Psychological violence in the workplace is a major mental health issue within public higher education, university and scientific research institutions in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. This exploratory study aims to identify the specific forms of psychological violence experienced by civil servants, determine the main perpetrators and analyse the influence of certain socio-demographic characteristics on exposure to such violence. A sample of 223 employees, including administrative, technical and manual staff (PATO) and scientific staff (PS), was selected using stratified proportional sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and then processed using SPSS 27 software with percentages. The results reveal that humiliation and verbal abuse are the most frequently reported forms, followed by disparaging remarks, insults, threats of dismissal and employment blackmail, with increased vulnerability among agents aged 20 to 40, with 1 to 5 years’ seniority, holding university degrees (L2, D.E.S.) and belonging mainly to the PATO. The main perpetrators identified are colleagues and immediate superiors (department heads, directors), which highlights the role of power relations and the working environment in the emergence of this type of violence and calls for the implementation of institutional measures for prevention, awareness-raising and conflict management in order to protect the psychological health of workers.

This study analyses the mental health of scientific and administrative staff at public higher education and university institutions in Kisangani, in a context marked by frequent psychological violence in the workplace. Based on Labelle et al.’s concept of psychological distress (stress, anxiety, depression), it aims to describe levels of psychological distress and examine the influence of different forms of psychological violence (verbal abuse, humiliation, derogatory remarks, insults, intimidation, blackmail) on these dimensions. A sample of 223 agents, selected by stratified sampling from among scientific, administrative, technical and manual staff, was surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire, and the data were processed using SPSS (descriptive statistics, linear regressions). The results indicate moderate to high levels of depression (M = 47.35), stress (M = 37.77) and anxiety (M = 24.39), reflecting a worrying impact on mental health, with certain forms of psychological violence, in particular verbal violence and blackmail, contributing significantly to all three dimensions of distress. Psychological violence thus appears to be a significant factor contributing to workplace distress in these institutions, which calls for the implementation of institutional measures to prevent violence, promote workplace wellbeing and provide psychological support for staff.

Through this study, we want to explain stress through the coping strategies used by agents and civil servants in the city of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After analyzing the data, we realized that to control stress at work, respondents do not use the different dimensions in the same way. In the order of succession of these dimensions, appear value conversion, acceptance, behavioral and social withdrawal, cognitive control vs planning and addictiveness. Also, we have found that all coping strategies are used, although not in the same way. Nonetheless, there is conversion that comes first, followed by control, with refusal and withdrawal taking third and fourth place respectively, social support and, lastly, focus. In the same vein, the three fields of the Toulouse coping scale (ETC) are operated in roughly the same way. Finally, the two categories of ETC coping (positive coping and negative coping) are used indiscriminately by officials of the State of the City of Kisangani, with an emphasis on negative coping (81.16) than positive (80, 93).

In undertaking this investigation, the main concern is to have an appropriate instrument adapted to the environment of workers in Kisangani to fully apprehend professional exhaustion or burnout at work. To do this, two approaches can be put to good use by the researcher, either to design his own tools in case they do not exist, or to adapt those from other skies. This research is part of the second approach, which proposes an application trial of a tool concerning professional burnout, in particular the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). It is in order to see whether it is, yes or not, adapted to the reality of the environment and to adopt it in the scientific investigations in the environment of workers of Kisangani. Research is working on the metrological qualities of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). In the validation of the MBI, attention was focused on the precision entered from the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the validity by the homogeneity of the tool through the item-test correlation coefficient. Three types of validity were the subject of the MBI, namely facial or content validity, construct or trait validity and nomological or predictive validity.