On the asymmetry of losses and gains: Implications of changing work conditions for well-being.

There is sample evidence that work conditions affect employees' well-being. Losses in work quality (increased job stressors and reduced job resources) are thought to be related to deteriorations in well-being, whereas gains in work quality (reduced job stressors and increased job resources) are believed to improve well-being. The way most previous studies tested linkages between work conditions and well-being assumes that as much as a loss in work quality harms well-being, a gain in work quality results in an improvement. However, Hobfoll's conservation of resources (COR) theory argues that losses have a stronger impact than gains do. To date, this assumption still awaits a thorough empirical test. Using data from three longitudinal studies (Ns = 10,756, 579, and 2,441), we investigated the effects of changes in work conditions on well-being. Changes in work conditions were related to changes in well-being, and these relationships were weaker with longer time lags. Moreover, in line with COR theory, our analyses suggested that the effect of a loss in work quality was generally stronger than the effect of a gain. Interestingly, however, we found a more consistent pattern for the effect of certain stressors (e.g., social stressors) than others (e.g., workload). By testing a central principle of COR theory, this research advances theoretical understanding of how work affects well-being. Furthermore, by revealing that previous studies may have underestimated the detrimental effects of deteriorating work conditions and overestimated the positive effects of improved work conditions on well-being, this research also has implications for organizational interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Do influence at work and possibilities for development mitigate the impact of job demands for workers with and without depression.

OBJECTIVE: Jobs characterized by low job demands and high job resources are associated with better work outcomes, yet it remains unclear whether this is the case for workers with depression. This study examined whether depression moderates the relationship between job demands, job resources, and maintaining employment. METHODS: Data from the longitudinal population-based Lifelines cohort study were matched with register data on employment from Statistics Netherlands (N=55 950). Job demands included quantitative demands and work pace; job resources included influence at work and possibilities for development. The two-way interaction between job demands and depression and the three-way interaction between job demands, job resources and depression were examined in a zero-inflated Poisson regression model with path 1, including a binary employment outcome, and path 2, a count variable including months out of employment. RESULTS: The interaction effect of job demands and depression on being employed was significant [b=-0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.44‒0.01]. Workers without depression were more likely to be employed whereas workers with depression were less likely to be employed if they had high job demands. The three-way interaction between job demands, job resources, and depression was significant for months out of employment (b=0.15, 95% CI 0.01‒0.29), indicating that workers with depression had more months out of employment when reporting high job demands and high job resources compared to workers without depression. Discussion Although increasing influence at work and possibilities for development to prevent negative work outcomes may be beneficial for workers without depression, this approach might be limited for workers with depression.

The rise and fall of job insecurity during a pandemic: The role of habitual coping.

Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger concerns about loss of employment and changes in work conditions, and thereby increase job insecurity. Yet, little is known about how perceived job insecurity subsequently unfolds over time and how individual differences in habitual coping moderate such a trajectory. Using longitudinal data from 899 US-based participants across 5 waves (March to June 2020), we investigated the trajectory of job insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this trajectory depended on habitual coping strategies such as planning, reappraisal, and distraction. Results from latent growth curve analysis indicated that, on average, job insecurity initially increased and then decreased after signing of the coronavirus stimulus bill, suggesting a pattern of shock followed by adjustment. During the shock phase, habitual use of distraction was related to less increases in job insecurity. Later during the adjustment phase, decreases in job insecurity were more pronounced for individuals with higher habitual use of planning, but were not affected by reappraisal or distraction. Hence, different coping strategies appear beneficial in different phases of adjustment, and the beneficial effect of planning may take time to manifest. Altogether, our study highlights how in the context of extraordinary and uncontrollable events, coping strategies can impact the trajectory of a stressor.

Who gains the most from improving working conditions? Health-related absenteeism and presenteeism due to stress at work.

Work stress-related productivity losses represent a substantial economic burden. In this study, we estimate the effects of social and task-related stressors and resources at work on health-related productivity losses caused by absenteeism and presenteeism. We also explore the interaction effects between job stressors, job resources and personal resources and estimate the costs of work stress. Work stress is defined as exposure to an unfavorable combination of high job stressors and low job resources. The study is based on a repeated survey assessing work productivity and workplace characteristics among Swiss employees. We use a representative cross-sectional data set and a longitudinal data set and apply both OLS and fixed effects models. We find that an increase in task-related and social job stressors increases health-related productivity losses, whereas an increase in social job resources and personal resources (measured by occupational self-efficacy) reduces these losses. Moreover, we find that job stressors have a stronger effect on health-related productivity losses for employees lacking personal and job resources, and that employees with high levels of job stressors and low personal resources will profit the most from an increase in job resources. Productivity losses due to absenteeism and presenteeism attributable to work stress are estimated at 195 Swiss francs per person and month. Our study has implications for interventions aiming to reduce health absenteeism and presenteeism.

Ten-year trajectories of stressors and resources at work: Cumulative and chronic effects on health and well-being.

Employing 5 waves of measurement over a period of 10 years, we explored the effects of exposure to constellations of conditions at work on physical and psychological strain, estimating the history of exposure over time. Specifically, we first tested if the 4 constellations postulated by the job demand-control (JDC) model, extended to include social stressors, could be identified empirically over time through a person-centered analysis. Second, we tested 2 specific effects of the history of exposure on physical and psychological strain: cumulative effects (i.e., history of exposure predicting strain) and chronic effects (i.e., history of exposure being associated with reduced reversibility in strain). Data were collected from 483 respondents who were at the end of their vocational training. The results supported the hypotheses, in that not all JDC constellations could be empirically identified, the majority of participants was in rather favorable constellations, and the differences between constellations, in terms of levels of demands and control, were more subtle than suggested by theoretically predefined constellations. Because the linear and quadratic solutions were largely comparable, we decided to adopt the linear ones. The expected cumulative and chronic effects were mostly confirmed: Unfavorable JDC constellations were associated with poorer health and well-being than favorable ones, when controlling for the initial level of the respective outcome variable, demographic variables, and for cumulative private stressors (cumulative effects). These differences largely remained after further adjustments for current conditions at work (chronic effects). (PsycINFO Database Record

Testing job typologies and identifying at-risk subpopulations using factor mixture models.

Research in occupational health psychology has tended to focus on the effects of single job characteristics or various job characteristics combined into 1 factor. However, such a variable-centered approach does not account for the clustering of job attributes among groups of employees. We addressed this issue by using a person-centered approach to (a) investigate the occurrence of different empirical constellations of perceived job stressors and resources and (b) validate the meaningfulness of profiles by analyzing their association with employee well-being and performance. We applied factor mixture modeling to identify profiles in 4 large samples consisting of employees in Switzerland (Studies 1 and 2) and the United States (Studies 3 and 4). We identified 2 profiles that spanned the 4 samples, with 1 reflecting a combination of relatively low stressors and high resources (P1) and the other relatively high stressors and low resources (P3). The profiles differed mainly in terms of their organizational and social aspects. Employees in P1 reported significantly higher mean levels of job satisfaction, performance, and general health, and lower means in exhaustion compared with P3. Additional analyses showed differential relationships between job attributes and outcomes depending on profile membership. These findings may benefit organizational interventions as they show that perceived work stressors and resources more strongly influence satisfaction and well-being in particular profiles. (PsycINFO Database Record

Taking the chance: Core self-evaluations predict relative gain in job resources following turnover.

Core self-evaluations (CSE) might account for relative gains in job resources across time, especially in situations when these individual differences affect behavior that is relevant for development of job resources. This longitudinal study tests CSE as an individual resource that predicts relative gain in job resources and job satisfaction among job beginners who change or stay with their employer. A questionnaire was filled in by 513 adolescents shortly before the end of vocational training and one year later. Our results replicate previous findings suggesting that job satisfaction is affected by CSE directly and indirectly through the perception of job resources. Multi-group structural equation analysis showed that only leavers had a longitudinal indirect effect of CSE on job satisfaction at the end of vocational training via job resources during their first year of employment. Our findings imply that turnover includes opportunities to optimize one's circumstances and that CSE helps to attain resourceful jobs.

Work or family or both? Value trajectories and their prediction over ten years.

Previous studies have shown that values are developed during young adulthood. This study investigated whether and when developmental trajectories of values depend on gender, language region, cognitive competence, expected education duration, and ambition. Longitudinal data of 2620 adolescents in Switzerland were collected at eight waves of measurement over 10 years. Latent growth model analysis revealed that work values mainly increase between ages 16 and 20, whereas family values primarily increase after age 20. This pattern fits the major life and career roles sequence: Becoming established in one's career comes first, and focusing on family building follows later. The initial levels and development of values were essentially affected by gender, but other individual factors such as cognitive competence, expected education duration, and ambition also showed some effect, particularly on family values. These new insights into the development of values improve the understanding of the career decisions and career behavior of adolescents.

The relationship between hospital patients' ratings of quality of care and communication.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between hospital patients' quality of care ratings and their experiences with health-related information exchanges and communication during hospitalization. DESIGN: Cross-sectional multivariate dimensional analysis of data from a quality of care experience questionnaire of hospital patients comparing scores across three levels of reported satisfaction. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Five thousand nine hundred and fifty-two patients from a Swiss University Hospital responded to the questionnaire at discharge during 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Survey questions measuring patients' evaluation of quality of care, patient loyalty and overall satisfaction. RESULTS: Different levels of reported satisfaction are associated with differing experiences of health-related information and communication during a hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who report lower satisfaction appear to attribute to the hospital staff enduring negative dispositions from behaviours that may be due to specific situational contexts. Negative experiences appear to influence scores on most other communication and information domains. Patients who report higher satisfaction, in contrast, appear to differentiate negative experiences and positive experiences and they appear to relativize and compartmentalize negative experiences associated with their hospital stay.

["And there are always enough 'promo leaflets'". A qualitative study on the situation of leg ulcer patients and their needs in regard to patient education]. / "Und 'Propagandamaterial' ist auch viel da". Eine qualitative Studie zur Situation von Patienten mit Ulcus cruris und ihren Bedürfnissen hinsichtlich Patientenedukation.

Chronic leg ulcers influence the daily lives of patients. Besides the burden of therapy, research results in the field of quality of life indicate constraints in the psychological, physiological, occupational and social parts of life. In order to take an active role in coping with the chronic disease, patients need knowledge and information that account for individual needs. Therefore our study had the objective to describe the lived experience of patients with leg ulcer and their corresponding needs for patient education. We used a qualitative study design. In a first step we made five narrative interviews. In a second step we made seven interviews using an interview guide that was based on results of the narrative interviews. Participants were recruited in two regions in Germany via two specialist practices and a hospital. We used a purposeful sampling strategy in order to account for the heterogenity of the patient group. Data was analysed using the content analysis approach by Mayring. Our analysis identified 4 interconnected main categories: living with the illness, experiences of wound care, being an expert, and educational needs. Patients are trying to integrate their illness into daily life and maximize their independence. They prefer individual counselling during regulartreatment to group counselling or meetings with other leg ulcer patients. Overall the described problems and solutions illustrate the complexities of the disease and its care.

Bandage pressure measurement and training: simple interventions to improve efficacy in compression bandaging.

Compression bandaging is a major cornerstone in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency. Its efficacy considerably depends on the applied pressure and it is therefore largely dependent on the individual applying the system. The sub-bandage pressure was measured under three consecutive compression bandages applied by 21 nurses before and after training and the introduction of a pressure monitor (Kikuhime, MediTrade, Denmark). A questionnaire was used to evaluate the self-rating before and after the intervention. Before intervention, a questionnaire showed the confidence of the nurses in reaching sufficient sub-bandage pressure levels. However, 34.9% of all bandages were shown to be insufficient before intervention (< 20 or > or = 60 mmHg) and only 17.5% after intervention, representing a statistically significant improvement through intervention. Of the insufficient bandages, 77.3% were applied by nurses with more than 10 years of working experience. Furthermore, the mean sub-bandage pressure in active standing position, a marker for the working pressure, was improved form 38.7 to 64.3 mmHg after intervention. Continuous awareness and training are necessary to maintain sufficient compression bandaging. The availability of a pressure monitor was helpful to reach this goal. Long work experience and self-rating alone is not sufficient to maintain adequate quality in compression bandaging.

[Family members in intensive care units--possibilities and boundaries of integration of family networks into the nursing care process]. / Angehörige in der Intensivpflege-- Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Integration von familiären Netzwerken in den Pflegeprozess.

Patients' family members are often regarded rather as a burden in intensive care, but they need personalised contact, information and support as much as the patients themselves. The concept of "family nursing" tries to integrate positive social mechanisms of support family members try to provide. For a short term nursing staff has to do some extra work, but seen from a wider angle this can become an important contribution to successful care. This approach can only be realised by an interdisciplinary collaboration of the professional team.