The Effort-Reward Imbalance model of psychosocial stress at the workplace—a comparison of ERI exposure assessment using two estimation methods

It is not unusual for old data to be used in epidemiological studies. Recently developed instruments for measuring work-related stress did not exist when the data collection was carried out. Therefore, approximate questions are sometimes used. An apparent problem is the lack of validation of proxy questions. The aim of this study was to compare the original questions for measuring Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) with approximate questions. The study population corresponded with a subgroup in the WOLF-n (WOrk, Lipids, Fibrinogen–north) cohort study of cardiovascular risk in a working population in the north of Sweden: 655 men and 178 women. The agreement in exposure between the original and the approximate ERI single questions was relatively low throughout, whereas the correlation between the ERI subscales and the ERI ratios was reasonable. The latter agreement between the original and the approximate ERI ratio indicates that the approximate measures might have been useful in the past. Yet, whenever possible the implementation of the original questionnaire in study protocols is recommended since a complete measurement of ERI might help to further improve the internal consistency and the predictive validity of this exposure to effort-reward imbalance.     

Program evaluation of trauma-informed yoga for vulnerable populations

BackgroundTrauma is highly prevalent among vulnerable populations, including those who are incarcerated, in treatment for substance use, or seeking mental health services. Trauma-informed yoga seeks to create a safer yoga practice for individuals with a trauma history and may improve emotional and physical wellbeing. Thus, we conducted an evaluation of a trauma-informed yoga program to gain insight into participant experiences.MethodsTrauma-informed yoga classes were led by trained volunteers and held in three sectors that work with vulnerable populations: corrections and reentry, substance use treatment and recovery, and community and mental health. Data were collected via anonymous survey using a retrospective pre-post design. The survey instrument captured reasons for student participation and perceived effects of yoga on emotional and physical wellbeing.ResultsStudents were motivated to participate in yoga classes by expectations of physical, mental, and spiritual benefit. Students reported perceived improvements in emotional and physical wellbeing and greater use of self-regulation skills after starting yoga.ConclusionOur findings suggest trauma-informed yoga is perceived as beneficial by vulnerable individuals, especially those in the correctional system or recovering from substance use. Our results support the value of offering trauma-informed yoga in institutionalized and community settings. Improvements in emotional and physical wellbeing warrant formal study.     

Enhancing Recovery from Trauma: Facilitating a Mindfulness Skills Group on a Department of Veterans Affairs Inpatient PTSD Unit

Mindfulness and acceptance based treatments are being increasingly implemented for a variety of emotional and psychological related problems, including the impact of military and combat related trauma exposure. This article describes a mindfulness skills group as it was implemented on a sub-acute inpatient PTSD Unit at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, to demonstrate and explore the role of the mindfulness skills development in a group setting, for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other trauma related problems.     

Bayesian Accelerated Life Testing under Competing Weibull Causes of Failure

Consider a J-component series system which is put on Accelerated Life Test (ALT) involving K stress variables. First, a general formulation of ALT is provided for log-location-scale family of distributions. A general stress translation function of location parameter of the component log-lifetime distribution is proposed which can accommodate standard ones like Arrhenius, power-rule, log-linear model, etc., as special cases. Later, the component lives are assumed to be independent Weibull random variables with a common shape parameter. A full Bayesian methodology is then developed by letting only the scale parameters of the Weibull component lives depend on the stress variables through the general stress translation function. Priors on all the parameters, namely the stress coefficients and the Weibull shape parameter, are assumed to be log-concave and independent of each other. This assumption is to facilitate Gibbs sampling from the joint posterior. The samples thus generated from the joint posterior is then used to obtain the Bayesian point and interval estimates of the system reliability at usage condition.     

Point estimation of the stress–strength reliability parameter for parallel system with independent and non-identical components

In this article, the estimation problem of the multicomponent stress–strength reliability parameter is considered where the stress and the strength systems have arbitrary fixed numbers of independent and non-identical parallel components. It is assumed that the distribution functions of the stress and the strength components satisfy the proportional reversed hazard rate model. The study is done in more details when the baseline distributions are exponential. Maximum likelihood and uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimators are obtained and compared. Also, Bayes and empirical Bayes estimators are discussed and Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to compare their performances.     

Inferences on stress–strength parameter based on GLD5 distribution

Let X and Y be independent random variables distributed as generalized Lindley distribution type 5 (GLD5). This article deals with the estimation of the stress–strength parameter R = P(Y < X), which plays an important role in reliability analysis. For this purpose, the maximum likelihood and the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimators are presented in the explicit form. Moreover, considering Arnold and Strauss’ bivariate Gamma distribution as an informative prior and Jeffreys’ as noninformative prior, the Bayes estimators are derived. Various bootstrap confidence intervals are also proposed and, finally, the presented methods are compared using a simulation study.     

福利机构老年人的人际关系压力问题及应对策略探析

本文采用质性研究方法,通过对北京市某社会福利机构5位老人的深度访谈搜集资料,旨在对机构老年人所面临的人际关系压力问题进行探析。研究发现,机构老年人的人际关系压力主要集中在时间安排、生活习惯、阶层差异和团体活动等方面;其原因则具有年龄、地域、性格、沟通能力、生活经历、价值观等方面的多样性;而老年人在应对这些压力的过程中表现出了过程性和策略性的特征。过程性应对主要包括自己解决、护士调解和领导介入;策略性应对则主要包括协商、理解、回避和求助四个方面。以上述发现为基础,研究者对机构老年人及机构对于压力的应对提出了自己的建议。     

From metaphorical information overflow and overload to real stress: Theoretical background,empirical findings,and applications

The paper presents the reader with a psychological analysis of one of the results of the global phenomenon of information overflow and how it translates into an observable psychological outcome, information stress, thus hindering the process of decision-making. Both, the anchoring in the broader context of civilizational changes and, in the particular, in the field of psychology, especially individual differences and stress psychology, are provided, followed by a series of results of our own investigations of managers and emerging adults (entering the job market). Particularly, self-control and the styles of thinking are presented as correlates of increased infostress. We then explore the implications these results might have for the selection and training of managers.     

Social support,self-efficacy and gender as predictors of reported stress among inpatient caregivers

The study examined the predictive role of social support, self-efficacy and gender on self-reported stress among inpatients’ caregivers. One hundred and sixty eight (36 males and 132 females) inpatients’ caregivers were sampled from University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (97) and Niger Foundation Hospital (71) all in Enugu, Nigeria. Three instruments were used for the data collection, namely, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), New General Self Efficacy Scale (NGSES), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The study adopted a cross sectional design and Multiple Regression was used for data analysis. Results showed that social support negatively predicted inpatient caregivers’ reported stress (β = ?.28, p < .001). Gender significantly predicted stress among the inpatients’ caregivers (β = .35, p < .001). Findings were discussed and implications of the study highlighted.     

Moderators of the relationship between daily work stressors and mood

Consistent with recent data showing a relationship between daily stress and mood, the authors investigated whether job specific factors would moderate the relationship between daily work stress and daily mood. Forty-three subjects from one teaching hospital initially completed questionnaires assessing the hypothesized moderator variables (emotional and informational support from the supervisor, job involvement, co-worker satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, and satisfaction with the meaningfulness of work). Thereafter, they completed questionnaires at the end of each workday assessing the number and negative perception of daily work stress and daily mood. After controlling for the effects of the different number of days for which data were available for each subject, the results showed that job involvement and all three facets of job satisfaction (supervision, co-worker, and work itself) moderated the relationship between the negative perception of daily work stress and mood. Neither emotional nor informational support from the supervisor moderated this relationship. Likewise, none of these variables moderated the relationship between the number of daily work events and mood. The results are discussed in terms of further research on daily work stress, and expanding and refining the focus on moderator variables.