Effectiveness of a workshop-based intervention to reduce bullying and violence at work: A 2-year quasi-experimental intervention study

Introduction: Bullying and violence at work are associated with reduced wellbeing of the victims, but few evidence-based interventions are available to prevent these offensive behaviours. We developed and examined the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at prevention of bullying and violence at work through modifications in psychosocial work environment.Methods: In accordance with pre-published protocol, employees and supervisors of 12 work units in 3 cities (intervention group A: n = 315; intervention group B: n = 271) received a workshop-based intervention on organizational practices to prevent bullying and violence, including supervisor support, supervisor justice, workplace social capital, and psychological safety and were compared to a reference group (n = 2310) which did not receive the intervention. Latent change score modelling (LCSM) was used to estimate between-and within individual differences in changes of organizational practices and prevalence of bullying and violence from baseline (2020) to follow-up (2022).Results: No direct or indirect effects of intervention were observed. Of the potential mediator variables, supervisor support (B = 0.04; 95% confidence interval 0.006, 0.07) and supervisor justice (0.04; 0.01, 0.08) improved in the intervention group B between the measurements and compared to control group, but the result was not replicated in intervention group A. No changes were observed between the measurement points in bullying or violence at work.Conclusions: No intervention effects on bullying and violence at work were observed. It may be worthwhile to develop the intervention further to focus more on supervisor and co-worker relationships and on psychosocial resources of work team.