Workplace Gaslighting Increases Nurses’ Job Burnout and Turnover Intention in Greece

Νurses often experience abusive behavior, which has a negative impact on their mental health and leads them to quit their jobs. Background/Objectives: To evaluate the impact of workplace gaslighting on nurses’ job burnout and turnover intention. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece with a convenience sample of 410 nurses. We used the Gaslighting at Work Scale (GWS) to measure levels of workplace gaslighting in our sample. Also, we used the single item burnout measure to measure job burnout, and a six-point Likert scale to measure turnover intention. We constructed multivariable regression models to estimate the independent effect of workplace gaslighting on job burnout and turnover intention. Results: We found that workplace gaslighting increases job burnout in our sample. Our multivariable linear regression model identified a positive relationship between score on the factor “loss of self-trust” and job burnout (b = 0.484, 95% CI = 0.267 to 0.702, p < 0.001). Similarly, we found a positive relationship between score on the factor “abuse of power” and job burnout (b = 0.660, 95% CI = 0.463 to 0.856, p < 0.001). We found that workplace gaslighting increases nurses’ turnover intention. According to our multivariable logistic regression model nurses with higher score on the factor “loss of self-trust” had also a higher turnover intention (OR = 1.622, 95% CI = 1.307 to 2.013, p < 0.001). Similarly, we found that nurses with higher score on the factor “abuse of power” had also a higher probability of turnover intention (OR = 1.703, 95% CI = 1.390 to 2.088, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings suggested that workplace gaslighting has a negative impact on nurses’ job burnout and turnover intention. There is a need to reduce levels of workplace gaslighting among nurses to improve their work life and productivity.