Digital harassment and its mental health impact among healthcare professionals: A scoping review.

Digital harassment, including workplace cyberbullying, online defamation, and social media attacks, has been reported among healthcare professionals. This scoping review systematically maps existing evidence on digital harassment and its mental health consequences among healthcare professionals. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, we searched MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Ichushi-Web through December 2025. Twenty-four studies from 12 countries were included. Workplace cyberbullying prevalence ranged from 1.5% to 46.6%. Across studies, digital harassment was reported in association with depression, anxiety, burnout, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and moral injury-related experiences, although causal relationships could not be established. Seven included studies (28%) addressed pandemic-related digital harassment, including online abuse and stigmatization of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 period. Within the English- and Japanese-language literature identified in this review, Japanese studies were limited (three studies). From a consultation-liaison psychiatry perspective, harassment following ethically mandated actions may relate to moral injury-related experiences and may warrant further attention to institutional support. Evidence for effective interventions remains scarce. This review suggests that digital harassment may represent an emerging occupational concern with potential mental health implications. The evidence base was predominantly cross-sectional and methodologically heterogeneous, and findings should therefore be interpreted cautiously. Important needs include institutional policies, legal protections, psychological support systems, and further research on intervention effectiveness and cross-cultural patterns.