Technology-Enhanced Learning and Well-being: a Contribution to the Validation of a Measure to Assess University Students' Technostress in the Italian Context.

COVID-19 has forced many universities to adopt widely technology-enhanced learning (TEL), highlighting the role of technostress as a risk factor for detrimental outcomes that may be prevented through the assessment with reliable tools. Thus, the present study aimed to test the psychometric characteristics of the Italian validation of the technostress scale by Wang, Tan, and Li. A self-report online questionnaire was completed by 915 participants (aged 18-33 years) attending an online university course during the health emergency. A subsample of 301 subjects (M Age = 20.91, SD = 1.93) filled out the same questionnaire after a 3-month time interval to evaluate the test-retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis verified the one-factor structure of the scale, which was confirmed across academic courses considered (first-year and senior students). Moreover, the findings showed significant associations with the Italian Technostress Creators Scale and the Italian Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, as well as a satisfactory test-retest coefficient value supporting its validity and reliability. In light of the above, the study provides a useful instrument to evaluate technostress related to TEL and indications to implement preventive interventions for this type of stress by improving students' experience with learning technologies.

Ageism and the Pandemic: Risk and Protective Factors of Well-Being in Older People.

The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly affected the older population both in terms of the high number of victims and the psychological impact. Moreover, the pandemic has made older people more vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, and victims of ageism. The aim of the present study was to investigate the risk and protective factors for the well-being of older people during the pandemic. The role of positive affect, confidence in the future, current physical health, social isolation, loneliness, and ageism were analysed. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 1301 participants (mean age: 77.3 years, DS: 5.46), almost equally distributed by gender (56.1% female). Descriptive and correlational analyses were performed, together with SEM. The results showed that perceived age discrimination positively predicts loneliness and negatively and indirectly predicts well-being. Furthermore, positive affect, confidence in the future, and current physical health are protective factors, while loneliness, social isolation, and ageism are risk factors. Future emergency policies must take into account the impact of such actions on the well-being of this segment of the population.

Technology-Enhanced Learning and Well-being: a Contribution to the Validation of a Measure to Assess University Students’ Technostress in the Italian Context

COVID-19 has forced many universities to adopt widely technology-enhanced learning (TEL), highlighting the role of technostress as a risk factor for detrimental outcomes that may be prevented through the assessment with reliable tools. Thus, the present study aimed to test the psychometric characteristics of the Italian validation of the technostress scale by Wang, Tan, and Li. A self-report online questionnaire was completed by 915 participants (aged 18–33 years) attending an online university course during the health emergency. A subsample of 301 subjects (MAge = 20.91, SD = 1.93) filled out the same questionnaire after a 3-month time interval to evaluate the test–retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis verified the one-factor structure of the scale, which was confirmed across academic courses considered (first-year and senior students). Moreover, the findings showed significant associations with the Italian Technostress Creators Scale and the Italian Mental Health Continuum–Short Form, as well as a satisfactory test–retest coefficient value supporting its validity and reliability. In light of the above, the study provides a useful instrument to evaluate technostress related to TEL and indications to implement preventive interventions for this type of stress by improving students’ experience with learning technologies.

A New Academic Quality at Work Tool (AQ@workT) to Assess the Quality of Life at Work in the Italian Academic Context.

The present study provides evidence for a valid and reliable tool, the Academic Quality at Work Tool (AQ@workT), to investigate the quality of life at work in academics within the Italian university sector. The AQ@workT was developed by the QoL@Work research team, namely a group of expert academics in the field of work and organizational psychology affiliated with the Italian Association of Psychologists. The tool is grounded in the job demands-resources model and its psychometric properties were assessed in three studies comprising a wide sample of lecturers, researchers, and professors: a pilot study (N = 120), a calibration study (N = 1084), and a validation study (N = 1481). Reliability and content, construct, and nomological validity were supported, as well as measurement invariance across work role (researchers, associate professors, and full professors) and gender. Evidence from the present study shows that the AQ@workT represents a useful and reliable tool to assist university management to enhance quality of life, to manage work-related stress, and to mitigate the potential for harm to academics, particularly during a pandemic. Future studies, such as longitudinal tests of the AQ@workT, should test predictive validity among the variables in the tool.

Mental Well-Being and Job Satisfaction of Hospital Physicians during COVID-19: Relationships with Efficacy Beliefs, Organizational Support, and Organizational Non-Technical Skills.

The COVID-19 outbreak has led worldwide governments to take preventive measures to contain the spread of the virus and its extraordinary demands upon healthcare workers. Consequently, healthcare workers have been under high pressures, putting them at risk of developing adverse outcomes. The present study aims to investigate the psychological and organizational factors that contributed to physicians' well-being during the pandemic. A total of 78 Italian physicians participated in the study. They completed a self-report questionnaire measuring efficacy beliefs, orientation towards patient engagement, job satisfaction, non-technical skills, organizational support, sense of belonging to the hospital, job satisfaction, and mental well-being. Physicians' sense of belonging to their hospital, efficacy beliefs about their organizations and communication with patients, as well as non-technical skills related to communication and risk awareness were positively associated with job satisfaction. In addition, the latter and sense of belonging to own hospital were positively associated with mental well-being. These findings may guide policymakers and healthcare organizations managers to consider the potential psychosocial factors related to physicians' well-being and the required preventive measures that can help in enhancing their human and organizational resources to cope with stressful situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of University-Related Variables on Students’ Perceived Employability and Mental Well-Being: An Italian Longitudinal Study

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a disruptive impact on the academic context and labor market. Indeed, the pandemic shock in such fields has been related to several changes with implications for young people’s careers and well-being. This two-wave longitudinal study, conducted in Italy, aimed to explore the predictiveness of some individual and organizational factors on students’ perceived employability and well-being. A total of 301 Italian students, aged between 18 and 33 (M = 20.63, SD = 1.99), completed a self-report questionnaire measuring career ambition, university reputation, university commitment, technostress related to technology-enhanced learning, perceived employability, and mental well-being at both time points. A path analysis showed that career ambition, university reputation, and organizational commitment positively predicted employability, which, in addition to such variables, positively affected well-being. In contrast, technostress was identified as a risk factor both for students’ perceptions of finding a job and for their well-being. These findings provide a theoretical contribution to a better understanding of the factors involved in undergraduates’ perceived employability and well-being. Moreover, they suggest the need to improve academic-related variables to enhance individuals’ resources in coping with the pandemic challenges.

Perceived Employability, Academic Commitment, and Competency of University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Student Well-Being.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has led to the closure of schools and universities, which forced students to reorganize their daily and academic lives. The pandemic has thus impacted the well-being of students in various ways. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the perceived employability, self-efficacy, ambition, organizational commitment, and career planning of students, as well as mental well-being, student engagement, and academic burnout during the pandemic. A total of 269 Italian university students participated in an online questionnaire. Our results highlight that students experienced high levels of uncertainty about their employability and career planning. In contrast, however, they reported healthy levels of mental well-being and student engagement, high career ambitions, and strong self-efficacy, despite the impact of COVID-19. We suggested that intervention and supportive programs should be offered to students over the long term in order to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic.

Smart Working and Well-Being before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review.

The purpose of this scoping review focused on the relationship between smart working, a conception of job centered on the flexibility and autonomy of the worker, and well-being/illness in an organizational context before and during COVID-19. The literature review, conducted using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis for qualitative synthesis) method for qualitative synthesis, considered studies published from 2014 to 2020. From the analyses conducted by three independent coders, three main areas of interest in the literature emerged: (1) smart working and work engagement, (2) smart working and technostress, and (3) mediators of the relationship between smart working and well-being. The review highlights the need for an organizational culture increasingly oriented towards agile working practices in conjunction with organizational support and training.

Validation and Psychometric Evaluation of the COVID-19 Risk Perception Scale (CoRP): a New Brief Scale to Measure Individuals' Risk Perception.

The aim of the work was to develop and validate the COVID-19 Risk Perception Scale (CoRP), a brief self-report questionnaire for individuals' perceptions of risk in the COVID-19 pandemic. Two studies were conducted in order to evaluate the new scale's psychometric properties. Study 1 included 269 Italian participants (77.3% female) to initially test the scale's structure and construct validity. Study 2 involved 1061 (76.2% female) Italians aged 18 to 80 years old and examined the structure of the scale, construct validity, and age invariance. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-factor solution, and the structure of the scale was found to be invariant across age groups. The scale also demonstrated a high internal reliability. The CoRP correlated positively with the fear of COVID-19 scale, and low with the Impact of Event and distressing phenomena as measured by GHQ. The present work thus affirms that the CoRP is a valid instrument for measuring individuals' risk perception of COVID-19.

Working during a Pandemic between the Risk of Being Infected and/or the Risks Related to Social Distancing: First Validation of the SAPH@W Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led the worldwide healthcare system to a severe crisis in which personnel paid the major costs. Many studies were promptly dedicated to the physical and psychological consequences of the COVID-19 exposure among healthcare employees, whereas the research on the other working populations has been substantially ignored. To bridge the current lack of knowledge about safe behaviors related to the risk of COVID-19 contagion at work, the aim of the study was to validate a new tool, the SAPH@W (Safety at Work), to assess workers' perceptions of safety. METHODS: A total of 1085 participants, employed in several organizations sited across areas with different levels of risk of contagion, completed an online questionnaire. To test the SAPH@W validity and measurement invariance, the research sample was randomly divided in two. RESULTS: In the first sub-sample, Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated the adequacy of the SAPH@W factorial structure. In the second sub-sample, multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the SAPH@W was invariant across gender, ecological risk level, and type of occupation (in-person vs. remote working). CONCLUSIONS: The study evidenced the psychometric properties of the SAPH@W, a brief tool to monitor workers' experiences and safety perceptions regarding the COVID-19 risk in any organisational setting.

Academic Community in the Face of Emergency Situations: Sense of Responsible Togetherness and Sense of Belonging as Protective Factors against Academic Stress during COVID-19 Outbreak

In the face of emergency situations, such as a global pandemic, individuals rely on their personal resources, but also on community dimensions, to deal with the unprecedented changes and risks and to safeguard their well-being. The present study specifically addresses the role of individual resources and community dimensions with reference to academic communities facing COVID-19-related lockdowns and the changes that these have implied. An online questionnaire was administered to 1124 Italian University students. It detected their sense of belonging and of responsible togetherness with reference to their academic community through community dimensions, their student self-efficacy as an individual resource, and their academic stress—potentially stemming from studying in the middle of a pandemic. A multiple mediation model was been run with structural equation modeling. The results show that both the community dimensions associate with higher student self-efficacy and the sense of responsible togetherness, while also associating with lower academic stress. Moreover, student self-efficacy, in turn, associates with lower academic stress and mediates the relationships between both community dimensions and students’academic stress levels. From these findings, the protective role that community dimensions can exert on an individual’s life becomes apparent. Building on this, further strategies should be implemented to reinforce personal and community resources in order to strengthen individuals against potentially stressful circumstances.