Non-work Stressors Research Articles

Work & life stress experienced by professional workers during the pandemic: a gender-based analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted work and home life exacerbating pre-existing stressors and introducing new ones. These impacts were notably gendered. In this paper, we explore the different work and home life related stressors of professional workers specifically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic through the gender-based analysis of two pan Canadian surveys: The Canadian Community Health Survey (2019, 2020, 2021) and the Healthy Professional Worker Survey (2021). Analyses revealed high rates of work stress among professional workers compared to other workers and this was particularly notable for women. Work overload emerged as the most frequently selected source of work stress, followed by digital stress, poor work relations, and uncertainty. Similar trends were noted in life stress among professional workers, particularly women. Time pressure consistently stood out as the primary source of non-work stress, caring for children and physical and mental health conditions. These findings can help to develop more targeted and appropriate workplace mental health promotion initiatives that are applicable to professional workers taking gender more fully into consideration.

Work-related and nonwork stressors, PTSD, and psychological distress: Prevalence and attributable burden among Australian police and emergency services employees.

Police and emergency services personnel are at an increased risk of developing mental health issues. We sought to compare patterns of exposure to work-related and nonwork stressors and associations with posttraumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress among police and emergency services employees. A total of 14,868 employees from 33 ambulance, fire and rescue, police, and state emergency service agencies around Australia participated in a survey to assess the prevalence of exposure to work-related and nonwork stressors, and the prevalence of mental health conditions. Associations between work and nonwork stressors and mental health problems were estimated using logistic regression models and population attributable risk (PAR) percentages. Traumatic events experienced while working in the police and emergency services sector were the most frequently reported stressor (51%). Stressful events experienced at work in the sector were associated with significantly higher levels of suspected posttraumatic stress symptoms (odds ratio = 4.5, PAR = 65%) and high psychological distress (odds ratio = 2.5, PAR = 40%) compared to stressors experienced away from the sector. Stressors experienced at work are a risk factor for developing posttraumatic stress symptoms and distress in the sector. Organizations should have comprehensive policies and programs to help prevent the development of mental health problems and to support personnel who develop mental health problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Are We in Control of Our Demons?: Understanding Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Burnout in an Asian Pediatric Emergency Department in a Pandemic.

The medical profession, with its remarkable physical and emotional demands, predisposes physicians to compassion fatigue (CF) and burnout (BO). Although these conditions have been studied individually, little attention has been paid to how pediatric emergency physicians experience these conditions in the context of an Asian emergency setting especially during a global pandemic In our study, we aim to understand the experiences of individual physicians and describe the potential triggers or protective factors of compassion satisfaction, BO, and compassion satisfaction among physicians in an Asian pediatric emergency department during a pandemic. A qualitative, individual interview methodology was used. From March to April 2020, we enrolled 20 physicians involved in frontline care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the pediatric emergency department to participate. Semistructured interviews were conducted, audiotaped, and transcribed in verbatim, with identifiers removed. Themes were identified, and data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis and iterative data analysis. We recruited 20 physicians. Three themes emerged from data analysis. First, we showed how workplace conditions are protective, including work morale, leadership and management, and social support received. Second, workload affected participants emotionally and in terms of its heavier quantity and longer hours. Finally, intrinsic factors that were protective in developing CF or BO include having professional autonomy, experience, work-life balance, and having emotional resilience to develop self-care. Cultural influences affect emotional regulation and can lead to negative coping with negative peer pressure. In general, participants quantified their levels of satisfaction at work as average to above average. However, they highlighted experiencing greater stress during COVID-19 with the underlying fear of contagion and infection. Being a pediatric emergency physician puts one at greater risk of experiencing CF and BO because of work and nonwork stressors, especially during a global pandemic, influenced by sociocultural factors. A positive and supportive work environment should be created while providing culturally adapted strategies to improve individual physician resilience to maintain their well-being.

Components of Stress and Their Associations With Sleep Problems: A Cohort Study of Older Employees.

To identify latent components from among 13 work and nonwork stressors and to examine whether the accumulation of stress factors within these components was associated with sleep problems. A cohort of older employees (n = 2771 individuals, n = 3921 person-observations) responded to at least two surveys. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify latent components. Analysis of variance was used to examine their associations with sleep. The components were: "Physical workload and shift work," "Psychosocial workload," "Social and environmental nonwork adversity," and "Life event- and health-related nonwork adversity." They were consistently associated with sleep problems, except for "Physical workload and shift work." "Social and environmental nonwork adversity" was associated with sleep problems at follow-up. Clusters of work- and nonwork-related stressors were identified, and their accumulation was associated with sleep problems among older employees.

Healthcare is a Team Sport: Stress, Resilience, and Correlates of Well-Being Among Health System Employees in a Crisis.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYWhile the COVID-19 pandemic has added stressors to the lives of healthcare workers, it is unclear which factors represent the most useful targets for interventions to mitigate employee distress across the entire healthcare team. A survey was distributed to employees of a large healthcare system in the Southeastern United States, and 1,130 respondents participated. The survey measured overall distress using the 9-item Well-Being Index (WBI), work-related factors, moral distress, resilience, and organizational-level factors. Respondents were also asked to identify major work, clinical, and nonwork stressors. Multivariate regression was used to evaluate associations between employee characteristics and WBI distress score. Overall, 82% of employees reported high distress (WBI ≥ 2), with nurses, clinical support staff, and advanced practice providers reporting the highest average scores. Factors associated with higher distress included increased job demands or responsibilities, heavy workload or long hours, higher frequency of moral distress, and loneliness or social isolation. Factors associated with lower distress were perceived organizational support, work control, perceived fairness of salary cuts, and resilience. Most factors significantly associated with distress—heavy workloads and long hours, increased job demands, and moral distress, in particular—were work-related, indicating that efforts can be made to mitigate them. Resilience explained a small portion of the variance in distress relative to other work-related factors. Ensuring appropriate staffing levels may represent the single largest opportunity to significantly move the needle on distress. However, the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare system may represent a barrier to addressing these stressors.

Supplemental Material for Work-Related and Nonwork Stressors, PTSD, and Psychological Distress: Prevalence and Attributable Burden Among Australian Police and Emergency Services Employees

Supplemental Material for Work-Related and Nonwork Stressors, PTSD, and Psychological Distress: Prevalence and Attributable Burden Among Australian Police and Emergency Services Employees

Exposure to Work and Nonwork Stressors and the Development of Heart Disease Among Canadian Workers Aged 40 Years and Older: A 16-year Follow-up Study (1994 to 2010).

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of work, nonwork, and individual factors to self-reported heart disease, and to evaluate gender-related differences over a period of 16 years among Canadian workers aged 40 years and more. Using the National Population Health Survey (NPHS, 1994 to 2010), we estimated multilevel logistic regression models (N = 2996). Couple-related strains, being a man, age, hypertension, and body mass index, are associated with an increased risk of heart disease. In analysis stratified by gender, physical demands at work and having high child-related strains were associated with heart disease specifically among women. Psychotropic drug use increased the risk of heart disease only in men. Our study suggests that work stressors measured by Statistics Canada NPHS are largely not associated with the risk of heart disease, except in women exposed to physical demands at work.

Psychosocial determinants of diurnal alpha-amylase among healthy Quebec workers

Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) is a stress-sensitive biomarker the shows promise as an indirect proxy of sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axis activities that are otherwise difficult to discern non-invasively. This comprehensive study investigated diurnal sAA in association with numerous psychosocial characteristics related to mental health, work stress, and non-work stress. Participants included 395 workers (56.1% women, age: M=41.3, SD=10.81) from across 34 distinct workplaces. Diurnal sAA was sampled over two non-consecutive work days at awakening, 30min after awakening, 14h00, 16h00, and bedtime. Well-validated psychometrics and survey items were used to measure mental health (psychological distress, depression, burnout, work characteristics) (task design, demands, social relations, gratifications), and non-work characteristics (marital/parental status, economic statuses, marital and parental stress, work-family conflicts). Preliminary results revealed that men showed occasionally higher sAA concentrations than women. Multilevel regressions were used to analyze sAA concentrations nested according to levels (i) for each time-point, (ii) between workers, and (iii) across workplaces while covarying for time of awakening, sex, age, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, regular physical activity, psychotropic drug use, and body mass index. Main results revealed that psychological demands, support from colleagues, interpersonal conflicts, job recognition and job insecurity appear to be associated with diurnal sAA, while non-work factors did not. Our findings showing a distinct diurnal profile for sAA replicate and expand those of Nater et al. (2007, Psychoneuroendocrinology 32, 392–401), providing further evidence that sAA is associated to subjective psychosocial factors.

Work and non-work stressors, psychological distress and obesity: evidence from a 14-year study on Canadian workers

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the contribution of work, non-work and individual factors to obesity with regard to gender-related differences, and to clarify the mediating role that psychological distress plays...

TYPE A BEHAVIOR PERSONALITY AND GENDER DIFFERENCE IN MANAGING STRESS

This article examines the significance relationships between Type A Behavior Personality and Preferred Human Capital Approach in managing stress within a semi-government organization in Kota Kinabalu. It is necessary to cope with stress from the perspectives of individual level, team level, and organizational level. The research study aimed for identifying the personality stressors and coping strategies. The objectives were to seek the influence of Type A BehaviorPersonality and preferred human capital approach in coping with stress self approach, and Management Support of employees toward managing stress. Human Personality,Occupational Stressors and Non-work stressors that affected the respondents are examined, yet difference between male and female in coping with stress is study. The results concluded that Type A Behavior Personality has significant relationship with Self-coping Approach, and Management Support. Organizational Stressors and Non-work Stressors are not discussed in this article.

Diurnal salivary cortisol in relation to perceived stress at home and at work in healthy men and women

This study investigated the association between diurnal salivary cortisol profile and perceived stress at work and at home.Healthy participants (N=180, 52% women) collected saliva cortisol samples immediately after waking up, 15min later, 30min later, and at 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00 and 21:00. The area under the cortisol awakening curve with respect to ground (AUCgCAR) and increase (AUCiCAR), and diurnal slope between 9:00 and 21:00 were analyzed. Perceived stress at work and at home was measured with the Stress-Energy Questionnaire.Participants reporting stress at home had significantly lower AUCgCAR and a flatter diurnal slope. When performing separate analyses for men and women, this association was only significant among women. Perceived stress at work was not associated with any cortisol measure.This study highlights the importance of stress outside the workplace. The sex differences may indicate an increased vulnerability to non-work stress in women.

Self-reported stressors among patients with Exhaustion Disorder: an exploratory study of patient records

BackgroundSeveral researchers imply that both work-related and non-work-related stress exposure are likely to contribute to stress-related mental illness. Yet empirical studies investigating both domains seem to be limited, particularly in a clinical population. The purpose of this study was to a) explore which stressors (non-work and work-related) are reported as important for the onset of illness by patients seeking medical care for stress-related exhaustion and b) explore the prevalence of each stressor and examine whether the pattern differs between men and women.MethodsThis is an exploratory mixed method study, comprising patients at a specialist outpatient stress clinic. Information from medical records of 20 patients was initially used in a first qualitative step to construct the instrument, using a combination of a conventional content analysis and a directed content analysis. In the second phase patient records from 50 men and 50 women were selected and coded in accordance with the coding instrument. Frequency statistics were calculated for all stressors.ResultsA total of 24 categories of stressors (11 related to work and 13 related to private life) were identified in the first qualitative step. A median of four stressors, usually both work and non-work-related was reported by the patients. The most common stressors were 1) quantitative demands at work, 2) private relational conflicts and 3) emotional demands at work.ConclusionsWork demands are, by far, the most prevalent stressor, followed by relational problems in private life. The pattern was similar for women and men, with a slight difference in the distribution between work and non-work stressors. Men and women also show similar patterns when comparing the occurrence of each stressor. Slight differences were seen, in particular with regard to managerial responsibility that was reported by 6% of the women compared to 36% of the men. One important practical implication of this study is that patients with stress-related exhaustion often have a long period of impaired ability at work. Successful prevention at the workplace is thus of great importance. However, it is equally important to discuss how society can support individuals such as single parents or couples with relational conflicts.

A Spouse Is a Gift Bestowed: The Role of Spouse in the Manager’s Family-Related Career Sensemaking

Increasingly blurring boundaries between work and nonwork domains stress the importance of studying the role of family in individual work-related decision-making. Recently, a new concept of ‘family-relatedness of work decisions’ was introduced which captures the extent to which family situation influences the individual decision-making so that the decision has a positive outcome for family. However, little effort has been made to empirically elaborate on it. Drawing on the sensemaking theory, we empirically explore this concept and enrich its understanding by bringing in the role of spouse. Using the data from 88 managers, going through a career transition period, in this paper we explore the role of spouse’s career involvement in their family-related sensemaking. Our findings contribute to the literature by showing the influential role of spouse’s career involvement taken together with family-career centrality and parent role identification in determining the degree to which managers frame their career d...

Work, age, health and work participation - a model

The work force in aging societies will change during the next decades. The proportion of people participating actively in the labor market will decrease whereas at the same time the proportion of older employees will increase. Thus, a society should be aware of both factors keeping people employed and factors leading to early exit from the labor market. For a long time respective research has focused on health as the predominant important influencing early exit from the labor market. However, recent data indicates that in Germany one third of the older workforce (aged 50 – 64 years) is working in spite of poor health while half of those of same age but not working is enjoying good health (personal communication Hermann Burr, BAuA). These findings indicate that factors other than health may explain work participation of older people. Inspired by these figures and by recent findings of European studies into work, age and health we developed a theoretical model on the complex associations between socioeconomic status, work, life style, work ability, health, and work motivation assuming that all these factors with their complex interactions and mediations in the end decide on labor market participation (Peter & Hasselhorn 2013). The basic idea of this model assumes that health is still important for labor market participation but influences work participation only indirectly through work motivation and work ability. This complex model describes the underlying analytical concept of the lidA (leben in der Arbeit, living at work) study. lidA is a prospective investigation covering 6339 employed men and women at baseline belonging to two age cohorts, born in 1959 and 1965 respectively. The sample has been drawn from the ‘Integrated Employment Biografies’ (IEB), held at the IAB (Dorner et al. 2010). lidA covers a broad range of questionnaire-based-information about work-related factors, health-adverse behaviors, morbidity, sociodemographic information, individual factors like coping and many more., The workshop presents findings from the baseline assessment of lidA. The findings relate to those parts of the above mentioned model which include information about socioeconomic status, precarious jobs, work stress, non-work stress factors, coping and health in relation to age and gender. Results from three confirmatory analytical models will be presented. The analyses were challenging with regard to both methodology and complexity of associations under study. Findings include associations between precarious jobs and depressiveness, the mediating effect of work stress and social isolation in the association between education and depressiveness and the role of gender in the association between work stress and depressiveness. Implications for the development of the future aging workforce and for preventive activities will be discussed.

The contribution of work and non-work stressors to common mental disorders in the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey

BackgroundEvidence for an effect of work stressors on common mental disorders (CMD) has increased over the past decade. However, studies have not considered whether the effects of work stressors on CMD remain after taking co-occurring non-work stressors into account.MethodData were from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a national population survey of participants ⩾16 years living in private households in England. This paper analyses data from employed working age participants (N=3383: 1804 males; 1579 females). ICD-10 diagnoses for depressive episode, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, panic or mixed anxiety and depression in the past week were derived using a structured diagnostic interview. Questionnaires assessed self-reported work stressors and non-work stressors.ResultsThe effects of work stressors on CMD were not explained by co-existing non-work stressors. We found independent effects of work and non-work stressors on CMD. Job stress, whether conceptualized as job strain or effort–reward imbalance, together with lower levels of social support at work, recent stressful life events, domestic violence, caring responsibilities, lower levels of non-work social support, debt and poor housing quality were all independently associated with CMD. Social support at home and debt did not influence the effect of work stressors on CMD.ConclusionsNon-work stressors do not appear to make people more susceptible to work stressors; both contribute to CMD. Tackling workplace stress is likely to benefit employee psychological health even if the employee's home life is stressful but interventions incorporating non-work stressors may also be effective.

The interactive effects of proactive personality and work-family interference on well-being.

Proactive personality was expected to moderate the relationship between controllable work and nonwork stressors (e.g., time-based work-family interference) and job/life satisfaction. Moderated multiple regression analyses of survey data from a sample of professionals (N=133) revealed a significant interaction between time-based family interfering-with work and proactive personality predicting life satisfaction and several main effects offering partial support for the hypothesized relationships (alpha<.05). No other interactions between proactive personality and other forms of work-family interference were observed. The benefits of proactive personality may only emerge when personal control over occupational stressors can be exercised.

A longitudinal study examining the influence of work and non-work stressors upon well-being: A multi-group analysis.

This paper investigates the longitudinal causal relationship between stressors and well-being within work, nonwork, and general life domains within university staff, trainee nurses, and part-time employees. Nested structural equation model comparison analysis tested whether nonwork stressors significantly contribute in predicting work, nonwork, and general well-being alongside work-related stressors. Findings showed that a complex spillover model is best fitting where work and nonwork stressors (T1) significantly influence work, nonwork, and general well-being (T2) across domains. Multigroup analysis revealed that this acceptable fitting model was also consistent simultaneously across two groups of data. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the causal relationships between stressors and well-being across life domains while incorporating a strong methodological design and statistical procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

A longitudinal study exploring the relationships between occupational stressors, non-work stressors, and work performance

There is a lack of intricate research into the relationships between work performance and other variables. This study examined the causal relationship between work, non-work stressors, and work performance. Using longitudinal multi-group data from three groups—university staff, trainee nurses, and part-time employees (overall N=244)—structural equation modelling was employed to explore one-way and reverse competing models. The results produced a good fitting model with one-way causal paths from work-related and non-work stressors (time 1) to job performance (time 2). Nested model comparison analysis provided further evidence to support this best fitting model, emphasizing the strong influence that non-work factors have within the workplace. This study has important implications for theory, methodology and statistical analysis, and practice in the field of work-related stressors and performance.

Mental well-being of doctors and nurses in two hospitals in kingston, Jamaica

Hospital work involves some of the most stressful situations found in any workplace. Furthermore, hospital workers may be affected by non-work-related stress such as family responsibilities and financial difficulties, leading to impaired mental well-being and suboptimal performance. The aim of this study was to assess the level of general mental well-being among doctors and nurses from two hospitals in Kingston, Jamaica. A total of 212 doctors and nurses at the Kingston Public Hospital and the University Hospital of the West Indies were studied yielding a participation rate of 83.1%. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather social and biomedical data and the General Health Questionnaire 30 (GHQ 30) used to determine general mental well-being. Probable caseness was defined as a GHQ 30 score > 5. Focus group discussions were also held with staff at both hospitals. A total of 27.4% of the study population met the GHQ-30 criteria (caseness) defining them as probable cases of mental distress. Cases and non-cases were not different in age, gender or hospital of employment. However, caseness was associated with years of professional experience, work-related and non-work-related stress, serious financial difficulties and fears of coming to work. Significant predictors of increased risk of caseness were fear of coming to work (OR 3.06; CI 1.40, 6.70); professional experience in excess of five-years and high non-work-related stress. High work-related stress was associated with reduced risk of being classified a case, suggesting that work may have been therapeutic. Focus group discussions suggested that non-work stress was related to financial difficulties, commuting and child care, especially among nurses. Intervention to improve general mental well-being should be targeted at new employees and should address child care, commuting and financial management.

El estrés en una sociedad instalada en el cambio

The objective of this study is to describe the job stress models and non-work stressors, their influence on health and magnitude in Spain. Data come from scientific publications, reports and official statistics, primarily of the last decade. Moreover, original data are provided from the analysis of the 5th Spanish Working Conditions Survey. Job stress analysis is based on two complementary models, that based on psychological demands, control and social support (Karasek's model) and another based on the effort-reward unbalance (Siegrist's model). In Spain 15% of men and 22% of women have had an excessive workload that have made them feel tired in the last three months. A quarter of workers have low autonomy and 48% of men and 32% of women work in occupations that do not require special abilities, just experience. Moreover, Spain has the highest unemployment and temporary contracts rates in the 15-European Union. The entrance of women into the labour market implies difficulties in reconciling job and family life. Moreover, paid work provides women with power and economic autonomy, therefore making possible the divorce that has significantly increased in Spain as well as the lonely parents families, these being difficult and stressing situations. Additionally the higher economic autonomy and power among women is considered as one of the causes of the gender violence as well. Response to stress-related problems derived from the globalisation, the increasing importance of the tertiary sector and other social changes is insufficient either because health professionals ignore the causes of the problem and treat pharmacologically the consequences or because health consequences of these new social and economic tendencies are not taken into account in other sectors.