Aspects Of Work Environment Research Articles

Exploring organizational aspects that promote health-related preventive behavior: using the example of work-related SARS-CoV-2 infection control measures in Germany, August 2020 to November 2021.

During the communicable coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, organizational infection control measures (oICMs) were introduced in the workplace. The employees' positive attitudes and active participation are relevant for full effectiveness regarding disease prevention. Therefore, we explore changes in employees' attitudes toward oICM at work from August-October 2020 (T0) over January 2021 (T1) to October-November 2021 (T2). We further investigate the role an organization can play in supporting health-related preventive behavior. We considered repeated cross-sectional and longitudinal panel survey data from 5,554 employees of a global supplier of technology and services in Germany. A total of 16 items constitute the attitude scores toward oICM (5-point Likert scale). Via mixed-effect model, aspects associated with employees' attitudes toward oICM were explored. Via 'extreme-group' approach, we compared the 20% of participants with the largest changes into less favorable to the 20% with the largest changes into more favorable attitudes toward oICM over time. The overall positive attitudes toward work-related oICM were more favorable at T1 (mean ± SD: 4.2 ± 0.6, median (IQR): 4.3 (0.8), n = 2,515) compared to T0 (4.1 ± 0.6, 4.1 (0.8), n = 2,417) but less favorable at T2 (3.9 ± 0.7, 4.0 (0.9), n = 2,062). Among others, feeling well-informed about possible work-related risks of infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), perceived psychosocial demands through work environment aspects, and perceived management's commitment to safety and health were associated with long-term positive attitudes toward oICM. Individuals developing more favorable attitudes toward oICM reported feeling well-informed about possible work-related SARS-CoV-2 infection risks and improved COVID-19-specific resilience over time. Individuals developing less favorable attitudes toward oICM reported decreased perceptions of COVID-19-associated risks. oICMs in the workplace were perceived appropriate even after COVID-19 vaccines were widely available although the perceived affective risks about SARS-CoV-2 decreased. Taken together, our findings highlight how organizations can support employees in adopting health-related preventive behavior. Among others, we found that feeling well-informed about possible work-related health risks was positively associated with long-term favorable attitudes toward work-related oICM. We expect that the results contribute to the development of interventions to prepare and adapt to future global public health concerns.

Retention of Nursing Educators: A Qualitative Study of Personal and Work Environment Aspects.

Limited support for nurse educators can hinder their professional development, as they may struggle to apply best practices and innovative teaching strategies. This study aimed to identify the personal and work environment aspects that influence nursing faculty members' ability to remain in academia. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 18 faculty members working at 2 public universities in Saudi Arabia. Four focus group sessions were conducted, and a thematic analysis approach was used for the data analysis. The following themes emerged: appreciation and sense of security, individual and personal characteristics, work environment factors, cultural influences and responsibilities, and recommendations for individuals and organizations. Based on these themes, future research should implement appreciation initiatives such as recognition programs, mentorship opportunities, and regular feedback sessions, as well as evaluate their impact on educators' sense of appreciation and recognition.

The effectiveness of group interpersonal synchrony in young autistic adults' work environment: A mixed methods RCT study protocol.

Few autistic adults are able to integrate successfully into the world of work given their difficulties adapting to the social and stressful aspects of work environments. Interpersonal synchrony, when two or more individuals share body movements or sensations, is a powerful force that consolidates human groups while promoting the ability to self-regulate and cooperate with others. The abilities to self-regulate and cooperate are crucial for maintaining a calm and productive work environment. This study protocol outlines research that aims to assess the effects of group interpersonal synchrony on prosociality and work-related stress of young autistic adults in their work environment. This mixed-methods randomized controlled trial will investigate two movement-based group synchronous and non-synchronous intervention conditions. The sample will be composed of young adults enrolled in an innovative Israeli program designed to integrate cognitively-abled 18- to 25-year-old autistic adults into the Israeli army work force. The movement-based intervention sessions will take place in groups of 10-14 participants, once a week for 10 weeks. Questionnaires, behavioral collaborative tasks and semi-structured interviews will be conducted. Quantitative data will be collected for each participant at three points of time: before and after the intervention period, and 17 weeks after the end of the intervention. Qualitative data will be collected after the intervention period in interviews with the participants. Little is known about interventions that promote successful integration into social and stressful work environments. The findings are likely to shed new light on the use of group interpersonal synchrony in autistic individuals at work. NCT05846308.

Qualitative Study of the Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Culture on Employee Performance PT Bahana Prima Nusantara

Introduction: This study aims to examine the impact of implementing the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) culture on employee performance, focusing on knowledge, workload, and work environment aspects at PT Bahana Prima Nusantara. Method: This study uses a qualitative method that seeks to examine the implementation of OSH culture to employee performance. This research was conducted in natural situations so that there were no limitations in understanding the research being studied. The number of informants is 5 people. Data collection is done through interviews, observation, and documentation. Result: Workers know about all the risks that may occur, but in the absence of sanctions from the company, workers do not adhere to the OSH culture. The workload in this company greatly affects the performance of its employees because they feel uncomfortable if they have to apply the OSH culture. Several workers are placed not according to their abilities. Meanwhile, the work environment at this location also greatly influences the performance of employees, because most of the workers are natives, so supervisors feel reluctant to reprimand workers if they do not apply the OSH culture. Conclusion: Based on the findings, workers are aware of the risks but feel uncomfortable applying the OSH culture. Therefore, it is recommended that the company implement stricter rules and issue warnings or sanctions for non-compliance. Additionally, conducting regular OSH training and safety talks can enhance employee adherence to the OSH culture.

A study protocol outlining the development and evaluation of a training program for frontline managers on leading well-being and the psychosocial work environment in Danish hospital settings – a cluster randomized waitlist controlled trial

BackgroundHospital staff are often exposed to stressful psychosocial working conditions and report high levels of stress and burnout, which may negatively impact the safety of employees and patients. Managers hold unique knowledge of workplace conditions and needs of employees, but leadership interventions to improve the well-being of managers and employees in hospital settings are scarce. This study evaluates the effects of a leadership intervention based on a health-oriented leadership approach on the well-being and psychosocial work environment aspects of managers and employees.Methods/designThe study is designed as a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial with two groups (intervention and waitlist control group) and measurements at baseline, 6- and 12-month follow-up. We aim to include 200 frontline managers in Danish hospital settings and their approximately 5,000 employees. The leadership training comprises five full day modules and four smaller group-training sessions over a period of 5 months. The main aim is to improve stress, burnout, self-care, and perceived level of staff-care among managers and employees. Sickness absence will also be assessed at both manager and employee level. In addition, several psychosocial factors will be assessed at the employee level. A quantitative and qualitative process evaluation will also be conducted.DiscussionAction towards supporting the mental health of hospital employees is important to maintain a strong healthcare system. There is increasing recognition that best practice in workplace mental health requires an integrated approach that prevents harm and promotes positive mental health. There is also increasing understanding of the key role managers play in maintaining well-being within the workplace, however they often report a lack of knowledge and skills to promote employee mental health. The current leadership training program has been developed for frontline managers working in a hospital setting. The aim is to increase managers’ application of strategies to facilitate a healthy psychosocial work environment to benefit well-being and mental health among staff and managers themselves.Trial RegistrationThe study was retrospectively registered on November 21, 2022 in Clinical Trial.gov with identifier: NCT05623371.

An adaptive modelling approach to employee burnout in the context of the big five personality traits

Job burnout has been on the rise in the past decade, especially amongst the younger working generation. While work environmental aspects play an important role in predicting burnout, variations in personality traits are integral for understanding the syndrome's risk factors, processes, and outcomes. This paper studies the complex interaction of personality factors on the one hand and work environment aspects on the other through the relatively novel adaptive causal network modelling paradigm. Due to the adaptive nature of the model, it can investigate the effects of changes in particular job demands and resources on the symptoms of burnout and their dependence on different personality traits. The model can also demonstrate how an individual’s personality traits, environmental perception, and burnout symptoms can adaptively be altered by individual therapy, in this case, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Using the dedicated software environment in MATLAB to simulate the designed adaptive causal network model, two main scenarios were explored, focusing on the neuroticism personality trait.The results demonstrate that neuroticism increases due to interpersonal conflict, indicating that neuroticism can be treated as an adaptive trait. Furthermore, when mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was introduced into the simulation, the likelihood of developing burnout decreased because the perception of the work environment was positively changed due to the therapy. This model contributes to the field of burnout modelling by representing personality traits as adaptive factors that can be changed through individual interventions. More detailed research is needed to understand how organisational-level interventions can also impact burnout development through changes in environmental perception and personality.

A model to evaluate the Human Error Probability in inspection tasks of a production system

Investigating the dynamics of human-machine interaction and its impacts on production performance is a key issue in the context of Industry 4.0 because the concept of the “operator 4.0”, i.e., an operator integrated into a cyber-physical system, implies the need to manage complex human-machine systems. One of the most concerned fields on this topic is human reliability analysis, as the Human Error Probability (HEP) estimation by considering different work environment aspects. To this concern, the present work's purpose consists of assessing human error's impact on a manufacturing system by considering the different Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs) that affect the HEP. To this end, an analytical model has been developed to evaluate the human error in an inspection task to be accomplished in a full-real industrial case study. The HEP was estimated as a function of PSFs, including three different dimensions (i.e., task error proneness, operator's capabilities and characteristics of the work environment in the production system). It was found that the most impactful PSF affecting HEP depends on the working environment conditions in the production system. In this regard, the model shows that assuming an equal variation in the attributes related to all dimensions, the changes in working environment conditions from a physical and psychological point of view generate the most significant reduction in HEP. Consistently with these results, the average costs for reducing HEP by improving the working environment conditions are significantly higher than the average costs incurred to reduce the HEP considering the task error proneness and operator's capabilities.

Fadiga e satisfação por compaixão em profissionais oncológicos: revisão integrativa

Abstract This integrative review investigates the factors that may promote or harm the quality of life of oncology professionals, according to compassion fatigue and satisfaction criteria. Bibliographic research was conducted on the CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus, MEDLINE and Virtual Health Library databases. Primary studies published in Portuguese, Spanish and English were included. Of the 909 articles found, 18 were selected for analysis by three independent reviewers. Data were summarized in tables and thematic categories. Sociodemographic factors, internal and external to the individual, can alter professional quality of life. In conclusion, intrinsic and subjective characteristics, as well as work environment aspects, contribute to the development of compassion fatigue and satisfaction.

FACTORS INFLUENCING USER SATISFACTION: CASE STUDIES OF TEN COWORKING SPACES

Technological changes have an impact on the way we work and how we use space. The flexibility use of space is important to a specific group of individuals such as startups and freelance developers who operate their businesses in quite a new way. Coworking space was introduced to cope with this new demand in spaces for work with higher flexibility. This study aims to assess user satisfaction of ten coworking spaces in Bangkok Thailand to see similarities and dissimilarities of users’ feedback with regard to different arrangement of physical work environment and support services of the coworking spaces. Research methods include field survey and user satisfaction survey on work environment aspects. The findings showed several factors of work environment influencing user satisfaction of coworking spaces including 1) design attributes, 2) indoor environmental quality, 3) supporting facilities, and 4) support services. This study provides a better understanding of factors influencing user satisfaction of coworking spaces that can be used to improve and develop coworking spaces in similar contextual factors. The limitation of this paper is the generalizability, as this paper was conducted in Thailand. The impact of national culture may influence the outcome. More case studies in Thailand and also other countries, based on surveys with large samples of respondents are required to increase the validity and to establish whether it is possible to generalise the study’s findings.

Association of Nursing Practice Environment on reported adverse events in private management hospitals: A cross-sectional study.

To examine the relationships between nurses' perceptions of their practice environment, other working conditions and reported adverse events in two private management hospitals. Patient safety is influenced by knowledge, available resources and the context in which nursing care is provided. In this sense, it has been found that certain work environments (e.g., workload, nurse turnover level, patient-to-nurse ratio, nurse staffing, nurse manager ability) influence patient outcomes. The association between nursing practice environment and reported adverse events has not been explored in private management hospitals. A cross-sectional study. The STROBE was selected as the checklist in this study. A total of 219 nurses were included in the study. This study was conducted from June 2018-June 2019 in Spain. Data were collected through questionnaires focusing on work conditions, reported adverse events (falls, medication errors, catheter-related sepsis and pressure ulcer) and Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors influencing the occurrence of errors. Nurses reported poor perception of the professional environment, and 62.1% reported having made at least one error in the previous year. Manager support and leadership and nurse-physician relations were the most favourable aspects of work environment. Medical-surgical units, rotating in the same shift and favourable work environment, were associated with more reporting of adverse events. The factors of nursing practice (hospital area workload, staff rotating and perception of work environment) associated with reporting adverse events can be worked upon from the organisation and provided an opportunity for safety culture improvement and safer healthcare services. Improving the nurse work environment may reduce adverse patient events in private management hospitals.

Coworking Spaces: The Better Home Office? A Psychosocial and Health-Related Perspective on an Emerging Work Environment.

With the ongoing flexibilization of work, new trends concerning work outside the company’s premises such as coworking spaces are on the rise. Coworking spaces are designed to offer collaboration and community in furnished and equipped workspaces on a rental base. There is a growing body of scientific literature on coworking spaces with empirical results of qualitative and quantitative research. The present study adds to the latter by examining psychosocial demands experienced by coworkers in Germany based on a quantitative survey (n = 112). Among coworkers the home office was or still is another frequently used workplace. However, can the coworking space be seen as a better alternative to the home office in terms of work- and performance-related, social, environmental and health-related aspects? Results showed moderate to low psychosocial demands regarding quantitative workloads. Compared to the home office, the coworking space proved to be the preferred work arrangement. Results are discussed with regard to current literature and workplace design. In conclusion, coworking spaces can be seen as an alternative to the home office that was highly valued in the present sample. It is recommended to further emphasize aspects of work environment and ergonomics in order to create health-promoting and satisfying workplaces.

Factors related to perioperative nurses' job satisfaction and intention to leave.

This study investigated factors associated with perioperative nurses' job satisfaction and their intention to leave. Recruitment and retention of nurses are particularly important in a specialist environment such as the perioperative setting where it is especially difficult to attract and retain nurses due to its unique environment. Cross-sectional data were drawn from a larger study on nurses' work environments, conducted in one province of Canada. An e-survey tool, consisting of validated scales, was administered by the provincial nurses' union to a stratified random sample of registered nurses. The study sample consisted of 113 perioperative nurses working in acute-care hospitals. This study included two outcome variables (job satisfaction and intention to leave) and five predictor variables (three aspects of work environment, workload, and emotional exhaustion). Data were analyzed using multivariate linear and logistic regressions. A multivariate linear regression model explained 49% (adjusted R2 ) of variance in nurses' job satisfaction, and a multivariate logistic regression explained 19% (McFadden's R2 ) of the variance in their intent to leave. After controlling for work status and other predictors, nurse-physician relationship was significantly related to nurses' job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion was the key predictor for both outcome variables. This study demonstrated that higher emotional exhaustion is associated with decreased job satisfaction and increased intention to leave among perioperative nurses. The findings suggest that nurse managers should create an empowering and open work environment that fosters perioperative nurses' job satisfaction and reduces their intention to leave.

Os fatores que influenciam no clima organizacional em instituições federais de ensino superior: uma investigação em Belém do Pará, Brasil

O clima organizacional pode ser conceituado como o produto da percepção compartilhada pelos trabalhadores da qualidade do ambiente de trabalho em um dado momento. Ao longo do tempo, os estudos de clima organizacional mostraram relações com diversos aspectos do comportamento humano, com motivação, produtividade, comprometimento, entre outros. Desta forma, compreender o clima organizacional se tornou uma forma privilegiada de investigar o ambiente de trabalho. Nesse contexto, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar os aspectos do ambiente de trabalho que exercem influência na formação do clima organizacional em instituições federais de ensino. A investigação utilizou método exploratório e descritivo na forma de pesquisa de campo em duas instituições na cidade de Belém do Pará, Brasil. A amostragem foi não probabilística por acessibilidade e obteve 236 entrevistas válidas. O tratamento de dados foi quantitativo com análise fatorial exploratória (AFE) e regressão linear múltipla (RLM). A análise fatorial captou quatro fatores que explicaram 65,25% da variância dos dados e foram denominados como Chefia (18,97%), Imagem organizacional (17,57%), Treinamento (17,41%) e Remuneração (11,30%). A regressão linear múltipla, com r-quadrado de 70,81%, mostrou que o modelo era capaz de influenciar fortemente no clima organizacional. Conclui-se que os gestores podem utilizar os fatores identificados neste estudo para fundamentar estratégias que contribuam para melhoria do clima organizacional nas instituições pesquisadas.

Lived-Experiences of Mobile Teachers in Remote Schools in Antipolo City

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of mobile teachers in remote schools in city school’s division of Antipolo specifically in district II-F. The study was limited to six (6) informants who were teaching for three or more years. The theories guiding in this study were Work as Calling Theory (2018), Work Adaptation Theory (1984) and the Cultural Learning Theory (2010) The study followed the theory and methods of the phenomenological research model proposed by Giorgi (2009) that allowed informants to provide personal perspectives and reflections on their experiences. The following four research questions guided the study. 1) What are the lived experiences of mobile teachers? 2) What work environment aspects play a part in mobile teacher’s decisions to remain in the remote school for three or more years? (relationships with colleagues, students, parents, and community) 3) How do mobile teachers describe their motivators that help them to stay in remote school in Antipolo city? 4) How do mobile teachers face the challenges in terms of adapting to a new culture in remote community? Interviews conducted to gather perceptive data from informants were transcribed, examined, coded, and broken down into themes emerged throughout the research process. The themes identified that were based on distinct experiences of mobile teachers were (1) physically, intellectually and emotionally discomfort, (2) environmental and work adaptation, and (3) positive attitudes towards work. Identified themes based on characteristics of work environment of informants were,(1) sense of belongingness, (2) high respect for teacher and (3) community and school challenges. In addition to that, informants indicated their motivators why they still wanted to remain teaching in their respective school’s despite of the challenges that they encountered were, (1) sense of (2) satisfaction, (3) sense of commitment and (3) meaning of teacher’s life. Being new to the working environment the informants experienced difficulty in communicating with the students, parents and with the community folks, however they possessed cultural competence that made them adjust and adapt to their new environment easier. The findings of the study may help the city school’s division of Antipolo, school administrators in conducting orientations that could help them understand the culture and working condition of mobile teachers who are being assigned in remote school so that they will be attracted and stay in the place for more than three (3) years.

Quality of Nurse Work Life in Pangandaran Health Center

Quality service is the main goal of the health care system, where the purpose of service quality is to ensure that the services or products of nursing services are produced according to the patient’s standards / desires. The purpose of this study was to find out the quality of work life of nurses in the Puskesmas.This study uses correlative design that connects the characteristics with the quality of the work life of nurses. The research sample was 48 nurses in Puskesmas who were taken by total sampling. Comparative test was carried out using Mann Whitney, Kruskall Wallis and Spearman tests adjusted for the type of dataThe results are displayed in the form of numerical data tables consisting of middle values, deviations and probability values. The total quality of work life of nurses in Pangandaran Health Center was 145.83 where the value obtained was below the average standard value of 150. Likewise for the aspect of work environment, relations with managers, work conditions and job perceptions which had a mean below the standard mean while the support service aspect has an average of 19.31 while the average standard is 18. Based on the comparative analysis, gender and age have no relationship with the quality of work life (p Value> 0.005), while the level of education, the number of teams and salaries have a relationship with quality working life of nurses in Pangandaran Health Center (p Value <0.001). This means that nurses have not felt well in their work, except in the aspect of support service in this aspect nurses have felt satisfied and prosperous in getting support from other teams / officers. Likewise, the level of education, the number of teams and salaries have an influence on the quality of the worker’s life.

Impact of Work Environment upon Housekeeping Services Staff's Health Status at Medical City in Baghdad City

AbstractObjective(s): To evaluate housekeeping services staff work environment and their health status, as well as to determine the impact of the work environment upon their health status.Methodology: A descriptive design is employed throughout the present study to evaluate housekeeping services staff work environment and their health status, as well as to determine the impact of the work environment upon their health status from November 3rd 2017 to June 30th 2018. A purposive “nonprobability” sample of (101) housekeeping staff is selected for the present study. An instrument is constructed for the purpose of the study and it is consists of (2) parts: (I) Evaluation of work environment, and (II) Evaluation of housekeeping staff's health status. A pilot study is conducted for the determination of the instrument’s validity and reliability. The content validity of the instrument is determined by panel of (35) experts. So, the instrument is considered adequately valid measure after performing the modifications that based on the experts’ responses. The internal consistency reliability is determined through split-half technique and the computation of Cronbach alpha correlation coefficient of (r=0.87) which is indicated that the instrument is adequately reliable measure. Data are collected through the use of the study instrument and the structured interview technique as means of data collection. Data are analyzed through descriptive statistical analysis approach of frequency, percentage, mean, total score and range and inferential statistical data analysis approach of linear regression.Results: The study indicates that the work environment is moderately risky (92.1%) andthe housekeeping staff health status is ranging between fair (42.6%) to good (42.6%) for most of them. The biological, chemical and physical aspects of work environment have great impact upon the housekeeping services staff health status.Recommendations: The study recommends that work environment can be monitored to maintain occupational health and safety; periodic medical examination has to be initiated and presented to the housekeeping services staff and further research can be conducted on different settings and large sample size.

Influencing factors of nursing work environment in ClassII andIII hospitals of Guangdong Province

Objective To explore the influencing factors of nursing work environment in Class Ⅱ and Ⅲ hospitals of Guangdong Province. Methods Totals of 1 904 nurses of 133 wards from 23 Class Ⅱ and Ⅲ hospitals of Guangdong Province were investigated with the questionnaires in 2014. The hospital questionnaire was used to investigate hospital level, place and level of technical force. The ward questionnaire was applied to investigate ward types and the number of nurses. The nurse questionnaires included the general information questionnaire and the Practice Environment Scale of Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) . The EpiData 3.1, SPSS 19.0 and MLwiN 2.32 were used to build a database, statistical description and multilevel models regression analysis respectively. Results A total of 71.6% of 1 904 nurses was dissatisfied with payment and 56.2% of them reported working overtime. The nurses, wards and general information of hospitals were taken as the explaining variable to be led into three-level model. The results showed that nurses who had low educational background (β=0.140-0.209, P<0.05) and high satisfaction with payment (β=0.138-0.513, P<0.001) were with high assessment for five aspects of work environment. Nurses whose work did not time out (β=0.064-0.076, P<0.05) , wards were with nurse-patient ratio reaching the standard (β=0.082-0.118, P<0.05) , were in surgical department (β=0.130-0.148, P<0.05) , whose hospitals was with a low level of technical force (β=0.093-0.209, P<0.05) had higher assessment for work environment than those were with work timeout, whose wards were with nurse-patient ratio not reaching the standard, were in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) , whose hospitals was with a high level of technical force (P<0.05) . Conclusions The influencing factors of nursing work environment assessed by nurses include initial educational background, payment satisfaction, working load (working overtime and nurse-patient ratio) , types of wards and hospital technical force. Creating a good nursing work environment needs to attach importance to building of talent team, improve payment satisfaction and guarantee manpower allocation to stabilize nurses team so as to fundamentally improve the quality of nursing service. Key words: Nurses; Nursing work environment; Influencing factors

Mediating Effects of Career Stage on Job-Related Characteristics - Job Satisfaction Relationship

Despite the fact that job satisfaction has occupied the attention of many authors for decades, this is still fruitful area to investigate because there are still many important questions that require answers. One of these questions is whether the career stages, in which employees currently are, influence which job related characteristics have dominate influence on their job satisfaction. These question arises from the fact that each career stage bring to employees specific concerns, challenges, expectations and needs regarding the job. Our assumption was that career stages have mediating effect on job related characteristic - job satisfaction relationship. In order to test this assumption, primary research was conducted in organizations in Serbia. The sample included 813 employees. For checking the initial assumptions, descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance were applied. The research methodology also included theoretical analysis of the concept of job satisfaction and career stages in process of career development. Results of the study showed that career stages have mediating influence on job related characteristics - job satisfaction to a large extent, except when it is about pay and contingent rewards which have significant influence on job satisfaction for the employees in all career stages. These results could be explained by unfavorable economical conditions in Serbia such as low standard of living and law salaries which put this aspects of work environment in the focus of every employee nevertheless of career stage in which he/she is.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.2.18637

Links between primary occupation and functional limitations among older adults in Mexico

Social inequalities in health and disability are often attributed to differences in childhood adversity, access to care, health behavior, residential environments, stress, and the psychosocial aspects of work environments. Yet, disadvantaged people are also more likely to hold jobs requiring heavy physical labor, repetitive movement, ergonomic strain, and safety hazards. We investigate the role of physical work conditions in contributing to social inequality in mobility among older adults in Mexico, using data from the Mexican Health and Aging Survey (MHAS) and an innovative statistical modeling approach. We use data on categories of primary adult occupation to serve as proxies for jobs with more or less demanding physical work requirements. Our results show that more physically demanding jobs are associated with mobility limitations at older ages, even when we control for age and sex. Inclusion of job categories attenuates the effects of education and wealth on mobility limitations, suggesting that physical work conditions account for at least part of the socioeconomic differentials in mobility limitations in Mexico.

Adaption and Validation of the Picker Employee Questionnaire With Hospital Midwives

ObjectiveTo describe the adaption and psychometric testing of the Picker Employee Questionnaire to measure work environment, work experience, and employee engagement with midwives. DesignExpert interviews, cognitive testing, and online survey for data collection. SettingObstetric departments in Germany. ParticipantsMidwives employed in German obstetric departments: 3,867 were invited to take part, and 1,692 (44%) responded to the survey. MethodsQuestionnaire adaption involved expert interviews and cognitive testing. Psychometric evaluation was done via exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and construct validity assessment. ResultsThe adaption of the Picker Employee Questionnaire resulted in a tool with 75 closed questions referring to central aspects of work environment, experience, and engagement. Factor analysis yielded 10 factors explaining 51% of the variance. Themes covered were Support from Management (Immediate Superior and Hospital Management), Workload, Overtime, Scheduling, Education and Training, Interaction with Colleagues (Midwives, Physicians, and Nurses), and Engagement. Eight scales had a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.7 or greater; the remaining two were 0.6 or less. The questionnaire distinguished between different subgroups of midwives and hospitals. ConclusionThe questionnaire is well suited for the measurement of midwives' work experience, environment, and engagement. It is a useful tool that supports employers and human resource managers in shaping and motivating an efficient work environment for midwives.