Psychological Safety in Saudi Arabian Healthcare: A Scoping Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52609/jmlph.v5i2.153Keywords:
Health Care , Intervention , Mindfulness , Psychological Safety , Saudi ArabiaAbstract
Background: Psychological safety arises from the knowledge that one will not be penalised for speaking one’s mind, sharing concerns, or admitting mistakes. There is a dearth of studies in the Saudi Arabian context on the subject of mindfulness-based interventions to improve psychological safety in the workplace.
Objectives: This study aims to investigate psychological safety in the Saudi Arabian healthcare sector, with the goal of promoting mindfulness-based interventions for healthcare workers. Presently, there are no formal training programs in Saudi Arabia for the healthcare workforce; essentially, the concept of mindfulness-based organisational education has yet to reach the attention of human resource managers in this sector. Our aim, therefore, is to raise awareness of the potential for novel intervention programs to improve psychological safety.
Methods: The review follows the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) method, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews. The aim of a scoping review is to detect potential research gaps. Presently, mindfulness-based programs relating to psychological safety are under-researched in the Saudi Arabian context, and a scoping review is a preliminary requirement before a formal systematic review is conducted.
Results: Our findings indicate that healthcare workers do perceive barriers to psychological safety in the workplace, suggesting a need for training interventions that may help improve this situation.
Conclusion: Saudi Arabian healthcare settings require further interventions, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, to improve workplace effectiveness and increase psychological safety among healthcare workers.
References
Albaalharith T, A'aqoulah A. Level of pa-tient safety culture awareness among healthcare workers. JMDH. 2023 Feb 2;16:321–32.
Edmondson AC, Lei Z. Psychological safe-ty:
the history, renaissance, and future of an in-terpersonal construct. Annu Rev Organ Psychol Organ Behav. 2014 Mar 21;1(1):23–43.
Mutair AA, Alhumaid S, Shamsan A, Zaidi ARZ, Mohaini MA, Al Mutairi A, et al. The effective strategies to avoid medication er-rors and improving reporting systems. Med-icines. 2021 Sep;8(9):46
Al Muharraq EH, Abdali F, Alfozan A, Alallah S, Sayed B, Makakam A. Exploring the perception of safety culture among nurses in Saudi Arabia. BMC Nurs. 2024 Jun 19;23(1):412.
Alilyyani B, Kerr MS, Wong C, Wazqar DY. The influence of authentic leadership on nurses' turnover intentions and satisfac-tion with quality of care in Saudi Arabia: A structural equation modelling study. J Nurs-ing Management. 2022 Nov;30(8):4262–73.
Mahsoon AN, Dolansky M. Safety culture and systems thinking for predicting safety competence and safety performance among registered nurses in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Research in Nursing. 2021 Mar;26(1–2):19–32.
Mousa W, Aldehayyat JS. Regional effi-ciency of healthcare services in Saudi Ara-bia. Middle East Development Journal. 2018 Jan 2;10(1):152–74.
Al-shomrani AZ, Hamouda GM, Abdullah N, Al-shomrani AZ, Hamouda GM, Abdul-lah N. The relationship between psycholog-ical empowerment and clinical decision-making among staff nurses in governmental hospital in al-baha, saudi arabia. Cureus [Internet]. 2024 Mar 25 [cited 2024 Sep 26];16(3). Available from: https://www.cureus.com/articles/235278-the-relationship-between-psychological-empowerment-and-clinical-decision-making-among-staff-nurses-in-governmental-hospital-in-al-baha-saudi-arabia.
Abdulla Almadani N. Assessment of nurs-ing practice environment in primary healthcare centers in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study. SAGE Open. 2023 Oct;13(4):21582440231208930.
Aljadhey H, Al-Babtain B, Mahmoud MA, Alaqeel S, Ahmed Y. Culture of safety among nurses in a tertiary teaching hospital in saudi arabia. Tropical Journal of Phar-maceutical Research. 2016 Apr 8;15(3):639–44.
Yusuf Y, Irwan AM. The influence of nurse leadership style on the culture of patient safety incident reporting: a systematic re-view. British Journal of Healthcare Man-agement. 2021 Jun 2;27(6):1–7.
Al Malki A, Endacott R, Innes K. Health professional perspectives of patient safety issues in intensive care units in Saudi Ara-bia. J Nurs Manag. 2018 Mar;26(2):209–18.
Kaud Y, Lydon S, O'Connor P. Measuring and monitoring patient safety in hospitals in Saudi Arabia. BMC Health Services Re-search. 2021 Nov 12;21(1):1224.
Sobaih AEE, Gharbi H, Abu Elnasr AE. Do you feel safe here? The role of psychologi-cal safety in the relationship between trans-formational leadership and turnover inten-tion amid covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Risk and Financial Management. 2022 Aug;15(8):340.
Krusche A, Jack CD, Blunt C, Hsu A. Mindfulness-based organizational educa-tion: an evaluation of a mindfulness course delivered to employees at the royal ortho-paedic hospital. Mindfulness. 2020 Feb 1;11(2):362–73.
Abu Alrub AM, Amer YS, Titi MA, May ACA, Shaikh F, Baksh MM, et al. Barriers and enablers in implementing an electronic incident reporting system in a teaching hospital: A case study from Saudi Arabia. Health Planning & Management. 2022 Mar;37(2):854–72.
Colet PC, Cruz JP, Cacho G, Al‐Qubeilat H, Soriano SS, Cruz CP. Perceived infection prevention climate and its predictors among nurses in Saudi Arabia. J of Nursing Scholarship. 2018 Mar;50(2):134–42.
Alharbi W, Cleland J, Morrison Z. Assess-ment of patient safety culture in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia. Oman Med J. 2018 May 28;33(3):200–8.
Alatawi AD, Niessen LW, Khan JAM. De-terminants of technical efficiency in public hospitals: the case of Saudi Arabia. Health Economics Review. 2020 Aug 1;10(1):25.
Nofal A, Alfayyad I, Khan A, Aseri ZA, Abu-Shaheen A. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of emergency department staff towards disaster and emergency prepared-ness at tertiary health care hospital in cen-tral Saudi Arabia. Saudi Medical Journal. 2018 Nov 1;39(11):1123–9.
Rawas H, Abou Hashish EA. Predictors and outcomes of patient safety culture at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A nursing perspective. BMC Nurs-ing. 2023 Jul 3;22(1):229.
Thobaity AA, Plummer V, Innes K, Copnell B. Perceptions of knowledge of disaster management among military and civilian nurses in Saudi Arabia. Australasian Emer-gency Nursing Journal. 2015 Aug 1;18(3):156–64.
Santa R, Borrero S, Ferrer M, Gherissi D. Fostering a healthcare sector quality and safety culture. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance. 2018 Jan 1;31(7):796–809.
Identifying predictors of patient safety competency based on teamwork and psy-chological safety among emergency nurses. [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2024 Sep 27]. Avail-able from: https://www.researchsquare.com
Farghaly Abdelaliem SM, Abou Zeid MAG. The relationship between toxic leadership and organizational performance: the medi-ating effect of nurses' silence. BMC Nurs-ing. 2023 Jan 4;22(1):4.
Moussa M, Sofyani HA, Alblowi BH, Moussa FL, Albarqi A, ALHarbi HS, et al. Evaluation of clinical team competence: case of saudi arabia. Global Journal of Health Science. 2020 Feb 24;12(3):p137.
El. Abdou R, A. Hassan H, M. Badran F. Organizational silence as perceived by staff nurses and its relation to their self-efficacy. Egyptian Journal of Health Care. 2023 Mar 1;14(1):656–69.
Arksey H, O'Malley L. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Inter
national Journal of Social Research Meth-odology. 2005 Feb;8(1):19–32.
Arksey H, O'Malley L. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. In-ternational Journal of Social Research Methodology. 2005 Feb;8(1):19–32.
Al-Ghazali BM, Sohail MS. The impact of employees' perceptions of CSR on career satisfaction: evidence from Saudi Arabia. Sustainability. 2021 Jan;13(9):5235.
Al-Ghazali BM, Afsar B. Investigating the mechanism linking task conflict with em-ployees' innovative work behavior. Interna-tional Journal of Conflict Management. 2021 Jan 1;32(4):599–625.
Alrashidi N, Pasay an E, Alrashedi MS, Alqarni AS, Gonzales F, Bassuni EM, et al. Effects of simulation in improving the self-confidence of student nurses in clinical practice: a systematic review. BMC Medi-cal Education. 2023 Oct 30;23(1):815.
Alanazi MM, Alanazi MR. Correlation bet-
ween quality of healthcare and safety cul-ture in Saudi Arabia organizations. Interna-tional Journal of Research in Medical Sci-ences. 2023 Jan 25;11(2):453–8.
Alanazi MM, Alanazi MR. Correlation be-tween quality of healthcare and safety cul-ture in Saudi Arabia organizations. Interna-tional Journal of Research in Medical Sci-ences. 2023 Jan 25;11(2):453–8.
Mousa O, Alghazal MS, AlBather AA, Alhassan AN, Alamer MH, Alghadeer ZT, et al. A study on patient safety incidents and the second victim phenomenon among healthcare providers in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Cureus [Internet]. 2023 Nov 24 [cited
Sep 27];15(11). Available from: https://www.cureus.com/articles/203035-a-study-on-patient-safety-incidents-and-the-second-victim-phenomenon-among-healthcare-providers-in-al-ahsa-saudi-arabia
Aljaffary A, Albaalharith MA, Alumran A, Alrawiai S, Hariri B.
patient safety cul-ture in Primary Healthcare Centers In The Eastern Province Of Saudi Arabia
. RMHP. 2022 Feb 15;15:229–41.Al-Hanawi MK, Alsharqi O, Almazrou S, Vaidya K. Healthcare finance in the king-dom of saudi arabia: a qualitative study of householders' attitudes. Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2018 Feb 1;16(1):55–64.
Al Naimi SM. Economic diversification trends in the gulf: the case of Saudi Arabia. CircEconSust. 2022 Mar 1;2(1):221–30.
Alsadaan N, Jones LK, Kimpton A, Da-Costa C. Challenges facing the nursing pro-fession in saudi arabia: an integrative re-view. Nursing Reports. 2021 Jun;11(2):395–403.
Alluhidan M, Tashkandi N, Alblowi F, Omer T, Alghaith T, Alghodaier H, et al. Challenges and policy opportunities in nursing in Saudi Arabia. Human Resources for Health. 2020 Dec 4;18(1):98.
Al-Mansour K. Stress and turnover inten-tion among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia during the time of COVID-19: Can social support play a role? PLOS ONE. 2021 Oct 7;16(10):e0258101.
Nufaiei ZFA, Bukhari AA, Abalkhail NA, Melebari RM, Alluhibi R, Zhranei RMA, et al. Health care clinical preceptors & rsquo; attitudes towards interprofessional educa-tion in saudi arabia: a cross-sectional study. AMEP. 2024 Apr 22;15:343–55.
Senitan M, Alhabeeb AA, Althumairi NA, Alqahtani MMJ, Al-Duraihem RA, BinDhim NF. Perceptions of mental disor-der causes, treatments, and prevention among the general population in Saudi Arabia. Front Psychiatry. 2024 Jun 24;15:1404957.
Alzahrani WAA, Alghamdi AMA, Alzah-rani MAI, Alshamrani MMM, Alhazmi MFA, Alharbi RAJ. Exploring the relation-ship between interprofessional team cli-mate and job satisfaction among physi-cians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, respira-tory therapists, and hospital managers in a Saudi Arabian armed forces hospital. Che-lonian Research Foundation. 2024 Jan 10;19(01):1156–67.
Albalawi A, Kidd L, Cowey E. Factors con-
tributing to the patient safety culture in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2020 Oct 1;10(10):e037875.
Exploring the relationship between team diversity, psychological safety and team performance: evidence from pharmaceuti-cal drug development - working paper - faculty & research - harvard business school [Internet]. [cited 2024 Sep 27]. Available from: https://www.hbs.edu/faulty/Pages/item.aspx?num=61993#:~:text=By:%20Henik%20Bres-man%20and%20Amy%20C.%20Edmondson.%20Format:
Mousa W, Aldehayyat JS. Regional effi-ciency of healthcare services in Saudi Ara-bia. Middle East Development Journal. 2018 Jan 2;10(1):152–74.
Rahman R, Al-Borie HM. Strengthening the Saudi Arabian Healthcare System: role of vision 2030. International Journal of Healthcare Management. 2021 Oct 2;14(4):1483–91.
Allhaiby NM, Kalantan AM, Tunkar MM, Abuzenada MA, Alsaywid BS, Allhaiby NM, et al. Healthcare practitioners' quality of life in rural and urban areas of Saudi Arabia. Cureus [Internet]. 2023 Oct 9 [cited 2024 Sep 27];15(10). Available from: https://www.cureus.com/articles/172892-healthcare-practitioners-quality-of-life-in-rural-and-urban-areas-of-saudi-arabia.
ALHazim SS, Al-Otaibi ST, Herzallah NH. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regard-ing ergonomic hazards among healthcare workers in a saudi government hospital. JMDH. 2022 Aug 24;15:1771–8.
Hamdan AB, Alshammary S, Javison S, Tamani J, AlHarbi M, Hamdan AB, et al. Burnout among healthcare providers in a comprehensive cancer center in Saudi Ara-bia. Cureus [Internet]. 2019 Jan 30 [cited 2024 Sep 27];11(1). Available from: https://www.cureus.com/articles/17390-burnout-among-healthcare-providers-in-a-comprehensive-cancer-center-in-saudi-arabia.
Nembhard IM, Edmondson AC. Making it
safe: the effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. J Organ Behavior. 2006 Nov;27(7):941–66.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Yumna Ali , Roaya Alqurashi, Ahmed M. Asfahani , Mark Leonard, Catherine Elisa John, Yasuhiro Kotera
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) is a flexible and commonly used license that allows others to share, remix, adapt, and build upon the work even for commercial purposes, as long as they follow the requirements outlined by the license.
