**2. Material and method**

#### **2.1 Study sample**

Medical residents were asked to state their gender, age group, the sector where they work (Laboratory, Internal Medicine, and Surgery), and how many years they were specialized in total, but also in the present organization. The UGHP was chosen as it accepts a plethora of incidents from across the region of Western Greece and therefore the amount of workload is large. Written approval was obtained from the UGHP Ethics Committee (decision number 40/18.01.18). Moreover, a written statement was submitted by the researchers to the UGHP Ethics Committee safeguarding the anonymity of the participants; to ensure anonymity, each respondent was given an identical envelope in which he/she enclosed his/her answers. During the completion of the questionnaires, any questions of understanding were answered and the necessary clarifications were given.

The research population was 243 medical residents who, according to the records of the UGHP Human Resources Sector, were working on the organization at the time of the study; despite efforts to maximize participation, the sample of participants for the present study consisted of a total of 92 individuals (participation rate: 37.9%), from all specialties in the Laboratory, Internal Medicine and Surgery Sector. The remaining medical residents refused to participate with the most common justifications, the lack of time due to excessive workload (78%), or indifference (19%), being cautious about the reassurances of anonymity (3%). There were even aggressive behaviors towards the researcher of the present study.

#### **2.2 Questionnaires**

A questionnaire covering socio-demographic (gender, age, education), and workrelated parameters (sector-specialty; total years of work as a medical resident; years of work as a medical resident especially at UGHP) was distributed to study participants. The Einarsen Negative Acts Questionnaire revised (NAQ-R) was used as the tool to measure exposure to mobbing in the workplace environment. This questionnaire has a high coefficient of internal coherence (Cronbach-alpha = 0.915). Kakoulakis et al. have validated it in Greek [4, 7]. The author of the present study requested and got written approval for the use of the questionnaire.

NAQ includes a total of 23 questions. Of these, questions 1, 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, and 21 pertain to a specific scale of labor-related intimidation. Questions 2, 5, 6–10, 15, 17, 20, and 22 relate to a scale of labor-related intimidation regarding the worker's personality. Question 23 concerns how often the respondent considers that there is moral harassment in his/her work after being given the definition. The questions are rated from 1 to 5 (5 point Likert scale), with the scale corresponding to: 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = once per month, 4 = once a week, 5 = every day. The above answers are added together and the total score results in values ranging from 23 (lower) to 115 (higher), and the higher the sum, the higher the mobbing phenomenon. Based on the weighting of the Greek population, the interpretation of the results is as follows: nonexistence of mobbing: 23–25 points; low levels of mobbing: 26–34 points; moderate levels: 35–44 points; high levels: 45–55 points; very high levels of mobbing—frequent and extreme aggressive behaviors: 56 points or more [7].
