Health Promotion Processes of Women who have Experienced Work Place Bullying and Intimate Partner Violence

Study Summary

Study Objectives

Related Reports

Study Summary:

Just as society has assumed that homes and families provide supportive and safe environments, we have also assumed that work places, where employed people spend about 1/3 of their days, provide secure environments and opportunities to enhance women’s capacities. Yet, work place bullying (WPB) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are prevalent and costly forms of abuse that significantly influence women’s health. WPB is broadly defined as repeated physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and hostility within the work place. Canada has one of the highest prevalence rates of WPB internationally. Our previous research suggests that WPB has long-term physiological, psychological, social, and economic outcomes; however, how women manage their health in this context is unknown. 1 in 4 Canadian women has experienced IPV. IPV negatively impacts health and well-being through a range of long-lasting physical and mental health effects and economic consequences that persist over time even if women leave abusive partners. To date, the health outcomes of WPB and IPV have been studied without consideration of each other’s effect. Yet, our qualitative studies of abused women reveal that support from co-workers and an employment environment that fortifies women help them to deal more effectively with IPV and to promote their health. Such findings suggest that work places play a critical role in how abused women promote their health; yet, no research has been conducted on how WPB affects health promotion processes of women in general or of those who have also experienced IPV. An understanding of how women respond to violence and subsequently attempt to take charge of their health within a context of diverse social determinants and multiple experiences of abuse is essential to provide a basis for developing strengths-based healthy public policy. Given the incidence of WPB and IPV, the health of many employed Canadian women is affected. The paucity of research exploring how WPB and IPV affect women’s health promotion processes directs a qualitative feminist grounded theory study as a logical first step.

Our purpose is to expand current knowledge of patterns of health promotion in the context of multiple experiences of victimization by studying women who have experienced WPB and IPV.

Study Objectives:

1. To develop a substantive theory to explain the health promotion processes of women who have experienced WPB;
    
2. To understand variation in how women who have experienced WPB care for their health according to experiences of IPV;
    
3. To investigate how diversity (e.g., types and severity of WPB and IPV, lifetime abuse history, employment status and type, age, ethnicity, rural/urban location) influences women’s health promotion processes, resources, and experiences.

   In grounded theory, data collection and analysis occur concurrently and specific research questions and direction for data collection emerge as analysis proceeds. Beginning with women who have experienced WPB, and then theoretically sampling women who have experienced both WPB and IPV, a total of 50 women in NB, ON, and BC will participate in 2 unstructured interviews focusing on how they promote their health. Constant comparative analysis will account for and interpret patterns at a conceptual level, to provide an understanding that is a potential starting point for broader social change.

   Findings will contribute knowledge about how WPB shapes health promotion processes of women who have experienced IPV. Given the essential contribution of employed women to Canada’s economy, understanding how to foster their health in the context of WPB and IPV is critical. Findings will contribute to the goals of our CIHR NET Team focusing on health effects of IPV and will inform interventions and policies designed to help women develop and maintain healthy living.

Related Reports:

Publications

MacIntosh, J. (2006). Experiences of work place bullying in a rural area.  Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 26(9), 893-910.

Presentations

MacIntosh, J. (2006, April). Fostering positive relationships: Strategies to address work place bullying. Keynote Address at Capital District Health Authority Nursing Leadership Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

MacIntosh, J. (2006, April). Understanding the effects of work place violence on the health of  women. Paper Presented at the Nurses Network on Violence Against Women International Conference, Portland, Oregon.

MacIntosh, J., Merritt-Gray, M., & Wuest, J. (2006, April). The Impact of Workplace Bullying on Women’s health. UNB Nursing Research Day, Fredericton, New Brunswick.