Work satisfaction, health, and stress: A study of Dutch nurses

A study was conducted to compare nurses' work satisfaction and feelings of health and stress in five different nursing departments: a cardiac care unit and a general surgical ward in a general hospital; and an admissions department, a short-stay department, and a long-stay department in a psychiatric hospital. One hundred nurses took part in the study: the instruments used were questionnaires and structured interviews. The main results showed that:

(1) nurses in the cardiac care unit had the most positive satisfaction scores

(2) nurses in the general surgical ward had the most positive scores on the health and stress variables

(3) feelings of dissatisfaction and stress were most prominent in the short-stay department and, to a lesser extent, in the long-stay department.

The findings are interpreted in terms of the different work situations and die implications for hospital management are discussed.

Dr J. A. Landeweerd graduated in industrial and organizational psychology in 1968 (PhD in 1978). He has worked at Eindhoven University of Technology (Department of Industrial Engineering) and now holds a position as senior lecturer at Limburg University (Department of Health Sciences), where he is project-leader for a number of research projects on the relationships between work and health.

Nicolle Boumans, MA, graduated in health sciences in 1985 (specialization: nursing science) and is now a research assistant. She is working on a PhD thesis concerned with the relationship between task characteristics of nurses and their reaction in terms of job satisfaction, health and stress.     

A comparative analysis of occupational stress in managerial and shopfloor workers in the brewing industry: Mental health, job satisfaction and sickness

This study assessed the mental health, job satisfaction and sickness absence of comparative groups of 236 managers and 377 shopfloor workers in the brewing industry in Scotland and northern England. The results showed significant differences between the groups' scores on type A behaviour, locus of control, job satisfaction, and number of incidents of sickness absence. Multiple regression was used to elucidate similarities and differences between managers and shopfloor workers in the predictors of stress outcomes.     

Control, stress, and job satisfaction in Canadian nurses

The main effects of four domains of control (task, decision, resource, physical environment) on job satisfaction and their interactions with three types of job stressors (task demands, role conflict, interpersonal conflict) were examined in a sample of 765 Canadian nurses. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the proportion of variance in job satisfaction that could be accounted for by job stressors, control, and the interaction of stressors and control in that order. The job stressors were analysed separately and as a composite job demands score, as were the four domains of control. The results indicated that the proportion of variance in job satisfaction increased with the addition of control for the composite scores and for task, resource, and physical environment control. However, decision control did not account for additional variance in job satisfaction above that for any of the job stressors. In addition, none of the stressor x control interactions were significant. The results support previous attempts to test the moderating effects of control, suggesting that perceived control is not a moderator of job stress but rather that it has a direct influence. The relevance of the different domains of control for nurses is discussed.     

Job stress, satisfaction and mental health of factory workers in Bangladesh

The present study examined the relationship between job stress, job satisfaction and mental health, and attempted to assess the effects of job stress on different parameters of satisfaction and mental health in the context of two groups of Bangladeshi factory workers. There were 26 subjects in a 'high stress' group and 33 in a 'low stress' group. Individual data were collected by using the Stress and Arousal Checklist, the Job Satisfaction Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, absenteeism by sick leave, a self-esteem at work scale and heart rate monitor. Chi-square and t-tests were applied in the analyses of these data by group. The results, quite expectedly, showed that a greater number of high stress subjects were dissatisfied and had poorer mental health than low stress subjects. The results also showed that low stress subjects were significantly more satisfied and possessed better mental health than the high stress subjects. It would appear that the experience of stress plays an important role in determining the quality of working life of Bangladeshi factory workers having similar consequences in terms of health and well-being to those observed in developed countries. The dynamics of absenteeism in Bangladesh are discussed.     

Organizational change,health, and sick leave among health care employees: A longitudinal study measuring stress markers,individual, and work site factors

Abstract

This controlled longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the effects of organizational change on employees’ self-reported health, work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, stress, and sick leave. The population consisted of 226 employees at T1 and 198 at T2, divided into a study group affected by organizational changes, and a reference group not affected by them. Group differences for the outcome measures self-rated health (SRH), work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, and hormones associated with stress were analysed using a two-factor ANOVA design for repeated measurements. Our findings showed no significant differences, either across time or between groups for SRH, work satisfaction, and work-related exhaustion. However, we did find significant change across time and between groups for the recovery hormone DHEA-S. Days of sick leave increased by 7% for employees in the study group and by 2% in the reference group. Serum cortisol showed significantly decreased levels across time but not between groups. The decreased recovery potential in the study group might have long-term health implications. The study points to the importance of looking at the impact of organizational change on employee well-being from a number of perspectives, such as self-reported health parameters, registered sick-leave data, and biological stress markers.     

Organizational change, health, and sick leave among health care employees: A longitudinal study measuring stress markers, individual, and work site factors

This controlled longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the effects of organizational change on employees' self-reported health, work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, stress, and sick leave. The population consisted of 226 employees at T1 and 198 at T2, divided into a study group affected by organizational changes, and a reference group not affected by them. Group differences for the outcome measures self-rated health (SRH), work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, and hormones associated with stress were analysed using a two-factor ANOVA design for repeated measurements. Our findings showed no significant differences, either across time or between groups for SRH, work satisfaction, and work-related exhaustion. However, we did find significant change across time and between groups for the recovery hormone DHEA-S. Days of sick leave increased by 7% for employees in the study group and by 2% in the reference group. Serum cortisol showed significantly decreased levels across time but not between groups. The decreased recovery potential in the study group might have long-term health implications. The study points to the importance of looking at the impact of organizational change on employee well-being from a number of perspectives, such as self-reported health parameters, registered sick-leave data, and biological stress markers.     

Research into work stress in Italy: A review

This paper reviews the development of stress research in Italy from the late 1960s onwards. It focuses on 1975 as the year when the first real studies on work stress were published, and interest was kindled in the psychological factors which affect physical health and in the physiological correlates of work stress. Much important work in these aspects of occupational health was started at this time at the Clinic of Work in Milan and at the University of Perugia. By the 1980s, Italian psychologists were also showing considerable interest in work stress, and the more psychological literature had begun to exceed that of a medical and physiological orientation. Despite this progress, stress research in Italy is still in its infancy, and the recognition of stress as an issue for management and trade unions is weak.     

Job satisfaction and occupational stress in UK general hospital nursing staff

This study investigated factors associated with the perceptions of stress reported by nurses in a general hospital environment in the UK. The levels and sources of stress experienced by nursing staff were examined in relation to the type of ward or department, and nursing grade. The association between reported stress and job satisfaction was also examined. By means of a self-completion questionnaire survey, data were collected from 234 nurses from 24 wards in a single general hospital. The Brayfield and Rothe job satisfaction index was used to provide data for analysis. Factor analysis, analysis of variance, and Pearson product moment correlation procedures were performed on these data. The factor analysis identified two main factors concerned with sources of stress: interpersonal relations and resource problems, and dealing with death. Although there were no differences found across wards, the analyses of variance revealed that reported stress varied over different nursing grades. It was also found that job satisfaction was correlated with nursing experience and negatively related to stress.     

Work stress and attentional difficulties: An initial study on burnout and cognitive failures

Professional burnout is a stress-related disorder, having mental exhaustion due to work stress as its most important characteristic. Burned out individuals also often complain about attentional problems. However, it is currently not clear whether such complaints are based on true cognitive deficits or whether they merely reflect the way burned out individuals rate their own cognitive performance. To confirm the cognitive complaints we used a cognitive failure questionnaire (CFQ) to assess the level of self-reported attentional difficulties in daily life. We also measured performance on tasks of sustained attention and response inhibition (the SART and the Bourdon-Wiersma Test). We compared three groups: (1) a group of 'burned out' individuals (n=13) who stopped working due to their symptoms and sought professional treatment; (2) teachers at a vocational training institute (n=16) who reported high levels of burnout symptoms but continued to work; and (3) teachers from the same institute (n=14) who reported no burnout symptoms. The level of burnout symptoms was found to be significantly related to the number of cognitive failures in daily life, and to inhibition errors and performance variability in the attentional tasks. To our knowledge, explicit tests of objective cognitive deficits in burned out individuals have not been conducted before. Consequently, this is the first study to indicate that burnout is associated with difficulties in voluntary control over attention and that the level of such difficulties varies with the severity of burnout symptoms.     

Personality factors predicting changes in shift work tolerance: A longitudinal study among nurses working rotating shifts

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between personality factors (hardiness, morningness, flexibility, and languidity) and longitudinal changes on different measures of shift work tolerance (fatigue, sleepiness, anxiety and depression) over one year among nurses working rotating shifts. A total of 642 female Norwegian nurses working in a rotating three-shift schedule participated in the study. The cohort was established by age-stratified selection among members of the Norwegian Nurses Association in 2008. Questionnaires were administered in 2008/2009 (T1) and in 2009/2010 (T2). The results showed that hardiness was negatively related to fatigue, anxiety and depression at T2 when controlling for the scores on these constructs at T1. Morningness was not related to any indicators of shift work tolerance at T2 when controlling for shift work tolerance at T1. Flexibility was negatively related to anxiety at T2 when controlling for anxiety at T1. Languidity was positively related to sleepiness and fatigue at T2 when controlling for sleepiness and fatigue at T1. The findings indicate that personality factors, especially hardiness, can predict changes related to shift work tolerance over a period of one year.     

Work stress and alcohol use: developing and testing a biphasic self-medication model

This study developed and tested a moderated-mediation model of work stress and alcohol use, based on the biphasic (stimulant and sedative) effects of alcohol and the self-medication and stress-vulnerability models of alcohol use. The model proposes that exposure to work stressors can increase both negative affect and work fatigue, and that these 2 sources of strain can subsequently motivate the use of alcohol. However, the relations of negative affect and work fatigue to alcohol use are conditional on the joint moderating effects of alcohol outcome expectancies and gender. Data were collected from a national probability sample of 2808 U.S. workers. Supporting the model, the results indicated that work stressor exposure was conditionally related via negative affect to heavy alcohol use among both men and women holding strong tension-reduction alcohol expectancies and to after work alcohol use among men holding strong tension-reduction alcohol expectancies. Also, work stressor exposure was conditionally related via work fatigue to both heavy alcohol use and workday alcohol use among men holding strong fatigue-reduction alcohol expectancies. The results have application in the identification of individuals at higher risk of problematic alcohol use and are relevant to workplace safety and to the design of appropriate interventions.     

Psychosocial stress and job satisfaction in female office employees with and without neck-shoulder symptoms

The objective of this research performed in a Finnish occupational health care setting was to describe the annual prevalence of neck and shoulder symptoms in female office employees and to test whether or not these symptoms were associated with psychosocial stress, job satisfaction and health locus of control. The subjects consisted wholly of female office employees (n = 232) at one local bank and three insurance offices, chosen on a voluntary basis. The annual prevalence of disturbing neck-shoulder symptoms among female office employees was 43.3%. An association of these symptoms with psychosomatic symptoms, poor general job satisfaction and its two subdimensions, work content and perception of the healthiness of the working environment, was noticed. The subjects with neck-shoulder symptoms had a significantly higher score of feelings of external control (fatalism) than those without symptoms. The results lead to the conclusion that neck-shoulder symptoms are common amongst female office employees. These symptoms are associated with some psychosocial stress factors and job dissatisfaction. In future, it would be important to pay attention to these factors when trying to reduce the prevalence of neck-shoulder symptoms in office work.     

员工敬业度、工作绩效与工作满意度的关系研究

本文基于角色理论,探索员工敬业度、工作绩效与工作满意度之间的关系,以及工作绩效在员工敬业度与工作满意度之间的中介作用。利用在职学生的137份调查数据进行统计分析,结果显示,中国文化背景下,工作绩效也包括任务绩效和关系绩效两个维度;员工敬业度、工作绩效和工作满意度之间存在显著正相关;工作绩效在员工敬业度与工作满意度之间起完全的中介作用。     

Peers,proactivity, and problem-solving: A multilevel study of team impacts on stress appraisals of problem-solving demands

ABSTRACT

To date, there is a paucity of research on team-level impacts on the individual stress appraisal process despite the recognised role of teams for solving problems. Applying a multilevel approach, this study investigates the cross-level impact of team problem prevention behaviours on employee stress appraisals of problem-solving demands. It was hypothesised that team problem prevention would moderate the individual-level relationship between problem-solving demands and stress appraisals. Data were collected from 43 work teams comprised of 192 team members including all team leaders who also provided evaluations of their team’s problem prevention behaviour. Results supported the hypothesised cross-level moderating effects on challenge appraisal, but not threat appraisal. As one of the first studies to demonstrate that stress appraisals are impacted by the group, not just by individual factors, the results support a multilevel conceptualisation of stress appraisals. The findings also highlight implications for practice, broadening the scope of possibilities for stress management interventions to utilise team-level strategies such as leadership development programmes and/or team building initiatives.     

Interruptions to workflow: Their relationship with irritation and satisfaction with performance,and the mediating roles of time pressure and mental demands

Understanding the mechanisms of workflow interruptions is crucial for reducing employee strain and maintaining performance. This study investigates how interruptions affect perceptions of performance and irritation by employing a within-person approach. Such interruptions refer to intruding secondary tasks, such as requests for assistance, which occur within the primary task. Based on empirical evidence and action theory, it is proposed that the occurrence of interruptions is negatively related to satisfaction with one's own performance and positively related to forgetting of intentions and the experience of irritation. Mental demands and time pressure are proposed as mediators. Data were gathered from 133 nurses in German hospitals by means of a five-day diary study (four measurements taken daily; three during a morning work shift and one after work, in the evening). Multilevel analyses showed that workflow interruptions had detrimental effects on satisfaction with one's own performance, the forgetting of intentions, and irritation. The mediation effects of mental demands and time pressure were supported for irritation and (partially) supported for satisfaction with performance. They were not supported for the forgetting of intentions. These findings demonstrate the importance of reducing the time and mental demands associated with interruptions.     

Job satisfaction and mental health of temporary agency workers in Europe: a systematic review and research agenda

ABSTRACT

The current systematic literature review aimed to analyse the associations between temporary agency work (TAW), job satisfaction, and mental health in Europe, as well as to outline a future research agenda. Twenty-eight scientific articles were identified by searching different data bases (i.e. PSYNDEX, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science) for the time span from January 2000 to December 2016. Our review reveals first that TAW is not consistently negatively related to job satisfaction. However, job insecurity and working conditions are important mediators in the relation of TAW and lowered job satisfaction. Second, TAW is not consistently related to all investigated types of mental health impairments. However, when focusing on specific outcomes and comparing temporary agency workers to permanent employees, we still find consistent evidence regarding higher levels of depression and fatigue among temporary agency workers. Inconsistent associations between TAW, job satisfaction and mental health can partly be attributed to unfavourable methodological aspects of the included primary studies. To address these aspects, future research should consider applying a standard measurement of TAW, including a minimum of meaningful confounding variables, improving the operationalisation of outcome variables and the study design.     

Women, men, VDU work and health: A questionnaire survey of British VDU operators

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey of male and female VDU operators distributed through Health & Safety at Work magazine. 3819 questionnaires were analysed using the SPSS computer program. 57% of the sample were female, 68% were under 35 years old and 73% were members of a trade union or staff association. The large number of male respondents meant that it was possible to compare work patterns, types of work and health effects for men and women. It appears that women are engaged in more repetitive and less varied tasks at the VDU and that they work longer hours and for longer periods without a break than men. The most frequently reported health problems were eyestrain, painful or stiff neck and shoulders, fatigue and irritated eyes. The incidence of symptoms was related to hours of work at the VDU. Women were more likely to report health effects than men. This difference remains when hours of work, type of work and hours worked without a break are taken into account. Ergonomically designed equipment such as adjustable chairs, lighting or keyboard did not have an obvious effect on the reporting of symptoms. It appeared that there is a complex interaction between the physical, ergonomic and psychosocial factors associated with new technology. All these factors need to be taken into account in further research into the health problems of VDU operators.     

Relationships between psychological,physical, and behavioural health and work performance: A review and meta-analysis

The relationships between health and job performance problems have received increased attention in business and scientific communities. This paper attempts to synthesize theoretical and empirical work in this arena. First, the theoretical links between health and work performance are presented. This is followed by a meta-analysis of the relations between psychological, physical, and behavioural health variables and work performance criteria. Meta-analytic results from 111 independent samples obtained from a search of the literature indicate that psychological health, in the form of psychological well-being, depression, general anxiety, and life satisfaction, is a moderate-to-strong correlate of work performance. Associations between physical health, particularly somatic complaints and hypertension, and performance were weak-to-moderate. Regarding health behaviour, alcohol consumption, and smoking were weakly and sleep problems moderately associated with performance problems. Effect sizes sometimes differed across performance dimensions and data sources. The results are consistent with the notion that ill-health is associated with substantial reductions in work performance. This implies that interventions to improve health may have an impact on performance. However, as most of the research in this area has been cross-sectional, more longitudinal research is needed to test theoretical and alternative causal explanations for the relations summarized in this review.     

Interactive effects of perceived control and job stressors on affective reactions and health outcomes for clerical workers

Karasek's (1979) hypothesis that perceived control interacts with various job stressors in affecting employee satisfaction and health was tested. It was proposed that high levels of perceived stress would only be associated with poor health and negative affect in the presence of low control. One hundred and thirty-six clerical workers at a major US university completed questionnaries containing the measures of interest. The results of regression analyses failed to support the interaction hypothesis. However, measures related to both control and job stressors were found to correlate with satisfaction and health outcomes, as has been found in prior research. Limitations of the self-report and correlational methodology are discussed.