Acoso laboral y salud mental en América Latina: un análisis de su relación con los factores individuales, intralaborales y extralaborales de las víctimas

Abstract

Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization identify workplace harassment as a high-impact psychosocial risk. Its prevalence increases in settings characterized by unstable employment contracts and a lack of institutional protection mechanisms. Evidence shows that prolonged exposure to harassment not only causes anxiety and depression, but also insomnia, chronic stress, and emotional exhaustion. Although research on this topic has expanded significantly, there remains a limited conceptual understanding of the individual, work-related, and external factors that shape the intensity and duration of these effects. This study poses the central question: What are the most common emotional and psychological effects experienced by victims of workplace harassment in Latin America, and which individual, intralaboral, and extralaboral factors influence their presence? A scoping review was conducted using a qualitative-descriptive approach following PRISMA guidelines, across the PubMed, Scopus, and SciELO databases. Selection and screening were carried out through Rayyan, complemented by a manual search for additional articles. The findings reveal that the most frequently reported effects are anxiety, depression, burnout, sleep disturbances, and somatic complaints, with higher prevalence among women. Identified intralaboral factors include leadership style, workload, verbal violence, and lack of protective policies; individual factors include age, gender, and occupational rank; and extralaboral factors involve the COVID-19 pandemic, work-life balance, and structural inequalities. Workplace harassment in the region is a multifactorial issue, with psychological consequences shaped by organizational, social, and personal variables. These findings support the development of more targeted strategies for intervention, prevention, and protection in the Latin American workplace context.