Toutes les formes d’abus en milieu de travail ont-elles les mêmes incidences sur la santé des travailleurs ?

Abstract

<p>There are many forms of abuse in the workplace. These include incivility, discrimination, harassment (in general), sexual harassment, bullying, physical assault, abusive leadership, and an organizational climate that tolerates abuse. Based on the actions involved, some forms of abuse are classified as low (e.g., incivility), moderate (e.g., bullying), or high (e.g., physical assault) intensity. The purpose of this literature review is to determine whether these different forms of abuse have impacts that differ in magnitude with respect to the health of workers who experience them. A review of quantitative review studies that examined each of these forms of abuse was conducted. Twelve meta-analyses were identified. The comparative analysis of the effects and their confidence intervals shows that, in general, the different forms of abuse do not differ in terms of the observed links on psychological health (e.g. exhaustion, depression, stress, well-being, positive and negative emotions) and physical health (e.g. physical tension, sleep problems). The few differences identified invalidate the hypothesis that the presumed intensity of the forms of abuse is associated with the size of the observed effects. From a practical point of view, organizations and managers should therefore pay attention to each of these forms of abuse, which all seem to be detrimental to workers. From a scientific point of view, the analysis carried out is original insofar as it has made it possible to bring together synthesis works on eight forms of abuse, from distinct literatures and which had never been compared to our knowledge.</p>