The relationship between psychosocial risks and occupational functioning among miners.

OBJECTIVES: This paper presents the results of research on the scale of psychosocial risks among miners. A comparative analysis was made, comparing the research results with the data obtained from workers in the following industries: metal, energy, chemical and construction - along with an indication of the relationship between stressful working conditions and the occupational functioning of the respondents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 483 adults employed in mines in Poland. The study on psychosocial risks in the workplace was performed using Psychosocial Risk Scale, developed by the Department of Health and Work Psychology of the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lódz, Poland. Psychosocial Risk Scale is the scientifically validated diagnostic tool and is characterized by high reliability and validity of coefficients. RESULTS: The analysis of differences in occupational functioning between miners and other workers in heavy industry provides that miners are in general more healthy, less stressed, more positive emotionally and normatively committed to work, more satisfied with work, and more stable in the employment (as opposite to turnover intention) than the other workers. The results suggest that miners with a lower level of stress functioned at work better - they evaluated their health and ability to work better than miners with a higher level of stress. Their intention to change a job was lower than among those experiencing more stress. The most pronounced effect was observed for the influence on this dimension of functioning by job context risks (the higher level of probability, and the higher t-test value). CONCLUSIONS: Occupational functioning of miners in Poland is better than the other employees in heavy industry. The analysis of differences in occupational functioning dimensions provides that a lower level of psychosocial risk in a workplace is connected with a higher level of job satisfaction, positive affective and normative work commitment and a lower level of turnover intension. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(1):87-98.

Stressful work characteristics, health indicators and work behavior: the case of machine operators.

This article shows the results of research on psychosocial risks for a group of machine and plant operators (n = 1014) from the construction, chemical, energy, mining, metal and food industries in Poland. The Psychosocial Risk Scale designed in Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) by Moscicka-Teske and Potocka was used to indicate the occurrence of general and specific occupational stressors and the level of their stressfulness. The results revealed that the studied machine and plant operators experience job context stress - related to working environment features concerning work organization - more frequently than job content stressors - related to the type of tasks they perform. Moreover, a correlation analysis between work features and the health and occupational functioning of the respondents revealed significant but weak relationships between the variables (from -0.08 to -0.23). Comparative analysis revealed the differences between the studied sectors. Such a comparison makes it possible to set goals for each sector and to attempt to improve the distinctive areas.

[Psychosocial risks and the job activity of banking sector employees]. / Zagrozenia psychospoleczne a funkcjonowanie zawodowe pracowników sektora bankowego.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial risks, via stress mechanism, may negatively influence employees' health and work activity. Both the scale and the type of these risks depend on job specificity in particular occupation or sector. The aim of the study was to characterize the categories of stressors occurring in the banking sector and their effects on employees' performance. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The studied subjects were 484 employees tested with the questionnaire method. The Scale of Psychosocial Risk was used as a research tool. RESULTS: The more the employees are exposed to threats connected with work content, work context, pathologies and specific factor, the less satisfied they are and the more frequently they declare turnover intention. However, rarely does it change their engagement or absence. The subjects felt the effects of risks, regardless of their stressfulness. It turns out that individual's well-being is rather related to work context, e.g. relations with co-workers or salary, than to the character of tasks. It was observed, that with age, employees are less resistant to work context related to threats, which results in frequent absence. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the results comply with the literature data. The work environment diagnosis may be based only on the occurrence of psychosocial risks, regardless of the subjectively experienced stress. The conclusions can be used by both employers and specialists in occupational stress prevention.

[Experienced bullying and hostile behavior in the workplace and symptoms of burnout in teachers]. / Doswiadczanie mobbingu i wrogich zachowan w miejscu pracy a wystepowanie objawów wypalenia zawodowego u nauczycieli.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the exposure to workplace bullying and hostile behavior and occupational burnout in a sample of Polish teachers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In our research we studied a nationwide random sample of 1214 teachers. The frequency and type of hostile behaviors against employees was measured with the use of MDM Questionnaire, ("Mobbing, dreczenie, molestowanie" - "Bullying, harrasement, maltreatment") by Moscicka, Drabek, Merecz, developed in the Department of Occupational Psychology of the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódz (Poland), and the level of burnout was assessed with Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS). RESULTS: As many as 63% of teachers experienced hostile behavior in their workplace and 7% of them experienced workplace bullying. Employees affected by bullying and hostile behavior reported more symptoms of professional burnout, such as emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and lower level of professional efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of teachers in this study experienced some form of hostile behavior in the workplace. One in ten respondents was the subject of workplace bullying. The experience of hostile behavior and bullying at work was significantly connected with symptoms of professional burnout. Therefore, it is desirable to take care of good interpersonal relationships in educational institutions, strengthen teachers' abilities to cope with difficult interpersonal situations, and implement procedures to prevent bullying and hostile behavior in the workplace.

[Polish adaptation of swing questionnaire (Survey Work-home Interaction - Nijmegen)]. / Polska adaptacja kwestionariusza SWING do diagnozy interakcji praca-dom i dom-praca.

UNLABELLED: The aim of the paper is to present the Polish adaptation of Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen (SWING). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analyses were based on the survey results from two groups of subjects, a sample of workers, representative in terms of sex and age, living in urban areas (N = 600) and a group of 59 employees examined twice with a help of SWING to assess the stability of the obtained results over a month time. RESULTS: The analyses performed proved that the Polish version of SWING is a reliable tool for studying work-home interactions. Correlation coefficients of items with total result of negative work-home interaction (WHI) subscale varied from 0.51 to 0.74, with positive WHI subscale from 0.26 to 0.60, negative home-work interaction (HWI) subscale, from 0.54 to 0.68 and positive HWI subscale from 0.31 to 0.59. Cronbach's alpha for the whole survey was 0.79, and for subscales varied from 0.73 to 0.89. The results of factorial analysis confirmed a our-factor structure of SWING. Factors I, items had loading from 0.58 to 0.81; II, from 0.29 to 0.78; III, from 0.60 to 0.80; and IV, from 0.28 to 0.74. The values of fit index for a four-factor model, were 0.91 (NNFI), 0.06 (RMSEA), and 0.92 (CFI), which means that this model is characterized by a good fit to empirical data. The correlation coefficient between two measurements at one month interval were also high and reached the range of 0.63 to 0.84. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained are comparable to the psychometric characteristic of the English version of SWING.