Psychosocial Environment Research Articles

The Healthy Workplaces Ecosystems and Professionals’ Stress Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The main objective of this paper is to understand and characterize the healthy work environment of organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was carried out in 2021 including organizations from different sectors at the national level and involved 460 participants, 50.3% of which were female. The workers’ ages ranged between 18 and 67 years, with a mean of 44 years and a standard deviation of 11.36. The Healthy Workplaces Ecosystems Tool was used. Data was collected online from professionals in the organizations who agreed to participate in the study. Our results show that organizational culture has a strong relationship with the other components of a healthy work environment. Values, policies, and practices related to leadership engagement and professional involvement are related to the psychosocial work environment, the physical work environment, the social responsibility, heath, and stress management resources. The results confirm that an organizational culture that values the well-being and health of the organization’s professionals has a positive relationship with the psychosocial environment, the physical environment, and the relationship with the community and has more resources for professionals’ health. It was also found that an organizational culture mediated by the psychosocial environment is associated with more effective stress management. Management can use this model and this tool for systemic assessment of healthy workplace ecosystems within organizations, thus contributing to continuous monitoring improvements, helping to face the challenges proposed by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, namely the SDG3, Good Health and Wellbeing and Decent Work; SDG5, Gender Equality; and SDG 10, Sustainable cities and communities.

Scoping Review of Positive Mental Health Research for Students in Vocational Education and Training

Context: In this scoping review, we examine the knowledge base concerning positive mental health studies for students in vocational education and training (VET). The VET student population embraces approximately 30-52% of secondary school students in the Nordic countries, and 40% of the global student population. The risk of early school leaving (ESL) is substantially higher in VET than in general education and mental health may be a relevant factor in this matter. Yet, an overview of mental health studies in VET is lacking and therefore, this article aims to map empirical research studies that have explored positive mental health in VET students. The positive mental health framework, with its origin in Antonovsky's (2002) salutogenesis and positive psychology, focuses on factors that promote mental health and wellbeing rather than taking on a pathological perspective. Methods: For our scoping review, we searched four databases, and 19 articles were found eligible for inclusion. These articles were systematically screened by means of a coding scheme to identify the following information: Country of origin of the study, its aim, research design, measures, conceptualization of mental health, and main findings. Results: The evidence suggests that positive mental health is understood as a multifaceted concept, and wellbeing is the dimension that is explored most often, followed by resilience and quality of life. The majority of the included studies used a validated questionnaire to assess various aspects of positive mental health, and most of them sought to explore correlations between different dimensions of positive mental health. Main findings of the studies suggest that a supportive school environment, physical activity, and a strong vocational identity may contribute to positive mental health for students in VET. Furthermore, correlations have also been identified between environmental factors and positive mental health. Finally, findings from the review illustrate how even small-scale interventions may have far-reaching effects, due to the interrelatedness of the different dimensions within the positive mental health construct. Conclusion: Findings from this review illustrate that numerous factors may affect the wellbeing of students in VET. In particular, a strong vocational identity, a supportive school environment, and physical activity may contribute to positive mental health. These findings suggest that VET teachers may promote the wellbeing of their students by providing a supportive psychosocial learning environment at school.

Improving reflective evaluations of sport through repeated experiences of fun—rationale, design, feasibility, and acceptability of the PlayFit Youth Sport Program

IntroductionAdolescents who drop out of sport often report that it had become less ‘fun’ and ‘enjoyable’ over time. Although preadolescent sport typically emphasizes experiences of fun, emphases on competition and elite performance often dominate during adolescence. We theorized that adherence to adolescent sport might be improved if the overarching goal were to maximize repeated experiences of fun during sport and, subsequently, increase reflective evaluations of sport enjoyment. To that end, this manuscript reports on the rationale and design of the PlayFit Youth Sport Program (PYSP), as well as its preliminary feasibility and acceptability. The main objectives were to evaluate the feasibility of recruitment strategies and data collection procedures and the acceptability of the intervention.SettingAn outdoor, multipurpose grass field at a south-central Pennsylvania middle school.MethodsA mixed-methods, single-arm feasibility trial lasting for 8 weeks (August–October 2021) offered 3-times per week for 1-h per session. The equipment, ruleset, and psychosocial environment of the PYSP sport games were modified to reduce several of the constraints theorized to impair experiences of fun during sport and hamper reflective evaluations of enjoyment afterward. ResultsEleven healthy, but sedentary adolescents in grades 5–7 completed the program. The median number of sessions attended (of 16 possible) was 12 (range = 6–13). Post-intervention, 9/10 respondents indicated that they ‘looked forward’ to the PYSP, 8/10 would recommend it to a friend, and 8/10 were interested in continuing the program. Ten of 11 participant guardians expressed interest in reenrolling their children if the PYSP were offered again. Some changes recommended were to improve recruitment via advertising the positive aspects of the program and “word of mouth” techniques, offering the program immediately following the school day, having contingencies for inclement weather, and minor changes to the sport equipment to improve the experience among the population the PYSP intends to attract.ConclusionsThe adjustments recommended in this preliminary work could be used to further refine the PYSP. A future efficacy trial could explore whether the PYSP may reduce attrition for adolescents who experience existing sport programs negatively by offering an alternative that better matches their unique needs and preferences.

Teacher identity in work with students' psychosocial environment: A systematic review of quantitative research

AbstractThis article is a contribution to understanding teacher identity related to working with students' psychosocial environment (PSE). A systematic review of quantitative studies (n = 10) analyzing the relations between components of teacher identity and teachers' work with the PSE is presented. Findings indicate significant relations between the identity components task‐related self‐efficacy and job satisfaction along with likelihood or frequency of intervention in bullying situations. However, results regarding relations between general teaching efficacy or task perception and teachers' approach to bullying were inconclusive. Findings suggest that teachers' self‐efficacy and job satisfaction as identity domains play an important role in students' PSE. This information has implications for teacher education, professional development, and policymakers.

Employee turnover intention: The predictive role of work-related burnout and psychosocial climate among university workers

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which work-related burnout and psychosocial environment predicted intention to leave employment. This cross-sectional survey sampled 1 222 Ghanaian university employees (females = 37.1%; age range = 18 to above 60 years; mean years of work experience = 5 years, SD = 3.1 years). The employees completed Demand-Control-Support, Work Burnout, Chronic Work Discrimination and Harassment, and Turnover Intention Measures. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), results indicate that work factors like job demand, job decision latitude and harassment predict turnover intention. Personal factors of depersonalisation and diminished personal accomplishment (but not emotional exhaustion) significantly influenced the turnover intention of the workers. Both female and male academic and non-academic employees reported experiencing significantly higher levels of work factors and personal factors and a moderate level of turnover intention. There is a need for university administration to create a workplace climate team to support employees in performing their roles.

FORMATION OF A NEW CONCEPT OF A HEALTHY AND SAFE WORKPLACE IN UKRAINE

A new concept of management of occupational health and safety management systems (hereinafter referred to as OHSMS) of the enterprise based on international standards ISO 45000 is proposed in order to develop a domestic concept of a healthy and safe workplace. To achieve the goal, a generalized heuristic method was applied, the essence of which consists in setting and solving problems of technical creativity through the use of common information bases, information processing procedures and the order of their execution based on the use of a linear sequence of prescriptions intended for information processing. It is established that the growth of the ISO 45000 series of standards "is closely related to the sustainable development of humanity and its global goals planned by the United Nations until 2030. In particular, the greatest attention was paid to "ensuring a healthy lifestyle and well-being of people of any age", as well as "promoting continuous, comprehensive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all", as well as the EU OHSMS framework strategy on 2021-2027. It is shown that in order to achieve the global goals planned by the UN until 2030 for the sustainable development of the world, and the framework strategy of the EU on OHSMS for 2021-2027, the standards of the ISO 45000 series provide tools for enterprises to plan strategic goals, which allow you to project them on the tactical, and especially on the operational level of the organization's activities with a special emphasis on ensuring and supporting the welfare of employees, which encourages the formation of a conscious attitude to their professional obligations. It was determined that for the synergy of the key goals-directions of the EU OHSMS Framework Strategy 2021-2027, a new model is proposed for the sustainable development of the organization, where there is an interrelationship of three components: economic, occupational safety and ecology, more typical for the organization, where the implementation tools are standards of the ISO 45000 series. The concept of a healthy and safe workplace in Ukraine has been developed with the corresponding standards of the ISO 45000 series, which includes not only a traditional safe physical environment, but also a healthy psychosocial environment, a safe epidemic environment, a safe infectious environment and a healthy lifestyle employee.

Impact of Physical Work Environment upon Nurses’ Job performance in Al-Nassiryah City Hospitals

AbstractObjectives: The work environment has an impact on the performance of nurses, as well as to determine the relationship between the work environment and the performance of nurses.Research methodology: A descriptive analytical study was designed for the impact of the work environment on the performance of nurses' jobs in the hospitals of the city of Nasiriyah. The study began in the period from May 15, 2022 to 1 November, 2022. The non-probability (purposive) sample consisted of (410) nurses working in the city center hospitals. Nasiriyah, they were chosen based on the study criteria, and after obtaining approval from them. The data was collected using the questionnaire, which consists of the first axis: social and demographic data: which consists of demographic information, consisted of (4) items and (16) sub-items which included items (age, gender, level of education and experience) those items that were classified and graded as choosing an appropriate answer. The second axis: information related to the impact that nurses are exposed to while working in your organization. The third axis is information related to the nurses' work performance in the work environment.
 Results: The association between work environment hazards and nurse performance (continuation 1) showed a strong positive relationship (when the nurse is satisfied with her environment, there is an increase in her performance).
 Conclusion: Our study revealed that there are factors in the nursing work environment such as the risks of the physical environment, factors psychosocial environment, and the factors of chemical and factors of biological environment that have a significant positive or negative effect on the performance of nurses' work.
 Recommendations: The work environment can be monitored and improved to maintain the health of nurses working in Nasiriyah city hospitals. Nurses working in Nasiriyah city hospitals can also be provided with information about maintaining a healthy condition and a safe work environment. Regular medical examinations should also be initiated for nurses to maintain their health and protect them from risks environmental potential.

Validating a modified instrument for measuring Demand-Control-Support among students at a large university in southern Sweden

ABSTRACT Background University students experience a distinct working environment in the context of completing their studies. In line with existing research into the connection between workplace environment and stress, it is rational to believe that such study environments can affect the level of stress that students experience. However, few instruments have been developed for measuring this. Objective The aim of this study was to validate a modified instrument based on the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model among students at a large university in southern Sweden to determine its utility for assessing the psychosocial properties of the study environment. Methods Data from a survey performed at a Swedish university in 2019, which generated 8960 valid cases, was used. Of these cases, 5410 studied a course or programme at bachelor level, 3170 a course or programme at master level, and 366 a combination of courses and programmes on the two levels (14 missing). A 22-item DCS-instrument for students was used comprising four scales: Psychological workload (demand) with nine items, Decision latitude (control) with eight items, supervisor/lecturer support with four items, and colleague/student support with three items. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha. Results The results of the exploratory factor analysis of the Demand-Control components support a 3-dimension solution with dimensions corresponding to psychological demands, skill discretion, and decision authority in the original DCS model. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were acceptable for Control (0.60) and Student Support (0.72) and very good for the Demand and Supervisor Support scales (0.81 and 0.84, respectively). Conclusions The results suggest that the validated 22-item DCS-instrument is a reliable and valid tool for assessing Demand, Control, and Support elements of the psychosocial study environment among student populations. Further research is necessary to examine the predictive validity of this modified instrument.

Role of body mass index in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, resilience, and mental health: a multivariate analysis

ObjectivesDepression among adolescents is a global concern. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been correlated with negative physical and mental health such as obesity and depression; however, increasing evidence has suggested that their correlation might be moderated by BMI and resilience. In this study, we aim to explore (1) whether resilience moderate the risk of mental health by ACEs; (2) whether BMI is a moderator of this relationship.Study DesignAdolescents were obtained from 4 grade college students by a multi-stage convenience sampling method in the period of May to Jun, 2022.MethodsWe use the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 Item (DASS-21) questionnaires to measure the ACEs, BMI, resilience and mental health. The primary exposure was ACEs and the primary outcome was mental health; while resilience and BMI were moderators. Multivariable linear regression model was used to establish the relationship of ACEs, resilience and BMI against mental health status. Moderate analysis was employed by PROCESS method to explore the relationship between these variables.ResultsA total of 3600 individuals were initially enrolled, after excluding 22 with invalid questionnaires, 3578 adolescents were finally included. The mean age was (20.53 ± 1.65) years old. After adjusted for covariates, multivariable linear regression suggest that the high level ACEs (, β =0.58, , 95%CI:0.54,0.62, P < 0.01), resilience (, β=-0.27, 95%CI: , 95%CI: -0.28,-0.26, P < 0.01) were associated with higher depression symptoms, and BMI (, β =0.073, 95%CI: 0.002–0.15, P < 0.05) was associated with higher depression symptoms. There is also the interaction between resilience, ACEs and mental health (depression, anxiety and stress symptoms). In the relationship between ACEs and mental health, resilience and BMI played a moderator role.ConclusionsThe moderate analysis also provided further evidence of a link between resilience, ACEs, BMI and mental health. The findings shed new light on potential mechanisms between ACEs and mental health, including the effects of the co-interaction of resilience and BMI, adding to previous literature. ACEs may be a profound variable to measure adolescents’ psychosocial environment to influence mental health, and resilience moderate this effect and is also moderated by BMI.

Exploring the determinants of health-promoting behaviors among miners: A text mining and meta-analysis.

The health-promoting behaviors of miners are of great significance to their physical and mental well-being. With a focus on enhancing their overall health, this study aimed to explore the determinants and influencing mechanisms of health-promoting behaviors in miners. Initially, the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model was utilized to extract topical keywords from literature over the last 23 years and to categorize the determinants based on integrating the health promotion model and the health belief model. Subsequently, a meta-analysis was performed based on 51 related empirical research to explore the mechanisms between determinants and health-promoting behaviors. The results indicated that (1) the factors influencing miners' health-promoting behaviors can be divided into four dimensions: physical environment, psychosocial environment, individual characteristics, and health beliefs. (2) Noise was negatively related to health-promoting behaviors, while protective equipment, health culture, interpersonal relationships, health literacy, health attitudes, and income were positively related to health-promoting behaviors. (3) Protective equipment and health literacy were positively related to perceived threat, whereas interpersonal relationships were positively related to perceived benefits. This study sheds light on the mechanisms influencing miners' health-promoting behaviors and could inform behavioral interventions in occupational health.

MEKANISME KOPING WANITA PREMENOPAUSE

Women's unpreparedness in dealing with Perimenopause signs and symptoms is one of the factors that can affect coping mechanisms. If a woman is not ready to face premenopause and the psychosocial environment does not provide positive support, then the woman's physical and mental health will be affected. This study aims to describe the coping mechanisms of premenopausal women. This study uses a descriptive research design. The population in this study were premenopausal women aged 45-50 years, totaling 100 people. Sampling using an accidental sampling technique with a target sample of 99.99% of the total population of 94 people. Data collection techniques using a questionnaire sheet. The results of univariate data analysis showed that the majority of respondents had threshold coping mechanisms, namely 60 respondents (63.8%), compared to 19 respondents (20.2%) who had maladaptive coping mechanisms, and only 15 (16.0%) respondents who had have adaptive coping mechanisms. The majority of premenopausal, have threshold coping mechanisms. So it is recommended to be able to improve coping mechanisms by implementing their knowledge related to premenopausal signs in the form of adaptive behavior to all signs and symptoms of premenopausal experienced.

Relationship between chronotype and mental behavioural health among adolescents: a cross-sectional study based on the social ecological system

BackgroundHealth risk behaviors (HRBs) is a kind of phenomenon behavior that often occurs in adolescence, and also often appears in clusters. Previous studies suggested an association between social ecological risk factors (SERFs) and HRBs. This study explored 1) whether chronotype moderates the risk of HRBs associated with SERFs and 2) whether mental health is a mediator in this relationship.MethodsAdolescents were recruited from 39 junior or senior schools (three cities, 13 schools per city) using a multistage cluster sampling method conducted between October, 2020 and June, 2021. The Social Ecological System, Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire, Brief Instrument on Psychological Health Youths, and Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance questionnaires were used to measure the SERFs, chronotype, mental health and HRBs. Latent category analysis was used to explore the clustering mode of HRBs. The primary exposure was SERFs, and the primary outcome was HRBs; chronotype was a moderator, and mental health was a mediator. The multivariable logistic regression model was used to determine the relationship between SERFs and chronotype and mental behavioral health status. Mediation moderate analysis using the PROCESS method was used to explore the relationship between these variables. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the robustness of the model.ResultsIn total, 17,800 individuals were initially enrolled. After excluding 947 individuals with invalid questionnaires, 16,853 participants were finally included in the analysis. The mean age of participants was 15.33 ± 1.08 years. After adjusting for covariates, multivariable logistic regression found that high levels of SERFs (odds ratio [OR] = 10.10, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.88–11.43, P < 0.01), intermediate chronotype (OR = 5.24, 95% CI: 4.57–6.01, P < 0.01), and eveningness (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.64–2.05, P < 0.01) were associated with higher HRBs frequency. This study also assessed the interaction between chronotype, SERFs and HRBs (OR = 27.84, 95% CI: 22.03–35.19, P < 0.01) and mental health (OR = 18.46, 95% CI: 13.16–25.88, P < 0.01). The moderated mediation analyses examined the relationship between chronotype, SERFs, mental health and HRBs.ConclusionsSERFs may be important variables in measuring the effect of the adolescent psychosocial environment on HRBs; this effect is mediated by mental health and moderated by chronotype.

The Effects of the Ward Environment and Language in Palliative Care: A Qualitative Exploratory Study of Victorian Nurses' Perspectives.

The current study aimed to explore regional nurses' perspectives of how bad news is delivered and the physical, natural, social, and symbolic environments where these conversations occur. In regional hospitals within Victoria, Australia, palliative and end-of-life patients are cared for in acute wards that are often busy, noisy, and do not have a palliative psychosocial focus. On the other hand, Palliative Care Units (PCUs) have more home-like dedicated spaces, yet nearly all these facilities are in metropolitan areas. Diagnostic/prognostic (bad news) conversations about life-limiting illnesses often occur at the bedside in both environments. Nurses providing palliative or end-of-life care in regional or metropolitan Victorian hospital inpatient wards were invited to interview and recruited through social media and snowballing. Six semi-structured, audio-recorded online interviews were conducted between March and May 2022, and themes were developed using reflexive thematic analysis. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with six female, registered nurses, four of whom worked in regional Victorian hospitals and two in metropolitan PCUs as Nurse Unit Managers. Three central themes were developed: "conducting family meetings," "palliative care practice," and "the environment matters." A therapeutic environment for palliative patients and their families consists of home-like ambience and aesthetics and a psychosocial environment created by staff who can provide holistic palliative care. Holistic palliative care requires mentoring and mirroring of expert practice to increase the expertise and capacity of the palliative care workforce in acute general hospital wards.

Revisiting medical neglect concerns in children with life-threatening complex chronic conditions

Background/objectivesLife-Threatening Complex Chronic Conditions (LT-CCCs) increase the complexity of medical neglect concerns. Clinicians' perspectives are central in concerns for medical neglect, yet little is currently known regarding clinicians' understanding of and approach to these situations. We explored how clinicians who care for children with LT-CCCs understand medical neglect. MethodsWe conducted a semi-structured qualitative interview study with 20 clinicians of varying disciplines from critical, palliative, and complex care services about medical neglect in children with LT-CCCs. We used inductive thematic analysis to generate themes. ResultsThree primary themes emerged: Relationship between family and medical community, family overwhelmed with medical demands, and insufficient support. Taken together these themes suggest that concerns for medical neglect are directly related to clinician perception of family inability to meet medical needs. ConclusionClinicians report that concerns for medical neglect in children with LT-CCCs often arise from a mismatch of medical expectations and the perception of familial ability to provide said medical care. Given the complex and delicate medical and psychosocial environments of care for children with LT-CCCs, these medical neglect concerns are more accurately described as Medical Insufficiency, a new term. By reframing this entity, we can reframe the dialogue surrounding this issue, and reconsider approaches to studying, preventing, and resolving it.

Work fatigue during COVID-19 lockdown teleworking: the role of psychosocial, environmental, and social working conditions.

During national lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, previously office-based workers who transitioned to home-based teleworking faced additional demands (e.g., childcare, inadequate homeworking spaces) likely resulting in poor work privacy fit. Previous office research suggests poor work privacy fit is associated with lower wellbeing and higher work fatigue. Emerging evidence suggests a relationship between childcare duties during pandemic teleworking and work fatigue. In addition to psychosocial working conditions (job demand, job control, and job change management), which are acknowledged predictors of work fatigue, this poses a significant threat to occupational health during pandemic teleworking. However, the relative effects of aspects of the psychosocial environment (job demands and resources), the home office environment (including privacy fit), and the social environment (childcare) on work fatigue as well as their interactions are under-explored. This study examined the relationships between the psychosocial, environmental, and social working conditions of teleworking during the first COVID-19 lockdown and work fatigue. Specifically, the study examined teleworkers' physical work environment (e.g., if and how home office space is shared, crowding, and noise perceptions) as predictors of privacy fit and the relationship between privacy fit, childcare, psychosocial working conditions (job demand, job control, and job change management), and work fatigue. Work privacy fit was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between childcare and work fatigue. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted with teleworkers (n = 300) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in April and May 2020; most participants were in Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Path analysis was used to examine the hypothesized relationships. Privacy fit was lower for those reporting greater levels of noise in home-working spaces and those feeling crowded at home. Work fatigue was lower amongst those with greater privacy fit and higher amongst those with high levels of job demand. An indirect relationship was observed between childcare and work fatigue with privacy fit mediating this relationship. The influence of privacy fit has so far been largely neglected in research on teleworking, especially during the pandemic. However, its contribution to workers' wellbeing should be acknowledged in occupational health strategies.

Ethical Issues of Artificial Intelligence &amp; Assisted Reproductive Technologies

The downward trend in fertility rates has not surprisingly led to an increase in assisted reproduction techniques (ART), and assisted reproduction today is characterised by high-tech, high-end investment and international fertility companies, with the global fertility services market expected to grow beyond US$25 billion by 2026. Much has happened since the birth of the first test tube baby in 1978, including personalised ovarian stimulation, extended embryonic culture, intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, embryo selection (leading to elective single embryo transfer) and oocyte vitrification. Nevertheless, the success rate of IVF currently stands at around 30%, even though this depends heavily on a number of factors, such as age and changes in the physical and psychosocial environments. Many women, therefore, have to go through multiple rounds of IVF such that the process can be time-consuming, and challenges patients both financially and emotionally. Research is thus increasingly focused on how to improve treatments and outcomes, and rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence look promising and are increasingly being utilised in fertility clinics around the world.

Disadvantaged Family's Quality of Life and Psychosocial Environment on Growth and Development of Infants

Stunting, a condition characterized by poor growth and development, has become a significant public health concern in Indonesia. Therefore, the current study adopts a correlational design and aims to explore the relationship between family quality of life, psychosocial environment, and the growth and development of under-two-year-old infants from low socioeconomic status. To conduct the study, 720 mothers were selected through cluster sampling in Pandeglang Regency. Family quality of life and psychosocial environment were measured using the BC-FQoL and HOME-SF tools, respectively. Nutritional status was determined based on height-for-age (H/A) and weight-for-age (W/A) to evaluate growth and development. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between family quality of life, psychosocial environment, and nutritional status. Weight-for-age had a weak but significant relationship with emotional well-being, family interaction, and emotional psychosocial stimulation. Height-for-age was only related to emotional well-being, indicating the need to consider the psychosocial situation and family involvement in caring for infants.

Individual and psychosocial study environment characteristics associated with exposure to sexual harassment at a large public university in Sweden

Individual and psychosocial study environment characteristics associated with exposure to sexual harassment at a large public university in Sweden

Development of an ergonomics risk assessment tool for repetitive task assessment (RTRA).

Most ergonomics assessment tools for repetitive task have been used in industries which are mainly focused on assessing the biomechanical risk factors that affect musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) rather than the psychosocial and work environment risk factors. To develop a tool for Repetitive Task Risk Assessment (RTRA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) that can identify biomechanical, physical stress and psychosocial risk factors, prioritize risk reduction action and systematic record keeping. The study consisted of 2 phases; tool development and evaluation of the contents of risk factors by 7 ergonomic experts and intra-rater and inter-rater reliability and validity tests of the tool by 1 researcher and 9 Thai practitioners to assess 30 repetitive tasks. RULA was modified by adding more biomechanical risk, combining psychosocial and work environment risk factors lead to MSD become the first prototype of RTRA. The Item-Objective Congruence Index (IOC) validated 20 items on usability of each step of the RTRA ranged between 0.64 and 0.93. The examination of the overall intra-rater reliability was 0.932 (95% CI: 0.862-0.967) and the overall inter-rater was 0.956 (95% CI: 0.909-0.978). The tool has high test-retest reliability. There is a suggestion for researchers to understand more on the identification of multiple risk factors in one assessment tool and consider a risk-level rating and scoring for prioritizing risk reduction.

‘Botho’ African Philosophy as an Indigenous Resource for developing Resilience and Wellbeing Protective factors in schools: towards Psychosocial Learning Environments in Lesotho

‘Botho’ African Philosophy as an Indigenous Resource for developing Resilience and Wellbeing Protective factors in schools: towards Psychosocial Learning Environments in Lesotho