The relationship between mobbing and psychosomatic symptoms: An application in public sector

The aim of this research was to observe the relationship between mobbing and psychosomatic symptoms. First of all, we reviewed the literature for these concepts, especially for the evolution and effects of the term, mobbing. Then we examined the status of psychosomatic symptoms in the classification system of mental health area, approaches to these disorders and their effects on health expenses.Three hundred and sixty workers from a public institution in İzmir were included into this research. The participants received Demographic Information Questionnaire in order to observe demographic specialities; Leymann?s Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT) in order to do measure mobbing and Sypmtom Check List (SCL-90) in order to measure psychosomatic symptoms. After the LIPT was translated into Turkish and the inventory was applied , the Cronbach -alpha reliability coefficient was found 0,75.The data was analyzed by correlation analysis , t-test, Scheffe test and variance analysis. The results showed, the rate of being subjected to mobbing was %66 ; and there was a significant correlation between mobbing and psychosomatic symptoms. However, there was a negative correlation between duration of duty and perception of mobbing. The perception of mobbing was also differed among departments. On the other hand, we could not found any effect of demographic variables on mobbing, such as educational level, marital status and working position. No correlation was found between the measure of mobbing and the frequency of application to the health unit, either. Results were discussed, considering the current and relevant literature.Key Words: Mobbing, Psychosomatic Symptoms