Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in Job Stress

Continuous multimodal assessment of physiological stress responses among nurses in relation to incidents of workplace violence: A feasibility study guided by Total Worker Health principles

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021

A primary objective of the present study is to demonstrate the feasibility of a protocol for detailed and continuous assessment of physiological signals among nurses using a wearable physiological sensor system along with event-contingent experience sampling of critical incidents. Twelve registered nurses (N=12) in a university hospital emergency department wore noninvasive wearable sensors continuously for seven consecutive days and logged the occurrence of workplace violence incidents. The ability to objectively quantify stress responses over the course of the workday could serve as a valuable tool in planning Total Worker Health? interventions.

Examining commuting experiences with a boundary theory lens: How work/home boundary management influences recovery via rumination during the commute

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

As the commute is the transition phase between work and home, this study examined whether one?s work/home boundary management contributes to whether they suffer versus benefit from their commute home from work. Using a daily diary design, this study showed that maintaining a weak family-to-work boundary hinders in-commute recovery from work and points to affective rumination during the commute home as the linking mechanism. These findings suggest that a stronger work/home boundary facilitates recovery from work during the commute home and protects commuters from harmful outcomes stemming from affective rumination.

Moderating impact of resources on the relationship between covid demands and Burnout in Emergency Department Health-Care Workers

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

Burnout has been a major concern for all workers, but may be particularly concerning and prevalent for healthcare workers. Therefore, we examined healthcare workers before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in order to understand the extent to which the resources that workers had prior to the pandemic would help to buffer the negative impact of Covid stressors on worker health outcomes.

Paradoxical Outcomes of Workplace Mistreatment: A Review

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

The workplace mistreatment literature commonly finds evidence of an array of negative individual and organizational outcomes due to mistreatment incidents (Schilpzand et al., 2016). However, the literature fails to prominently address the occasions in which certain forms of workplace mistreatment may be paradoxically beneficial to the target employee or organization. This poster presents a qualitative review of the workplace mistreatment literature, focused on summarizing findings from empirical studies that either indicate the processes through which workplace mistreatment leads to paradoxically positive outcomes or the circumstances under which they occur. This review highlights this gap in the literature by directly examining which individual, organizational, and other environmental factors qualify the relationships between workplace mistreatment and desirable outcomes.

Changes in Job Demands and Resources for Fire-Based First Responders due to COVID-19

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. fire service personnel have reported increased physical and mental demands. The purpose of this study is to dive deeper into the experiences of the US fire service and examine these demands and identify resources to mitigate imbalance. Semi-structured interviews with fifteen US fire departments illuminated additional job demands and potential resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although preliminary findings indicate more discussion surrounding resources compared to demands, further analysis is needed to identify key themes in the data.

Are Prosocial Job Characteristics For Everyone? The Job Impact Framework, Personality, and Emotional Labor

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

This study examined the moderating relationships of prosocial personality, extroversion, and emotional labor on prosocial job characteristics (PSJC) and burnout and work-related negative affect. Extroversion moderated the relationship between PSJC and burnout. Contrary to hypotheses, PSJC were associated with negative affect, and low levels of deep acting buffered the relationship. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to consider detrimental outcomes from the job impact framework.

Impact of Surface Acting Emotional Labor on Depression in Healthcare Workers: The Role of Emotional Exhaustion as a Mediator

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

In this study conducted in a mixed population of non-clinical and clinical healthcare staff, we examined the association of depression with preventable work environment factors using a novel mediation analysis approach. We found that emotional labor (SaEL), emotional exhaustion, job strain, and work family interference were positively associated with depression while perceived organizational support for safety and work role functioning were negatively associated. The association between emotional labor and depression was strongly mediated through emotional exhaustion. These findings suggest that interventions regarding SaEL are needed for HCWs in order to reduce emotional exhaustion and consequently decrease the risk of depression. Further longitudinal studies are needed to verify these associations.

Nutrition and Exercise Barriers and Facilitators in the Workplace and their Effects on Daily Health Behaviors, Performance, and Well-Being

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

This study used a daily diary approach to survey employees in a variety of organizations for a total of 5 days on their barriers and facilitators to nutrition and exercise behaviors, as well as several health choice and work-related outcomes. It found that the number of barriers and facilitators reported on a given day were related to the specific health behaviors of diet and exercise, and that some types of barriers/facilitators did also relate work performance, well-being, and stress. This has implications for how organizations can promote healthy eating and exercise choices for employees that wish to make these choices by removing the barriers in their work environment and create factors that facilitate them.

Emotional exhaustion in healthcare workers: The importance of organizational leadership and safety

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

In this study conducted in a mixed population of non-clinical and clinical healthcare staff, we examined the association of emotional exhaustion-a dimension of burnout-with understudied work environment exposures including organizational-level policies and practices as well as job-level hazardous work conditions, using a novel mediation analysis approach proposed by Valerie and VanderWeele. We found that job safety, emotional labor, psychological demands, physical demands, job strain, assault and negative acts (bullying) were positively associated with emotional exhaustion while organizational support for safety was negatively associated. Job hazards served as both mediator and moderator in the association between organizational support for safety and emotional exhaustion. These findings suggest that policies for organizational commitment to employee safety should be efficiently applied to ensure reduction of job hazards in order to improve burnout. Future longitudinal studies are needed to further examine this association.

Does Sense of Coherence Buffer the Relationship Between Emotional Labor and Burnout in Corrections Officers?

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

This study explores how the stressful environment of working in a prison, particularly in regard to the need to manage emotions (emotional labor), and personal resources (in the form of personal sense of coherence) affect occupational burnout. Using data from a sample of 169 correctional staff members who participated in an ongoing study of health and well-being among staff at state correctional facilities, we examine whether work-based emotional labor is related to the emotional exhaustion component of burnout, and whether personal sense of coherence (SOC) has a protective effect by buffering the impact of emotional labor on burnout-exhaustion.