Effects of a smartphone application for cognitive rehearsal intervention on workplace bullying and turnover intention among nurses

Background Bullying in nursing workplaces has been considered a serious problem that increases nurse turnover. Aim To develop a cognitive rehearsal intervention for workplace bullying and examine its effects on nurses' bullying experiences and turnover intentions. Methods We developed a smartphone application to cognitively train nurses to handle bullying situations in the workplace. This application included common bullying situations and appropriate non-violent communication scenarios. A cluster quasi-randomized trial was performed with 72 hospital nurses working in a university hospital in South Korea from November 2016 to January 2017. We measured workplace bullying experiences and turnover intention before intervention and 4 and 8 weeks after intervention in both intervention and control groups. Results The cognitive rehearsal intervention developed in this study was effective for decreasing nurses' person-related bullying, work-related bullying experiences, and turnover intention. However, it had no effects on intimidation-related bullying experiences. Conclusions The smartphone application-based cognitive rehearsal intervention can serve as a personal coping measure for person-related and work-related bullying among nurses. It is recommended that the intervention developed in this study be applied as a strategy to reduce nurse turnover.