Senior Bullying, Part 3: What is the Impact of Bullying?

Posted by Dr. El - March 6, 2012 - Bullying/Senior bullying, Resident care - 4 Comments

Today’s blog post is the third in a biweekly series on senior bullying, bringing research into practice.

By Robin Bonifas, PhD, MSW, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ and Marsha Frankel, LICSW, Clinical Director of Senior Services, Jewish Family & Children’s Services, Boston, MA

In our experience, it is common for various senior organizations to take a passive stance toward bullying. At times, a perception of “that’s just the way people are” or “there’s nothing that can be done” influences inaction, but at other times passivity is related to a belief that bullying is merely a social irritant and doesn’t really cause any lasting harm. However, nothing is farther from the truth! Research indicates that older adults experience a range of negative emotions and responses to bullying. For example, among assisted living residents the following reactions are often reported (Bonifas, 2011):

Anger
Annoyance
Frustration
Fear
Anxiety/tension/worry
Retaliation followed by shame
Self isolation
Exacerbation of mental health conditions

In addition, as described in our first bullying blog “What is Bullying?” the following ramifications have also been noted (Frankel, 2011):

Reduced self-esteem
Overall feelings of rejection
Depression
Suicidal ideation
Increased physical complaints
Functional changes, such as decreased ability to manage activities of daily living
Changes in eating and sleeping
Increased talk of moving out

It is also important to recognize that bullying behaviors can escalate to physical violence. For example, in September 2009, a 100-year-old nursing home resident was killed by her 98-year-old roommate over ongoing misperceptions regarding unequal sharing of room space.

The harmful impact of bullying is not exclusive to the recipients of such behavior: individuals who witness bullying also experience negative consequences. A common response is feeling intense guilt for not intervening, which can contribute to a sense of poor self worth. Furthermore, living an environment where bullying is allowed to occur creates a culture of fear, disrespect, and insecurity that can actually led to increased bullying as individuals retaliate against one another. Such environments also reduce resident satisfaction because residents feel that staff does not care about their well-being.

Up until this point, we have addressed bullying behaviors between seniors themselves, but bullying can also be targeted toward staff members of organizations serving older adults. Some residents or consumers may view certain employees as very different from them, creating an “us and them” mentality that can result in staff bullying. For example, in one of our cases, a resident repeatedly told a foreign-born worker that she couldn’t speak English properly and he would see to it that she was fired. As with seniors, such bullying behavior creates an environment of fear, disrespect and insecurity for staff, thereby decreasing their feelings of loyalty and commitment to the organization. These feelings have implications for retention and turnover. Furthermore, the possibility of staff retaliatory bullying and resident abuse also increases.

Our next two blogs will cover intervention strategies to help minimize bullying in senior organizations. We will begin with intervention ideas to create a caring environment at the organizational level, one that emphasizes respectful interactions among all individuals.

Robin Bonifas, PhD, MSW

Marsha Frankel, LICSW

The Senior Bullying Series:

Part One: What is Bullying?

Part Two: Who Bullies and Who Gets Bullied?

Part Three: What is the Impact of Bullying?

Part Four: Potential Organizational-Level Interventions to Reduce Bullying

Part Five: Intervention Strategies for Bullies

Part Six: Strategies for Targets of Bullying

Reducing Senior Bullying: Conversation with Bullying Expert Robin Bonifas, PhD, MSW

This 50-minute audio addresses how organizations can implement programs to reduce senior bullying, discussing in detail issues touched upon in Dr. Bonifas’ blog series on Senior Bullying. Listeners will learn:

How to discover the extent of senior bullying in your facility

Who should be involved in a task force to reduce senior bullying

How to distinguish between bullying and the problematic behavior of residents with dementia

Ways to create a positive environment that encourages caring behavior and thus reduces bullying