Oncologist burnout and compassion fatigue: investigating time pressure at work as a predictor and the mediating role of work-family conflict.

BACKGROUND: Oncologists are at high risk of poor mental health. Prior research has focused on burnout, and has identified heavy workload as a key predictor. Compassion fatigue among physicians has generally received less attention, although medical specialties such as oncology may be especially at risk of compassion fatigue. We contribute to research by identifying predictors of both burnout and compassion fatigue among oncologists. In doing so, we distinguish between quantitative workload (e.g., work hours) and subjective work pressure, and test whether work-family conflict mediates the relationships between work pressure and burnout or compassion fatigue. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, oncologists from across Canada (n = 312) completed questionnaires assessing burnout, compassion fatigue, workload, time pressure at work, work-family conflict, and other personal, family, and occupational characteristics. Analyses use Ordinary Least Squares regression. RESULTS: Subjective time pressure at work is a key predictor of both burnout and compassion fatigue. Our results also show that work-family conflict fully mediates these relationships. Overall, the models explain more of the variation in burnout as compared to compassion fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the need to consider oncologists' subjective time pressure, in addition to quantitative workload, in interventions to improve mental health. The findings also highlight a need to better understand additional predictors of compassion fatigue.

Different contexts, different effects? Work time and mental health in the United States and Germany.

This paper takes a comparative approach to the topic of work time and health, asking whether weekly work hours matter for mental health. We hypothesize that these relationships differ within the United States and Germany, given the more regulated work time environments within Germany and the greater incentives to work long hours in the United States. We further hypothesize that German women will experience greatest penalties to long hours. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine hours effects on mental health score at midlife. The results support our initial hypothesis. In Germany, longer work time is associated with worse mental health, while in the United States, as seen in previous research, the associations are more complex. Our results do not show greater mental health penalties for German women and suggest instead a selection effect into work hours operating by gender.

Subjective time pressure: general or domain specific?

Chronic time pressure has been identified as a pervasive societal problem, exacerbated by high demands of the labor market and the home. Yet time pressure has not been disaggregated and examined separately across home and work contexts, leaving many unanswered questions regarding the sources and potentially stressful consequences of time pressure. Using data collected in the United States General Social Survey waves 2002 and 2004, this study disaggregates time pressure into the domains of home and work, and asks whether considering time pressures within distinct work and home contexts reveals distinct predictors or associations with stress. Findings show that both predictors and stress associations differ across work and home pressures, revealing both methodological and theoretical implications for the study of time pressure and work and family life more generally.

Conventions of Courtship: Gender and Race Differences in the Significance of Dating Rituals.

Dating rituals include dating-courtship methods that are regularly enacted. We explored gender and race differences in the relative importance placed on certain symbolic activities previously identified by the dating literature as constituting such rituals. Using information collected from a racially diverse sample of college students (N = 680), we find that some traditional gender differences persist, but that these are also cross-cut by racial contrasts. Men, overall, place more emphasis on gifting, as well as sexual activity. Gender differences, however, are significantly greater among African Americans as compared to Whites in our sample. African American respondents are also significantly more likely than White respondents to associate meeting the family with a more serious dating relationship. Our findings highlight the need for greater efforts to uncover and account for racial differences in dating, relationships, and courtship.

Pornography, normalization, and empowerment.

Opponents and proponents of erotic representations (referred to hereafter as "pornography") have described the effects of pornography from their perspective. Little, however, has been done in the way of research to investigate these claims from the consumer's point of view. This especially has been so regarding the positive impact of such consumption on a person's sex life. Using a study group of 245 college students, we examined this question in a framework of scripting theory. We wanted to see whether viewing pornography appeared to expand sexual horizons through normalization and facilitate a willingness to explore new sexual behaviors and sexual relationships through empowerment. The data supported this viewpoint and further showed the effects to be mediated by gender and sexual preference identity. They suggested, however, that established scripts were extended rather than abandoned. We conclude with connections between our findings and the widespread viewing of pornography in contemporary society.