Psychosocial safety climate buffers effects of job demands on depression and positive organizational behaviors

The Relationship Between Work-Related Stress and Depression: A Scoping Review

Objectives

Work-related stress is highly prevalent. Recent systematic reviews concluded on a significant association between common work-related stress measures and depression. Our scoping review aims to explore whether work-related psychosocial stress is generally associated with depression or depressiveness, the extent and methodology of the primary research undertaken on this topic and to elucidate inconsistencies or gaps in knowledge.

Methods

We searched for literature in Pubmed, PsycInfo and Web of Science including full reports in seven languages published between 1999 and 2022 and applied the PRISMA statement for scoping reviews criteria.

Results

Of 463 primarily identified articles, 125 were retained after abstract and full-text screening. The majority report significant associations between work-related stress and depression. Cross-sectional studies are most prevalent. Sufficient evidence exists only for job strain and effort-reward imbalance. Most studies are from Asia, North America and Europe. The health sector is the most studied. Several research gaps such as the lack of interventional studies were identified.

Conclusion

The consistency of most studies on the significant association between work-related stress and depression is remarkable. More studies are needed to improve evidence and to close research gaps.

Preventing workplace mistreatment and improving workers' mental health: a scoping review of the impact of psychosocial safety climate

BACKGROUND

Work environment is rapidly evolving, unfortunately, it is also becoming increasingly hostile for workers due mostly to common psychosocial hazards. This situation is posing significant challenges for organisations to protect the psychological well-being of their workers. Hence, this review aims to map studies to understand the influence of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) on workplace mistreatment and mental health of workers.

METHODS

The guidelines outlined by Arksey and O'Malley were adopted for this review. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR, Google and Google Scholar were searched for relevant papers. Only peer-reviewed studies that measured PSC using PSC-12, PSC-8 or PSC-4 were included in this review.

RESULTS

Thirty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. This review found that PSC has a negative association with workplace mistreatment such as bullying, harassment, violence, discrimination and abuse. Further, PSC has a positive association with psychological well-being, personal resilience and hope. Low level organisational PSC also promotes psychological distress, stress, depression, cognitive weariness and emotional exhaustion. The buffering effect of PSC is well-established. Moreover, PSC mediates the association between health-centric leadership and workers' psychological health problems. The inverse relationship between PSC and depressive symptoms was stronger for females than males.

CONCLUSION

Organisations should prioritise training and development of supervisors to enhance their supportive skills, encourage respectful behaviour, encourage the use of resources promote open and bottom-up communication and provide guidance on conflict resolution. By promoting a high PSC context, organisations can create a culture that discourages mistreatment, leading to increased employee well-being, job satisfaction, and productivity.

Psychosocial factors, psychological well-being and safety incidents among long-distance bus drivers in Ghana: A cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Commercial bus drivers account for most road traffic crashes and related mortality. The psychosocial working conditions of these drivers have been found precarious. However, road safety initiatives in Ghana still focus on correcting risky driving behaviours, ignoring the conditions under which these drivers operate. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine whether psychosocial work factors can predict the psychological well-being and risky driving behaviours of long-distance bus drivers in Ghana.

METHODS

This quantitative cross-sectional survey recruited 7315 long-distance bus drivers that operate from Accra to other parts of Ghana and cities in other West African countries. Hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).

RESULTS

We found that job demands and job resources are direct and significant predictors of psychological well-being and safety incidents among these drivers. Moreover, psychological well-being of the drivers had a significant inverse relationship with their safety incidents. Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) had a negative association with safety incidents, and a positive but non-significant association with psychological well-being. PSC had a negative and significant association with job resources contrary to the notion of the PSC theory.

CONCLUSION

Psychosocial work factors are predictors of psychological well-being and safety incidents of long-distance bus drivers. Owners and managers of bus transport businesses in Ghana, driver unions and station masters need to highly prioritise psychological health and safety of this bus drivers by providing suitable job resources and adopting bottom-up communication that might help the drivers effectively cope with their job demands.

Adaptive leadership and safety citizenship behaviors in Pakistan: the roles of readiness to change, psychosocial safety climate, and proactive personality

Challenging times have put organizations in a perilous and chaotic state that demands immediate resolution and calls for effective leadership to help navigate out of the crisis. In this context, we focused on psychosocial safety climate theory to investigate the influence of adaptive leadership on safety citizenship behaviors by looking at the mediating effect of readiness to change and the moderating impact of psychosocial safety climate and proactive personality, particularly in the Pakistani healthcare sector. To test the hypotheses, the data were collected from 397 employees working in the healthcare sector of Pakistan at two different times. The results of this study supported the model. The moderated path analysis revealed that psychosocial safety climate strengthens the direct effect of adaptive leadership on readiness to change, whereas the moderating impact of a proactive personality also strengthens the relationship between readiness to change and safety citizenship behaviors. Similarly, both moderators significantly moderated the indirect impact of adaptive leadership on safety citizenship behaviors via readiness to change. To conclude, the present study has significant implications for organizations and practitioners in both steady and uncertain environments.

The impact of psychosocial safety climate on public sector job satisfaction: the moderating role of organizational climate

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study is to uncover the effect of psychological safety climate (PSC) on employees' job satisfaction and organisational climate mediating processes explaining that association. It is posited that the four PSC aspects (management commitment, management priority, organisational participation, and organisational communication) are important for employees' job satisfaction and organisational climate act as resources to facilitate the enactment of managerial quality.

METHODS

This study uses a quantitative approach through a questionnaire survey method involving 340 Kota Kinabalu City Hall employees who were selected through simple random sampling.

RESULTS

The results of linear regression analysis found that organisation participation has a positive significant relationship with job satisfaction. Organisational communication also showed a negative and significant relationship with job satisfaction. Meanwhile, both management commitment and management priority are statistically insignificant. When the organisational climate is included in the relationship as a mediator through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to reinforce the role of psychological safety climate in increasing job satisfaction, such mediating role can only strengthen the relationship between management commitment and organisational participation with job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Despite the study being cross-sectional, it contributes to knowledge on the resources facilitating PSC, which is important for employees' psychological health. From a practical viewpoint, this study contributes to the literature showing that organizations with good PSC should have policies and practices directed towards employee well-being. The implications of the study for DBKK management are to providing knowledge on the types of psychosocial safety climate domains that plays a crucial role in improving the job satisfaction of DBKK employees.

Managers' Influence on the Prevention of Common Mental Disorders in the Workplace: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Swedish Managers

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association among managers' attitudes toward subordinates with common mental disorders (CMDs), self-confidence in supporting these subordinates, and managerial preventive actions (MPAs).

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among Swedish managers (n = 2988) and two types of MPAs: reviewing assignments and work situation (MPA-review), and talking about CMD at the workplace (MPA-talk). Binary logistic regression models were applied and adjusted for individual and organizational covariates.

RESULTS

Managers with negative attitudes toward subordinates with CMD were less likely to have done both MPAs. Managers with higher self-confidence in supporting these subordinates were more likely to have done both MPAs compared with managers with lower self-confidence.

CONCLUSIONS

Managerial negative attitudes toward CMD and self-confidence in supporting subordinates with CMD have a role in MPAs and should be addressed in manager training programs to encourage preventive actions.

Communication Overload in Hospitals: Exploring Organizational Safety Communication, Worker Job Attitudes, and Communication Efficacy

Hospitals represent complex organizations where a range of hospital workers, from physicians to administrators, encounter a deluge of information they must quickly process and act upon. New technologies implemented to streamline patient care, like electronic health records and wearable technologies, have both enhanced and complicated communicative exchanges between hospital workers and their organizations. Hospital workers feeling over saturated with workplace communication, and thus unable to effectively manage or interpret workplace messages, experience what has been labeled communication overload, which can negatively impact worker productivity and concentration. This study examines hospital workers (N = 303) in a Midwestern U.S. healthcare network, and uses structural equation modeling to offer a preliminary theoretical model that demonstrates the effects and outcomes of communication overload in high-risk organizations. The model offers theoretical implications through depicting communication overload as indirectly related to burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational identification through participation in decision-making and organizational safety climate. Results suggest that even if communication overload is an expected state in high-risk organizations, managers can prevent its negative effects on workers' job attitudes by providing workers opportunities to get involved in organizational decision-making and constructing a robust organizational safety climate. Finally, we suggest pairings of organizational safety communication channels and sources through which high quantities of safety information can be communicated without communicatively overloading workers.

The role of psychosocial safety climate on flexible work from home digital job demands and work-life conflict

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of employees in flexible work from home has increased markedly along with a reliance on information communication technologies. This study investigated the role of an organisational factor, psychosocial safety climate (PSC; the climate for worker psychological health and safety), as an antecedent of these new kinds of demands (specifically work from home digital job demands) and their effect on work-life conflict. Data were gathered via an online survey of 2,177 employees from 37 Australian universities. Multilevel modelling showed that university level PSC to demands, y=-0.09, SE=0.03, p<0.01, and demands to work-life conflict, y=0.51, SE=0.19, p<0.05, relationships were significant. Supporting the antecedent theory, university level PSC was significantly indirectly related to work-life conflict via demands (LL -0.10 UL -0.01). Against expectations PSC did not moderate the demand to work-life conflict relationship. The results imply that targeting PSC could help prevent work from home digital job demands, and therefore, work-life conflict. Further research is needed on the role of digital job resources as flexible and hybrid work takes hold post COVID.

Influence of psychosocial safety climate on occupational health and safety: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Creating a healthy, decent and safe workplace and designing quality jobs are ways to eliminate precarious work in organisations and industries. This review aimed at mapping evidence on how psychosocial safety climate (PSC) influence health, safety and performance of workers.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted in four main databases (PubMed, Scopus, Central and Web of Science) and other online sources like Google Scholar. A reference list of eligible studies was also checked for additional papers. Only full-text peer-reviewed papers published in English were eligible for this review.

RESULTS

A search in the databases produced 13,711 records, and through a rigorous screening process, 93 papers were included in this review. PSC is found to directly affect job demands, job insecurity, effort-reward imbalance, work-family conflict, job resources, job control and quality leadership. Moreover, PSC directly affects social relations at work, including workplace abuse, violence, discrimination and harassment. Again, PSC has a direct effect on health, safety and performance outcomes because it moderates the impact of excessive job demands on workers' health and safety. Finally, PSC boosts job resources' effect on improving workers' well-being, safety and performance.

CONCLUSION

Managers' efforts directed towards designing quality jobs, prioritising the well-being of workers, and fostering a bottom-up communication through robust organisational policies, practices, and procedures may help create a high organisational PSC that, in turn, promotes a healthy and decent work environment.

Developing a model for predicting safety performance of nurses based on psychosocial safety climate and role of job demands and resources, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion as mediators

BACKGROUND

The present study aimed to develop a model for predicting the safety performance of nurses based on psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and the role of job demands and resources, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion as mediators.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study using structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out among nurses in Iran. Data were collected using the Psychosocial Safety Climate questionnaire, Neal and Griffin's Safety Performance Scale, the Management Standards Indicator Tool, the Effort-Reward Imbalance questionnaire, the Michigan Organizational Assessment Job Satisfaction subscale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

RESULTS

Surveys were distributed to 340 nurses provided informed consent. After removing incplete surveys, data from 280 partipants were analysed. The completion rate was 82.35%. The SEM results indicated that PSC can directly and indirectly predict nurses' safety performance. The final model showed an acceptable goodness of fit (p = 0.023). It indicated that PSC, job demands, and job satisfaction were directly related to safety performance, and also that PSC, emotional exhaustion, job resources, and job demands were all indirectly related to safety performance. Also, PSC had a significant relationship with all mediator variables, and job demands had direct effect on emotional exhaustion.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study presented a new model for predicting safety performance in nurses in which PSC, both directly and indirectly, plays an important role. In addition to paying attention to the physical aspects of the workplace, healthcare organizations should also take into account PSC to improve safety. Next steps in reducing safety issues in nursing is to develop intervention studies using this new evidence-based model as a framework.

Organizational health climate as a precondition for health-oriented leadership: expanding the link between leadership and employee well-being

The link between leadership and employee well-being is long established. In particular, health-oriented leadership is discussed as a leadership style specifically promoting employee well-being. However, the preconditions of health-oriented leadership remain largely unexplored. From the perspective of conservation of resources theory, leaders can only provide resources when receiving some themselves. We propose that organizational health climate (OHC) is an important organization-based resource for a health-oriented leadership style. More specifically, we hypothesize that the relationship between OHC and employee job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion is mediated by health-oriented leadership. We thereby differentiate two levels of analysis: a within-team level and a between-team level. We examined 74 teams with 423 employees of childcare centers at three time points, each 6 months apart. By means of multilevel structural equation modeling, we found OHC to be a significant antecedent of health-oriented leadership at the between-team level. The relationship between OHC and employee job satisfaction was mediated by health-oriented leadership at the between-team level, but not at the within-team level. The relationship between OHC and employee exhaustion showed another pattern of relationships at the different levels of analysis, while it was not significantly mediated by health-oriented leadership. This indicates the value of differentiating between levels of analysis. We discuss the implications for theory and practice that can be drawn from our findings.

Occupational physicians dealing with mental health: between employee and company interests: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Occupational health physicians are increasingly confronted with mental health issues at their workplace. Facing them, most of them feel insecure and not sufficiently trained. Employee's mental well-being depends at the same time on individual and significantly on organizational variables. This complicates the physician's position, since they have to serve many interests. The focus of the present study is to investigate what difficulties occupational health physicians face and how organizational culture and management influence their work.

METHODS

Interviews were conducted with N = 25 physicians as part of a training for basic mental health care. Interviews were interpreted using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Working with mentally ill employees was difficult for the physicians interviewed. Many felt insecure managing and preventing mental health issues. A need for further education was observed. Environmental factors (organizational culture, management) have a strong impact on the work of an occupational health physician and highlight its systemic dimension. Even though many of our participants report a meanwhile more open attitude towards mental disorders at their workplace, on the level of direct contact to the management prevail descriptions of little acceptance and a high priority of economic outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

More education on topics of mental health is needed for occupational health physicians. Future trainings should consider the intertwined nature of their work and enable them in dealing consciously with other actors in the company. For enhancing employee's mental well-being occupational health physicians could be granted a strengthened position in companies or be supported through more exchange with colleagues in other companies.

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) at middle management level in the healthcare sector: A contribution to the Italian validation of psychosocial safety climate-4

Introduction

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) refers to workers' shared perceptions of organizational policies, practices and procedures for the protection of psychological health and safety. PSC offers a multilevel organizational approach that expands traditional models of workplace stress, giving a more comprehensive understanding of occupational health and safety issues. Although considerable research on psychosocial risks in the healthcare sector has been conducted, few studies have explored the role of PSC among healthcare workers at middle management level. Additionally, no validated version of PSC is available in Italian language. The aim of this study is to contribute to the validation of the Italian 4-item version of the PSC and to explore this theory within the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) among a sample of Italian healthcare workers by testing PSC at the middle management level.

Methods

We used cross-sectional data from 276 employees working in 17 different wards in a large Italian hospital. Intra-class coefficient (ICC) coefficient and agreement index were used to test PSC as a climate construct (data nested to hospital ward level). We performed hierarchical linear models to test mediation and moderation effects.

Results

The Italian version of PSC-4 proved to have good psychometric properties and confirmed its role as a group-level construct (α = 0.84; ICC = 0.16). Multilevel random coefficient models showed PSC was associated with Job demands (Effort: B = -0.36, SE = 0.07; Emotional demands: B = -0.03, SE = 0.01) and Job resources (Reward: B = 1.16, SE = 0.01; Physical work environment: B = 0.06, SE = 0.01). Results confirmed the indirect effect of PSC on Psychological (Burnout) and Occupational health (Job satisfaction) outcomes supporting the role of Job resources and Job demands as mediators. The multilevel analysis did not find a significant interaction terms between PSC and Job demands on Burnout therefore the moderation hypothesis was not supported.

Discussion

The Italian version of PSC-4 is a valid tool to evaluate PSC. These findings sustain the multilevel framework of PSC and the significant role played by mid-leaders in both the health impairment and motivational path. Further studies should explore the buffering effect of PSC at higher baseline levels as well as the adoption of PSC as a target for occupational health intervention the Italian context.

How Psychosocial Safety Climate Helped Alleviate Work Intensification Effects on Presenteeism during the COVID-19 Crisis? A Moderated Mediation Model

Healthcare sector organizations have long been facing the issue of productivity loss due to presenteeism which is affected by psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and work intensification. Presenteeism has visibly increased among nurses during COVID-19 pandemic period. Grounded in COR theory and sensemaking theory, the current study aimed to examine the role PSC plays as driver or moderator to reduce presenteeism by lessening work intensification over time and the impact of work intensification over time on presenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adopting a time-lagged research design, this study gathered data from randomly selected registered nurses, practicing in Québec, Canada in two phases, i.e., 800 at Time 1 and 344 at Time 2 through email surveys. The study results showed that (1) PSC reduces presenteeism over time by reducing work intensification at time 1; (2) PSC moderates the relationship between work intensification at time 1 and work intensification at time 2; and (3) PSC as moderator also lessens the detrimental effect of work intensification at time 2 on presenteeism at time 2. Presenteeism among nurses affects their health and psychological well-being. We find that PSC is likely an effective organizational tool particularly in crises situations, by providing an organizational mechanism to assist nurses cope (through a resource caravan, management support) with managing intensified work.

Psychosocial Safety Climate Moderates the Effect of Demands of Hospital Accreditation on Healthcare Professionals: A Longitudinal Study

Hospital accreditation has been studied comprehensively, yet few studies have observed its impacts on the burnout and work engagement levels of frontline healthcare professionals (HCPs). With a sample of 121 HCPs working in the United Arab Emirates' public hospitals, this study used a two-wave, cross-lagged panel design to examine the direct effects of job demands and job resources during hospital accreditations on burnout and work engagement and the moderating roles of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) on burnout and work engagement 3 months after accreditation. The data were analyzed using moderated structural equation modeling. As expected, we found that job demands (i.e., accreditation demands) had a direct effect on burnout, while job resources (i.e., social support) predicted work engagement. PSC moderated both relationships; however, it was not able to directly predict burnout or work engagement. Findings from this study show a positive relationship between accreditation demands and HCPs' health. Future research needs to examine the link between PSC and job demands-resources concepts before and after hospital accreditation more closely by using multiple time points to assess the causality relationships between predictor and outcome variables.

A Bayesian network based study on determining the relationship between job stress and safety climate factors in occurrence of accidents

BACKGROUND

Job stress and safety climate have been recognized as two crucial factors that can increase the risk of occupational accidents. This study was performed to determine the relationship between job stress and safety climate factors in the occurrence of accidents using the Bayesian network model.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was performed on 1530 male workers of Asaluyeh petrochemical company in Iran. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaires, including demographical information and accident history questionnaire, NIOSH generic job stress questionnaire, and Nordic safety climate questionnaire. Also, work experience and the accident history data were inquired from the petrochemical health unit. Finally, the relationships between the variables were investigated using the Bayesian network model.

RESULTS

A high job stress condition could decrease the high safety climate from 53 to 37% and increase the accident occurrence from 72 to 94%. Moreover, a low safety climate condition could increase the accident occurrence from 72 to 93%. Also, the concurrent high job stress and low safety climate could raise the accident occurrence from 72 to 93%. Among the associations between the job stress factor and safety climate dimensions, the job stress and worker's safety priority and risk non-acceptance (0.19) had the highest mean influence value.

CONCLUSION

The adverse effect of high job stress conditions on accident occurrence is twofold. It can directly increase the accident occurrence probability and in another way, it can indirectly increase the accident occurrence probability by causing the safety climate to go to a lower level.

Perceived Support Profiles in the Workplace: A Longitudinal Perspective

This research examines how employee’s perceptions of three sources of support in the workplace (i.e., organization, supervisor, and colleagues) combine within specific profiles and the nature of the relations between these profiles and indicators of employees’ psychological health (i.e., stress, sleep problems, psychosomatic strains, and depression). Furthermore, this research examines the within-sample and within-person stability of the identified support profiles over the course of an 8-month time interval. Latent profile and latent transition analyses conducted on a sample of 729 workers indicated six identical profiles across the two measurement occasions: 1, moderately supported; 2, weakly supported; 3, isolated; 4, well-supported; 5, supervisor supported; and 6, highly supported. Profile membership was very stable over time for most profiles, with the exception of the isolated profile which was only moderately stable. Furthermore, the isolated and supervisor-supported profiles presented the lowest levels of psychological health, while the well-supported and moderately supported profiles presented the highest levels of psychological health. Of particular interest, results suggested that some risks might be associated with the highly supported profile, although this result could be a simple reflection of the women-dominant composition of this profile. This research has implications for theory and practice, which will be discussed in the article.

Psychosocial safety climate and stigma: Reporting stress-related concerns at work

While researchers have begun to investigate theory and methods related to attenuating stress-related issues at work, one underexplored area is a barrier to reporting stress-related concerns in the workplace. Research on organizational climate broadly covers psychosocial safety at work. However, the literature has not examined other, more specific factors such as stigma towards reporting stress-related concerns in the workplace. Using a prospective design, the current study examined the distinction between psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and stigmas surrounding reporting stress that may exist in organizations. Furthermore, we investigated whether PSC would buffer against the effects of such stigmas. The findings of this study indicate that stigma and PSC are distinct and can independently predict psychosocial outcomes. The results also indicate that PSC may play a role in attenuating the effects of these stigmas on some psychosocial outcomes. Implications and potential avenues for future research in this area are discussed.

The Role of Facets of Job Satisfaction in the National and Socioeconomic Differences in Overall Job Satisfaction: A Comparison Between Studies of Civil Servants in Great Britain and Japan

OBJECTIVE

To explore national and socioeconomic differences in overall job satisfaction, we examined whether those differences can be explained by what job-related factors.

METHODS

Our datasets for this study are from the Whitehall II study and the Japan Civil Servant Study. Of the participants who were 5540 cases, with 3250 people from Great Britain and 2290 from Japan.

RESULTS

The odds ratio for job dissatisfaction was more than double in Japan compared with Britain. However, after adjusting the related factors-especially the facets of job satisfaction variables-the difference was reversed. Also, regarding the occupational differences, lower occupational grades had lower risks of overall job dissatisfaction, after adjusting for related factors.

CONCLUSIONS

The national and socioeconomic differences in overall job satisfaction were strongly related to facets of job satisfaction rather than job stress factors.

Not All Emotional Demands Are the Same: Emotional Demands from Clients' or Co-Workers' Relations Have Different Associations with Well-Being in Service Workers

There has been an increased interest in the study of emotional demands (ED) at work and its impact on workers’ well-being. However, ED have been conceptualized as a unitary concept, focused on interactions with clients, and excluding other potential sources of ED at work. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to explore the relation between ED from different relational sources (clients/patients/customers and colleagues, supervisors, and employees) and service workers’ exhaustion and engagement. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 2742 service workers were analysed using structural equation modelling. Results showed that ED from both sources (clients and colleagues) were associated with more emotional exhaustion, particularly if dealing with clients was not an integrated part of the role. Further, ED from clients’ relations were negatively associated with engagement for managers with staff responsibility, but positively for managers without staff responsibility. We also found moderating effects of psychosocial safety climate (PSC), whereby ED had the strongest effect on emotional exhaustion when PSC was low. This study suggests that different relational sources of ED at work have a different impact on employees’ well-being. Strategies that promote a reduction of extra-role ED, and the development of a PSC in the organization, could therefore offer possible solutions to promote employees’ psychological well-being and motivation.

Effect of psychosocial safety climate on psychological distress via job resources, work engagement and workaholism: a multilevel longitudinal study

Objective. Our innovation was to propose a multilevel model to explain how an organizational factor, psychosocial safety climate (PSC) - the climate for worker psychological health - related to work investment (work engagement and workaholism) and, in turn, psychological distress. Methods. Longitudinal data were collected in Peninsular Malaysia across 26 police departments from 392 police personnel, matched across 4 months, and were tested using hierarchical linear modeling. Results. The analysis revealed between-group effects linking PSC to job resources, to work engagement and to workaholism. When PSC operated by improving job resources, aside from increased work engagement, it could unwittingly boost workaholism. However, this only existed under low PSC conditions. The secondary function of PSC buffered the impact of job resources on workaholism and psychological distress. When PSC was high, job resources reduced both workaholism and psychological distress, suggesting that PSC enabled resources to do their job of mitigating unfavorable conditions. Conclusions. Results support a multilevel PSC-extended job demands-resources motivational path with cross-links, and PSC's moderation function, as an explanation of worker psychological health. Confirming PSC as a leading indicator and the importance of a motivational path, this article presents new evidence in support of targeting PSC to improve worker psychological health.

The Contributions Made by Job Satisfaction and Psychosocial Stress to the Development and Persistence of Depressive Symptoms: A 1-Year Prospective Study

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that contributed to the development and persistence of depression over the course of 1 year in work environment.

METHODS

The subjects were 992 Japanese civil servants aged between 19 and 65 years. Baseline data and linked with data collected at 1-year follow up.

RESULTS

After adjusting for baseline depression levels, job satisfaction, and work-related psychosocial stress (job control and job demand) were significantly related to depression at 1-year follow up. Moreover, those who reported job dissatisfaction were at higher risk of developing depression (odds ratios [ORs]: 1.94) and persistent depression associated with low job control (ORs: 2.64) and high job demand (ORs: 2.20).

CONCLUSIONS

Job satisfaction, and psychosocial stress at baseline predicted development of and recovery from depression at 1-year follow up, respectively.

Trends in Work Conditions and Associations with Workers' Health in Recent 15 Years: The Role of Job Automation Probability

Job automation and associated psychosocial hazards are emerging workplace challenges. This study examined the trends in work conditions and associations with workers’ health over time in jobs with different automation probabilities. We utilized data from six waves of national questionnaire surveys of randomly selected 95,762 employees between 2001 and 2016. The Job Content Questionnaire, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, and the Self-Rated Health Scale were applied, and working time was self-reported. Automation probability was derived for 38 occupations and then categorized into three groups. Trends in work conditions and the associations between automation probability, work conditions and health were examined. We observed a 7% decrease in high automation probability jobs, an overall increase in job demands for and prevalence of shift work, and a decrease in job control. Workers with high automation probability jobs had low job demands, low job control and high job insecurity. Low automation probability was associated with burnout in logistic regression models. The odds ratio of job insecurity, long working hours, and shift work relating to health was higher in the later years of the surveys. In conclusion, there has been a decrease in high automation probability jobs. Workers employed in jobs with different levels of automation probability encountered different work condition challenges.

How Do Hospital Medical and Nursing Managers Perceive Work-Related Strain on Their Employees?

Health-oriented supportive leadership behavior is a key factor in reducing work stress and promoting health. Employees in the health sector are subject to a heavy workload, and it has been shown that 40% of them show permanent health problems. A supportive leadership behavior requires the manager's awareness of the employees' well-being. However, little is yet known about how medical and nursing managers perceive the well-being of their staff. To explore this issue, we conducted a total of 37 semi-standardized interviews with 37 chief physicians (CPs), senior physicians (SPs), and senior nurses (SNs) in one German hospital. The interviews were content-analyzed based on the definitions of strain of the 'Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health'. Results show that hospital managers are aware of fatigue and further consequences such as deterioration of the team atmosphere, work ethics, treatment quality, and an increased feeling of injustice among employees. Most managers reported sick leaves as a result of psychosomatic complaints due to the permanent overstrain situation at work in the hospital. Results of this qualitative study are discussed in the light of health-oriented management relating to relevant stress models and to findings concerning staff shortages.

When empowered nurses are under stress: Understanding the impact on attitudes and behaviours

The present study examined the role of stress as a moderator on the indirect effect of structural empowerment, through psychological empowerment, on three important nurse-related outcomes: affective organizational commitment, nursing workarounds, and safety performance. The results demonstrated that structural empowerment and psychological empowerment were positively related to affective organizational commitment and safety performance, whereas neither were significantly related to nursing workarounds. Consistent with previous findings, structural empowerment was also positively correlated with psychological empowerment. Mediation models were predominantly supported, providing evidence for the expanded model of empowerment. Finally, all three moderated mediation models were significant, although the impact of stress on the nursing workaround process was contrary to what was proposed. Findings offer significant implications for both researchers and practitioners, particularly in relation to the importance of workplace empowerment, the role of stress, and the nature of the nursing workarounds construct.

The role of psychological detachment in burnout and depression: A longitudinal study of Malaysian workers

The current study aimed to examine the role of psychological detachment in the relationship between working conditions and burnout and depression. First, the study proposed that job demands would increase burnout after four months but not depression. Second, it proposed that psychological detachment would moderate the impact of job demands and job resources on burnout and depression. Third, it was proposed that the interaction between job demands, job resources and psychological detachment would predict burnout and depression. The longitudinal study design involved 345 workers (at both Time 1 and Time 2). The hierarchical regression analysis showed that increasing psychological detachment reduced the negative relationship between physical demands and depression four months later. In contrast, high psychological detachment increased the negative association between emotional resources and burnout, but not between emotional resources and depression. Overall, this study, in its discovery of the impact of working conditions on psychological health, has made a new contribution to psychological detachment studies by using different sub-constructs of job demands and job resources (i.e., emotional and physical) with four-month gaps, as previous studies did not address the impact within this time frame.

Psychosocial safety climate, workplace violence and self-rated health: A multi-level study among hospital nurses

AIMS

To validate the Chinese version Psychosocial Safety Climate scale (PSC-12), and examine the associations between PSC, workplace violence and self-rated health (SRH).

BACKGROUND

Psychosocial safety climate moderates the negative effect of workplace violence on health. To address workplace violence experienced by nurses across the Asia-Pacific region, it is important to develop and apply a Chinese language version of the tool.

METHODS

We conducted a two-part study. In the first part, the Chinese version PSC-12 was developed and tested for its validity in 405 nurses. In the second part, a total of 1690 nurses from 73 hospitals filled a questionnaire concerning their work and health conditions. Multi-level modelling was used to examine the association between PSC, workplace violence and SRH.

RESULTS

A comparable validity and reliability of the Chinese version PSC-12 with the original PSC was found. PSC scores were negatively associated with workplace violence. In the hierarchical linear model, participants from hospitals with the lowest PSC score had twofold risks of having poor SRH.

CONCLUSIONS

The Chinese version PSC-12 is a valid tool. Hospital-level PSC was associated with poor health status in female nurses.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Psychosocial safety climate should be evaluated and promoted to prevent workplace violence in nurses.

The importance of manager support for the mental health and well-being of ambulance personnel

Interventions to enhance mental health and well-being within high risk industries such as the emergency services have typically focused on individual-level factors, though there is increasing interest in the role of organisational-level interventions. The aim of this study was to examine the importance of different aspects of manager support in determining the mental health of ambulance personnel. A cross-sectional survey was completed by ambulance personnel across two Australian states (N = 1,622). Demographics, manager support and mental health measures were assessed. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions were conducted to determine the explanatory influence of the employee's perception of the priority management places upon mental health issues (manager psychosocial safety climate) and managers' observed behaviours (manager behaviour) on employee common mental disorder and well-being within ambulance personnel. Of the 1,622 participants, 123 (7.6%) were found to be suffering from a likely mental disorder. Manager psychosocial safety climate accounted for a significant amount of the variance in levels of employee common mental health disorder symptoms (13%, p<0.01) and well-being (13%, p<0.01). Manager behaviour had a lesser, but still statistically significant influence upon symptoms of common mental disorder (7% of variance, p<0.01) and well-being (10% of variance, p<0.05). The perceived importance management places on mental health and managers' actual behaviour are related but distinct concepts, and each appears to impact employee mental health. While the overall variance explained by each factor was limited, the fact that each is potentially modifiable makes this finding important and highlights the significance of organisational and team-level interventions to promote employee well-being within emergency services and other high-risk occupations.

Timeline of engagement research and future research directions

Purpose

Studies suggest that engagement is related with organizationally desired outcomes, including performance, productivity, profitability, employee retention, organization citizenship behavior and employee well-being. Despite its practical relevance in the workplace, the concept of engagement has been theoretically dispersed. Therefore, this study aims to present a conceptual review of engagement studies leading to the development of a nomological framework and an evolution timeline for the concept.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study is divided into three sections. The first section elicits the nomological framework based on the comparison between engagement, its predecessors and its contemporary concepts such as motivation theories, job design theories, burnout theories and positive psychology. A review of related theories and concepts highlights the similarities and differences vis-a-vis engagement. In the second section, the study depicts the evolution of the engagement concept based on the nomological framework. The evolution is discussed through the decades of before 1990, 1990-2000, 2000-2010 and 2010 onwards. To consolidate the theories and concepts, the authors covered studies that defined engagement as role engagement, personal engagement, work engagement and employee engagement. The third section presents the future research directions based on the framework and evolution.

Findings

The literature review reveals future research directions. These include the addition of new antecedents and theoretical frameworks to enrich the explanatory power and practical relevance of the antecedents of engagement, exploring the context of work with qualitative and mixed method designs, exploring the unit of “role” in engagement studies and the need for more replication studies in this field.

Originality/value

The key contributions of this paper are the nomological framework and the timeline of the evolution of engagement concept.

Relationships between followers' behaviors and job satisfaction in a sample of nurses

The study investigated two followership behaviors, followers’ active engagement and followers’ independent critical thinking, and their relationship with job satisfaction in a sample of nurses. In addition, the study also considered a number of control variables and classical job demands and job resources—workload and emotional dissonance for job demands, and meaningful work for job resources—which have an impact on well-being at work. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was administered to 425 nurses in an Italian hospital, and a hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses. In addition to the job demands and job resources considered, followers’ active engagement had a significant impact on job satisfaction. Moreover, it showed a significant linear and curvilinear relationship with the outcome variable. Followers’ independent critical thinking has a non significant relationship with job satisfaction, confirming the mixed results obtained in the past for this dimension. These findings bore out the importance of analyzing followers’ behaviors as potential resources that people can use on the job to increase their own well-being. Looking at followers not just as passive recipients but as active and proactive employees can also benefit the organization.

Tell me how pleased you are with your workplace, and I will tell you how often you wash your hands

Hospital-acquired infections are the most common complication of treatment and the primary patient safety hazard. Hand hygiene (HH) is the most important tool for preventing these infections. Although thousands of research projects have been conducted, many articles written, and numerous therapeutic recommendations made, the goal has not yet been reached. The professional literature emphasizes that the reasons HH strategies fail are still only partially understood. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between the psychological safety of an organization's nursing staff and its sense of personal responsibility for avoiding transmission of infections. Questionnaires were distributed to the 400 nurses in a children's hospital. Nurses' psychological safety and sense of responsibility for transmitting infections were positively correlated (r = 0.425; P < .001). In addition, 209 respondents (95.7%) believe that transmission of resistant infections between patients is preventable and 74% agree that transmission of infections is the responsibility of the care staff, but only 40% were willing to take personal responsibility in the department in which they were employed. There is a correlation between nurses' psychological safety and sense of responsibility for transmitting infections. To increase workers' sense of personal responsibility regarding infections as a way to increase the response to HH, hospital management must work toward increasing workers' psychological safety.

Awareness of Stress-reduction Interventions: The Impact on Employees' Well-being and Organizational Attitudes

Employing the social-exchange theoretical framework, we examined the effect of employees' awareness of stress-reduction interventions on their levels of psychological strain, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, perceptions of senior management trustworthiness and procedural justice. We present longitudinal panel data from 869 employees who completed questionnaires at two time points at 13 Australian universities. Our results show that employees who reported an awareness of stress-reduction interventions undertaken at their university scored lower on psychological strain and higher on job satisfaction and commitment than those who were unaware of the interventions. The results suggest that simply the awareness of stress interventions can be linked to positive employee outcomes. The study further revealed that senior management trustworthiness and procedural justice mediate the relationship between awareness and employee outcomes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Work and health among Latina mothers in farmworker families

BACKGROUND

Work organization is important for the health of vulnerable workers, particularly women. This analysis describes work organization for Latinas in farmworker families and delineates the associations of work organization with health indicators.

METHODS

Up to 220 Latina women in farmworker families completed interviews from October 2012 to July 2013. Interviews addressed job structure, job demand, job control, and job support. Health measures included stress, depressive symptoms, physical activity, family conflict, and family economic security.

RESULTS

Three fifths of the women were employed. Several work organization dimensions, including shift, psychological demand, work safety climate, and benefits, were associated with participant health as expected, on the basis of the work organization and job demands-control-support models.

CONCLUSIONS

Research should address women's health and specific work responsibilities. Occupational safety policy must consider the importance of work organization in the health of vulnerable workers.

Identifying Challenging Job and Environmental Demands of Older Nurses Within the National Health Service

Objectives:

To explore the existing theoretical contexts of the job and environmental demands of the nursing profession in the National Health Service (NHS) and to investigate how these job and environmental demands impact on the personal constructs of older nurses within the NHS.

Background:

Nursing is the single most widely practiced profession in the healthcare sector in the United Kingdom. However, nurses contend with challenging job and environmental demands on a daily basis, which deplete them of personal constructs (or resources) required to stay in the profession.

Methods:

A multilevel exploratory qualitative research design was employed. Ten managers were interviewed for the preliminary study, based on which the three characteristics of an age-friendly NHS workplace were established: health, retirement, and flexibility. Then an in-depth literature review revealed that the most adversely affected job within the NHS was the nursing profession. Finally, a focus group study was undertaken with six older nurses working in the NHS.

Results:

The most compelling finding of this study is that older nurses would generally not want to stay on the job if they had to work in the ward area. The physical, cognitive, and sensory constructs of older nurses are negatively affected by the job and environmental demands of the ward areas.

Conclusions:

Understanding how these job and environmental demands of the workplace affect an older nurse’s personal constructs may help support a better design of nurse work and the wards and help extend the working lives of older nurses in the NHS.

Job demands, burnout, and engagement among nurses: A multi-level analysis of ORCAB data investigating the moderating effect of teamwork

According to the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, burnout and engagement are psychological reactions that develop when individual characteristics interact with work characteristics. This study tests the JD-R model using multilevel analysis to test the main and moderating effects of teamwork effectiveness among 1156 nurses in 93 departments from seven European countries. Workload, emotional and organizational demands were positively associated with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and negatively with vigor. Emotional and organizational demands were negatively associated with dedication. Teamwork effectiveness was positively associated with engagement. We found no evidence for the moderating effect of teamwork effectiveness in reducing individual perceptions of demands.

Evidence that brief self-affirming implementation intentions can reduce work-related anxiety in downsize survivors

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Workers were recruited from a UK further education college during a period of organizational downsizing. This study assessed the effects of a brief health psychology intervention on work-related stress in downsize survivors.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Sixty-six employees were randomly allocated to one of two conditions: one in which they were asked to create a work-related self-affirming implementation intention (WS-AII) or a control. Feelings of anxiety and depression were measured before and after the intervention or control task and three weeks later. Job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and self-esteem were also measured.

RESULTS

There were statistically significant differences between the WS-AII condition and the control. Workers who created WS-AIIs reported an immediate reduction in anxiety. This reduction was also observed in their appraisal of job-related anxiety three weeks later. There were no significant effects of WS-AIIs on depression, job satisfaction, or self-esteem. There was, however, a significant effect on self-efficacy with workers in the WS-AII condition reporting greater self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings suggest that the integration of brief health psychology interventions, such as the WS-AII, into existing organizational practice may be of benefit to the well-being of employees.