace violence; teachers; burnout; self-efficacy
1. Introduction
In the literature, workplace violence (hereafter WV) is a well-known phenomenon that causes
physical, emotional and psychological suffering [1]. The World Health Organization [2] (p. 4) defines
WV as “the intentional use of power, including threat of physical force, against another person o
group, that can result in harm to physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. It includes
ve
al abuse, bullying/mo
ing, harassment and threats”. Investigating WV and its consequences fo
individuals and can offer useful information to improve prevention and intervention efforts. According
to the Fourth European Working Condition Survey report [3], 6% of the 44,000 European workers
participating in the survey were exposed to threats of physical violence by colleagues (2%) or othe
people (4%). In the USA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [4] noted that an average
of nearly two million U.S. workers reported having been a victim of WV.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics [5], one of the occupational sectors at greatest risk of
WV is the educational sector (see also [6]). This is important because many studies involving teachers
have emphasized that WV has a negative impact not only on the wellbeing of victims of violence,
ut also on the quality of their teaching [7–11]. In this sector, the phenomenon of WV has usually
een investigated as bullying perpetrated among students, without any consideration of teachers as
victims [12,13]. In investigations that involved teachers, findings showed that the prevalence of WV
anged between 7.5–84.8%, evidencing the great variability of the phenomenon. In 2008, Russo and
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 4595; doi:10.3390/app XXXXXXXXXXwww.mdpi.com/journal/applsci
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colleagues [14] found that among 764 teachers, 22.4% were exposed to harassment at least once in the
previous 12 months. Findings from a report by Robers, Zhang, Truman and Snyder [15] on school
crime and safety in the US showed that, in 2007/2008, some 289,600 teachers declared that they had
een threatened with injury by a student from school during the previous 12 months. The teache
victims comprised 7.5% of the sample: among the participants, 88,500 were male victims (representing
9.3% of male participants in the survey), while 201,600 were female victims (representing 6.1% of
female participants in the survey). These percentages were higher than those in the 2003/2004 survey,
in which 127,500 teachers reported an injury (3.4% of all participants; 2.6% among male participants
and 3.7% among female participants). Similar findings were found by Kauppi and Pörhölä [9,10] and
Tiesman and colleagues [16]. In their investigation involving 215 teachers, Kauppi and Pörhölä [9,10]
found that 25.6% of the teachers reported that they had occasionally been subjected to bullying by
students. In their investigation involving 6450 education workers, Tiesman and colleagues [16] found
that 7.8% reported being physically assaulted and 28.9% reported a nonphysical WV event. McMannon
and colleagues’ [6] findings revealed that among 3000 survey participants, 80% reported at least one
incident of victimization (with 94% of victims reporting that the perpetrator was a student). Similarly,
Berlanda and colleagues [17] found that among 686 teachers, 84.8% were involved in some form of
violence during the course of their professional lives. Dzuka and Dalbert [18] found that among a
sample of 400 teachers, 35.4% reported ve
al violence in the last 30 days, 12.4% reported property
damage and 4.9% reported physical violence. Ozdemir [19] found that among 900 teachers, 24.1%
experienced episodes of emotional violence, with lower percentages reporting episodes of ve
al
(14.7%), physical (6.3%) and sexual (4.6%) violence.
In most cases, it appears that the perpetrator of WV is a student or a student’s parent [20–27],
while other perpetrators include colleagues and supervisors [28].
The consequences of WV in teachers include physical and emotional injury, such as distress,
exhaustion, depression [29], dissatisfaction, disengagement [18,29,30], turnover and intention of leaving
the profession. At an organizational level, WV may negatively impact an organizational climate
and culture [31]. For example, in an interesting survey by Temam, Billaudeau and Vercam
e [32],
some 2653 teachers declared that the worst working conditions were characterized by high exposure to
psychological violence. WV could cause exhaustion and prolonged distress and, in turn, determine
urnout [33]. As described by Skaalvik and Skaalvik [34], teacher burnout is associated with teachers’
motivation and job satisfaction, their perception of their work ability and their self-efficacy regarding
their work (see also [35–37]). They also found that, among 850 teachers, those who were victims of WV
suffered from higher levels of burnout syndrome and disengagement.
Self-efficacy in teachers reflects their belief in students’ achievements and in their ability to organize
knowledge and skills and achieve teaching goals [38–41]. According to Bandura [42,43], self-efficacy is
one of the most important factors that influence human behavior. In the school context, the construct can
e the perceived ability of teachers to address the organization of educational activities and classroom
management. It can also impact their capacity for emotional self-regulation [44], since the latter is
crucial for coping with stressful and threatening situations such as WV. Low teacher self-efficacy
could cause poor classroom management, which could, in turn, increase violence, bullying [45],
stress and burnout [46–51].
Cu
ent Study
In the past decade, there have been numerous social and organizational changes in Italy that have
had a strong impact on the role played by teachers [52], and led to numerous new risk factors in the
educational sector. Economic and political reforms have led to additional duties and responsibilities
for teachers, such as managing for diversity, multiculturalism, special educational needs, and the use
of new technologies [53,54]. In the meantime, Italian teachers have also experienced an increase in
precarious contracts [55], a lack of social support from colleagues and school managers, an increase in
the age of teachers [56], a loss of social prestige, inadequate educational equipment, an increase in
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, XXXXXXXXXXof 11
parental disinterest and a decrease in students’ motivation to learn [52]. These social and working
conditions have a consequence on perceived stress and self-efficacy [57]: continued exposure to
stressors increases the risk of burnout and disengagement [58].
Given the above, the major purpose of the cu
ent study was to describe the prevalence of WV
in a sample of Italian teachers and also the consequences of WV in terms of workplace satisfaction,
urnout and regulatory emotional self-efficacy. The study had a descriptive aim and the research
design was cross-sectional.
The hypotheses were as follows:
(a) Teacher victims of workplace violence report a lower level of workplace satisfaction than teachers
who have never experienced WV.
(b) Teacher victims of workplace violence report a higher level of burnout (both in terms of exhaustion
and disengagement) than teachers who have never experienced WV.
(c) Teacher victims of workplace violence report a lower level of regulatory emotional self-efficacy
than teachers who have never experienced WV.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
The participants were 472 teachers from different kindergartens and primary and secondary schools
in the Metropolitan City of Turin in Northwest Italy. The inclusion criteria for participation in the survey
was working as a teacher in a non-university organization and working at a school in the Metropolitan
City of Turin. Therefore, we excluded cases in which the worker was a pre-service teacher, a university
teacher or an employee not in charge of teaching (e.g., caretaker or administrative clerk). After the
approval of the local ethical committee (University of Torino N.133260/2019), a self-administered
anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all teachers in schools that had volunteered to participate
in the research. Alongside a hard copy of the questionnaire, participants received an information lette
and an informed consent form in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki [59]. A box reporting
the title of the project and the date of return of the questionnaires was placed on school premises.
Participants had ten working days to complete the questionnaire and put it in the box. All questionnaire
espondents participated on a voluntary basis and did not receive any compensation or extra credit
for their participation in the investigation. Research assistants trained by the researchers collected
the data.
2.2. Measures
Workplace violence (WV): The Violent Incident Form (VIF) [60] was used to investigate workplace
violence (Italian version by Magnavita and Bergamaschi [61]). The instrument uses a
oad definition
of violence that includes different forms. Participants were asked if they had ever experienced physical
aggression, ve
al aggression, threatening or stalking during the last 12 months, during the course of
their working life or on the way from their home to their workplace (or vice versa). Victims of WV were
asked to refer to the frequency of the episodes and the characteristics of the abuse and the perpetrato
(role, gender, and age) and to identify the circumstances of the aggression and its consequences.
Workplace satisfaction: The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II) [62] was