Relationships between leisure-time energy expenditure and individual coping strategies for shift-work

Using leisure crafting to reduce emotional exhaustion at home during the COVID-19 pandemic through better sleep and not thinking about the pandemic

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we aimed to investigate whether leisure crafting reduces emotional exhaustion by improving sleep quality and strengthening psychological detachment from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We posited that sleep quality and psychological detachment from the COVID-19 pandemic mediate the negative relationship between leisure crafting and emotional exhaustion. We carried out a two-wave longitudinal study among a group of individuals (N = 216) from Wuhan, China. We measured leisure crafting, sleep quality, and psychological detachment from the COVID-19 pandemic at Time 1 and emotional exhaustion two months later at Time 2. We discovered that leisure crafting reduced emotional exhaustion at home by improving sleep quality and increasing psychological detachment from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of this article, we discuss theoretical and practical implications, research limitations, and directions for future research.

Movement Behavior and Health Outcomes among Sedentary Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Sedentary behavior, which is highly prevalent among office workers, is associated with multiple health disorders, including those of the musculoskeletal and cardiometabolic systems. Although prior studies looked at postures or physical activity during work or leisure time, few analyzed both posture and movement throughout the entire day.

OBJECTIVE

This cross-sectional pilot study examined the movement behavior of sedentary office workers during both work and leisure time to explore its association with musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD) and cardiometabolic health indicators.

METHODS

Twenty-six participants completed a survey and wore a thigh-based inertial measuring unit (IMU) to quantify the time spent in different postures, the number of transitions between postures, and the step count during work and leisure time. A heart rate monitor and ambulatory blood pressure cuff were worn to quantify cardiometabolic measures. The associations between movement behavior, MSD, and cardiometabolic health indicators were evaluated.

RESULTS

The number of transitions differed significantly between those with and without MSD. Correlations were found between MSD, time spent sitting, and posture transitions. Posture transitions had negative correlations with body mass index and heart rate.

CONCLUSIONS

Although no single behavior was highly correlated with health outcomes, these correlations suggest that a combination of increasing standing time, walking time, and the number of transitions between postures during both work and leisure time was associated with positive musculoskeletal and cardiometabolic health indicators among sedentary office workers and should be considered in future research.

Integration of Time-Based Recommendations with Current Pediatric Health Behavior Guidelines: Implications for Obesity Prevention and Treatment in Youth

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Youth-onset obesity is associated with negative health outcomes across the lifespan including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, dyslipidemias, asthma, and several cancers. Pediatric health guidelines have traditionally focused on the quality and quantity of dietary intake, physical activity, and sleep.

RECENT FINDINGS

Emerging evidence suggests that the timing (time of day when behavior occurs) and composition (proportion of time spent allocated to behavior) of food intake, movement (i.e., physical activity, sedentary time), and sleep may independently predict health trajectories and disease risks. Several theoretically driven interventions and conceptual frameworks feature behavior timing and composition (e.g., 24 h movement continuum, circadian science and chronobiology, intermittent fasting regimens, structured day hypothesis). These literatures are, however, disparate, with little crosstalk across disciplines. In this review, we examine dietary, sleep, and movement guidelines and recommendations for youths ages 0-18 in the context of theoretical models and empirical findings in support of time-based approaches. The review aims to inform a unifying framework of health behaviors and guide future research on the integration of time-based recommendations into current quantity and quality-based health guidelines for children and adolescents.

Work-related fatigue: A hazard for workers experiencing disproportionate occupational risks

BACKGROUND

Long working hours and fatigue are significant occupational safety and health (OSH) hazards for working populations who experience disproportionate risks of injury and illness. These groups include young or new workers, aging workers, contingent and temporary workers, immigrant and nonnative workers, female workers, minority workers, workers with low levels of education and lower socioeconomic status, and small business employees. An increasing focus on newer determinants of health in the workplace, such as health equity and work-life conflict, in worker populations at greater risk for injury or illness, provides an opportunity for researchers to address the causes and consequences of work-related fatigue in high-risk populations.

METHODS

Articles in the OSH literature that addressed fatigue in higher-risk workers were identified by the authors or recommended by subject matter experts in workplace fatigue as part of a Working Hours, Sleep and Fatigue Forum. Additional articles were identified by searching for a combination of specific at-risk worker group titles (e.g., female workers, temporary workers) with fatigue or working hours.

RESULTS

There remains a paucity of research specifically addressing working hours and fatigue among disproportionately at-risk worker populations. The literature reviewed in this paper suggests that several of these populations are at increased risk of fatigue due to multiple factors, such as irregular shifts, lack of access to fatigue management resources, and socioeconomic barriers.

CONCLUSIONS

More research is needed to identify solutions to address fatigue in working populations who may be at greater risk for its consequences by virtue of adverse socioeconomic and related factors. Interventions to address work-related fatigue in specific at-risk worker groups should also consider the multiple and overlapping categories of risk within these populations.

Work and sport: relationships between specific job stressors and sports participation

This study examines the relationships between different job stressors and sports participation. Based on a large-scale representative sample (N = 1935), the paper tested if the number of different job stressors encountered in a job is related to sports participation. Moreover, we examined the relative impact of different stressors on sport participation. As predicted, the number of stressors encountered at work is negatively associated with leisure-time sports participation. When testing the relative effects of different job stressors, intense physical labour, shift and night work, and job insecurity (i.e. having a fixed-term contract or fearing unemployment) are negatively related to sports participation, whereas hazardous exposure (i.e. noise), bad working atmosphere, and long working hours are not related to sports participation. Hence, the total number of job stressors, but also the specificity of job stressors, should be taken into account by professionals in the fields of health research and physical activity promotion. Practioner summary: In a large-scale representative sample, we examined if different adverse job conditions are negatively related to sports participation. We found that the number of different job stressors was negatively related to sports participation. In particular, intense physical labour, shift and night work as well as job insecurity had an impact.

Changes in work factors and concurrent changes in leisure time physical activity: a 12-year longitudinal analysis

OBJECTIVES

There is a paucity of longitudinal population-based studies examining whether changes in work factors are associated with concurrent changes in leisure time physical activity (LTPA). This study examines this issue using 12 years of longitudinal survey data.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the Canadian National Population Health Survey. The initial analytical sample in 1994 of 6407 working individuals was followed every 2 years from 2000 to 2010. Seven work factors were measured as independent variables: skill discretion, decision authority, psychological demands, physical exertion, number of jobs, hours at work and shift schedule. LTPA was categorised as inactive, moderately active or active based on metabolic equivalent task values. Fixed-effects multinomial logistic models were used to examine associations between work factors and LTPA controlling for time-invariant effects and adjusted for covariates.

RESULTS

Workers with lower skill discretion (OR=0.96; 95% CI 0.92 to 0.99), higher psychological demands (OR=0.95; 95% CI 0.92 to 0.99), higher physical exertion (OR=0.93; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.99) and longer work hours (OR=0.97; 95% CI 0.95 to 098) were associated with a lower odds of transitioning from inactive to active and moderately active. There was no evidence of effect modification by age or sex.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that as participants' skill discretion decreased, and their physical and psychological demands, and work hours increased, their likelihood of becoming more active and moderately active also decreased, supporting the value of targeting improvements in these work factors for physical activity interventions.

Expanding the occupational health methodology: A concatenated artificial neural network approach to model the burnout process in Chinese nurses

Artificial neural networks are sophisticated modelling and prediction tools capable of extracting complex, non-linear relationships between predictor (input) and predicted (output) variables. This study explores this capacity by modelling non-linearities in the hardiness-modulated burnout process with a neural network. Specifically, two multi-layer feed-forward artificial neural networks are concatenated in an attempt to model the composite non-linear burnout process. Sensitivity analysis, a Monte Carlo-based global simulation technique, is then utilised to examine the first-order effects of the predictor variables on the burnout sub-dimensions and consequences. Results show that (1) this concatenated artificial neural network approach is feasible to model the burnout process, (2) sensitivity analysis is a prolific method to study the relative importance of predictor variables and (3) the relationships among variables involved in the development of burnout and its consequences are to different degrees non-linear.

PRACTITIONER SUMMARY

Many relationships among variables (e.g., stressors and strains) are not linear, yet researchers use linear methods such as Pearson correlation or linear regression to analyse these relationships. Artificial neural network analysis is an innovative method to analyse non-linear relationships and in combination with sensitivity analysis superior to linear methods.

Individual differences in tolerance to shift work--a systematic review

Shift work tolerance is a term describing the ability to adapt to shift work without adverse consequences. In this paper we systematically review literature published investigating the relation between individual differences such as age, gender, personality, morningness/eveningness as well as biological variables and different measures of shift work tolerance from 1998 till 2009. A total of 60 articles were included in this review, of which ten studies were classified as longitudinal, while the rest were classified as cross-sectional. Overall, the studies indicate that young age, male gender, low scores on morningness, high scores on flexibility and low scores on languidity, low scores on neuroticism, high scores on extraversion and internal locus of control and some genetic dispositions are related to higher shift work tolerance. More longitudinal studies, especially concerning personality, are needed to make conclusions about the predictive power of individual differences for shift work tolerance.

Application of artificial neural networks to a study of nursing burnout

Nursing is generally considered to be a profession with high levels of emotional and physical stress that tend to increase. These high stress levels lead to a high risk of burnout. The objective was to assess whether artificial neural network (ANN) paradigms offer greater predictive accuracy than statistical methodologies, which are commonly used in the field of burnout. A radial basis function (RBF) network and hierarchical stepwise regression was used to assess burnout. The comparison of the two methodologies was carried out by analysing a sample of 462 nurses and student nurses. The subjects were from three hospitals in Madrid (Spain), who completed the 'Nursing Burnout Scale' survey. A RBF network was better suited for the analysis of burnout than hierarchical stepwise regression. The outcomes indicate furthermore that the relationship with the burnout process of the predictive variables age, job status, workload, experience with pain and death, conflictive interaction, role ambiguity and hardy personality is not entirely linear. The usage of ANNs in the field of burnout has been justified due to their superior ability to capture non-linear relationships, which is relevant for theory development. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Due to the superior ability to capture non-linear relationships, ANNs are better suited to explain and predict burnout and its subdimensions than common statistical methods. From this perspective, more specific programmes to prevent burnout and its consequences in the workplace can be designed.