Do personal resources matter beyond job demands and job resources? Main and interaction effects on health-related outcomes among women working within the welfare sector.

BACKGROUND: Overall, health-related correlates of job demands and job resources are well-known. However, in today's working life, personal resources are considered to be of increasing importance. Beyond general mental ability, knowledge regarding personal resources remains limited. This is particularly so among women working in the welfare sector, a sector mainly employing women and with the work typically involving clients. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the importance of job demands, job resources, and personal resources for health-related outcomes, as well as the mitigating effects of resources, among women working within the Swedish welfare sector. METHODS: Self-reports from 372 women employed within the welfare sector were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS: Overall, increasing job demands were associated with poorer health outcomes while increasing job resources and personal resources were associated with better health. Additionally, lower control aggravated the effects of quantitative job demands on health outcomes while lower feedback mitigated the effect of qualitative demands. However, personal resources had no moderating effect. CONCLUSIONS: Job resources seem more pertinent to health than personal resources, at least among women working within the welfare sector in Sweden.

A pilot-study of a worksite based participatory intervention program: Its acceptability and short-term effects on work climate and attitudes in human service employees.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial factors, including job demands and poor resources, have been linked to stress, health problems, and negative job attitudes. However, worksite based interventions and programs targeting psychosocial factors may change employees' perceptions of their work climate and work attitudes. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study describes a newly developed worksite based participatory organizational intervention program that was tested in the social service sector. It is evaluated using participants' perceptions of the intervention to investigate its acceptability as a feature of feasibility and its short-term effects on work climate factors (job demands and resources) and work-related attitudes. METHODS: Forty employees of a Swedish social service unit provided self-reports before, during, and after the intervention. RESULTS: As for effects, quantitative role overload and social support decreased while turnover intention increased. Responses to an open-ended question showed that participants considered the intervention program valuable for addressing issues relating to the psychosocial work climate. CONCLUSIONS: Although the findings are preliminary, it was possible to carry out this worksite based participatory organizational program in this particular setting. Also, the preliminary findings underscore the challenges associated with designing and implementing this type of intervention program, thus adding to the methodological discussion on implementation and evaluation.