Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an organizational health intervention on Dutch teachers' mental health.

This study aimed to test the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) combined with an organizational health intervention. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in five Dutch secondary vocational schools. Teachers were assigned to Intervention Group 1 (IG1; MBSR) or 2 (IG2; MBSR and an organizational health intervention), or to the Waiting List Group. The primary outcome variable was mindfulness. Secondary outcomes included other mental health outcomes, work performance, personal competencies, and work-related perceptions. Data was collected before (T0), immediately after (T1), and three (T2) and nine months (T3) after the MBSR training and analyzed applying repeated measures between-subjects designs. As the additional intervention showed no effects, IG1 and IG2 were merged (IG). MBSR had positive short-term effects on the total mindfulness score, its dimensions 'observing' and 'non-reactivity', and the work engagement dimension 'dedication'. Long-term effects were found for the total mindfulness score, its dimensions 'observing', 'non-reactivity', and 'non-judging', sleep quality complaints, negative emotions, and negative work-home interaction. IG displayed a larger short- and long-term decrease in organizational commitment. No significant differences were found for work performance, personal competencies, and work-related perceptions. Although teachers did not perceive a decrease in job demands after the training, they felt more mindful and lowered their organizational commitment. Their mental health improved and their dedication during work increased. These findings may suggest that enhanced mindfulness enabled them to mentally disengage from work during their leisure time, which allowed them to experience fewer symptoms of psychological strain. The trail is registered with the Dutch Trial Register (www.trialregister.nl): NL5581 (July 2016).

Job satisfaction, job stress and nurses' turnover intentions: The moderating roles of on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness.

AIM: Using an interactionist perspective to test on-the-job embeddedness and off-the-job embeddedness as possible moderators for the predictive effects of job satisfaction and job stress on nurses' turnover intentions. BACKGROUND: As turnover worsens nurse shortages across the globe, researchers needs to find ways to work out and reduce nurses' turnover intentions. By exploring contributory factors, namely on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness as two distinctive forms that both act as moderators, we add to the literature on effective nurse retention and highlight that incorporating off-the-job factors can provide a more realistic understanding of why people consider leaving their organization. DESIGN: Survey of 361 nurses of the United Kingdom's (UK's) National Health Service, in 2016. METHOD: We conducted hierarchical multiple regression and simple slope analyses. RESULTS: Job satisfaction was negatively associated with turnover intentions, and this negative relationship was stronger when off-the-job embeddedness was high (vs. low). Job stress was positively related to turnover intentions, yet high (vs. low) off-the-job embeddedness buffered this relationship. In contrast, when on-the-job embeddedness was high (vs. low), the relationship between job stress and turnover intentions were even stronger. CONCLUSION: Results showed that using an interactionist perspective is useful in predicting nurse turnover. Nursing management should be made aware of the importance of being embedded off-the-job to prevent nurse turnover. This paper issues guidelines to form a more comprehensive staff retention programme for the healthcare sector.

Socio-emotional support in French hospitals: Effects on French nurses' and nurse aides' affective commitment.

In spite of the differences in human resource management (HRM) practices between the non-profit health care sector and business life, the majority of health care sector research appears to be based on the HRM (for human resources management) blueprint for business life staff policy and practice. This study is aimed to better understand the impact of workplace social support in the context of French hospitals. Concrete, the first objective of this article comprises a thorough conceptualization and operationalization of workplace social support (i.e. both professional and personal social support). Data were collected in a French hospital among a sample of 62 respondents (for the qualitative part of our study), and among a sample of 171 health care professionals (nurses and nurse aids) (for the quantitative part of our study). Our outcomes indicate that, especially, personal support given by one's supervisor is strongly and positively related to nurses' and nurse aides' affective commitment. After a discussion about the outcomes, followed by some recommendations for future research, the article concludes with some practical implications for management in hospitals.

Feedback provision, nurses' well-being and quality improvement: towards a conceptual framework.

AIM: This contribution develops a conceptual framework that illustrates how feedback on quality measurements to nursing teams can be related to nurses' well-being and quality improvement. BACKGROUND: It is assumed that providing nursing teams with feedback on quality measurements will lead to quality improvement. Research does not fully support this assumption. Additionally, previous empirical work shows that feedback on quality measurements may have alienating and demotivating effects on nurses. EVALUATION: This article uniquely integrates scholarly literature on feedback provision and strategic human resource management. KEY ISSUE: The relationship between feedback provision, nurses' well-being and quality improvement remains unclear from research until now. CONCLUSION: Three perspectives are discussed that illustrate that feedback provision can result in quality improvement at the expense of or for the benefit of nurses' well-being. To better understand these contradictory effects, research should examine nurses' perceptions of feedback as mediating variables, while incorporating context factors as moderating variables. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nursing management can use feedback on quality measurements to nursing teams, as a tool for enhanced quality and as a motivating tool. However, nurses' perceptions and contextual variables are important for the actual success of feedback.

Influence of work-related characteristics and work ability on changing employer or leaving the profession among nursing staff.

AIM: To investigate how work-related characteristics and work ability influence nursing staff decisions to change employer or leave the profession. BACKGROUND: Previous cross-sectional studies have indicated that decreased work ability and unfavourable work-related characteristics are important determinants for the intention to leave the profession among nursing staff. METHODS: A 1-year longitudinal study, using data from the European Nurses' Early Exit Study. The study population consisted of 9927 (66%) members of the eligible nursing staff of which 345 left their current employer. Work-related characteristics, work ability and employment status were assessed by questionnaires. RESULTS: Nursing staff with a low work ability were more likely to either change employer or leave the profession. Among nursing staff with a low work ability the risk of changing employer increased significantly with unfavourable work-related characteristics. However, among nursing staff with a good work ability the risk of changing employer barely changed with unfavourable work-related characteristics. CONCLUSION: The negative effects of decreased work ability on changing employer and leaving the profession are partly counterbalanced by favourable psychological and physical work-related characteristics. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Managers should implement strategies that focus on promoting the work ability of nursing staff in combination with improving work-related characteristics in order to prevent unnecessary changes of employment.

Transformational leadership and employability among support staff workers with long tenure.

BACKGROUND: In the changing world of work, there is an urgency to gain insight into determinants of the employability among support staff workers with long tenure whose functions may become outdated as their competencies may no longer match the requirements of future jobs. OBJECTIVE: The specific aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and employability. METHODS: Support staff (n = 236) from a university participated in an online questionnaire focusing on five dimensions of employability (occupational expertise, anticipation and optimization, personal flexibility, corporate sense, and balance) and transformational leadership (identifying and articulating a vision, providing an appropriate model, fostering the acceptance of group goals, providing individual support, and intellectual stimulation. RESULTS: Identifying and articulating a vision (ß= 0.247, p < 0.001), providing an appropriate model (ß= 0.196, p = 0.002), fostering the acceptance of group goals (ß= 0.298, p < 0.001) and providing individual support (ß= 0.258, p < 0.001) were associated with higher balance scores. No significant associations were found between the transformational leadership subscales and the other dimensions of employability. CONCLUSION: The current study found that just one specific dimension of transformational leadership was associated with only one aspect of employability for our target group of long-term employed support staff workers with a high level of job security.

Securing intensive care: towards a better understanding of intensive care nurses' perceived work pressure and turnover intention.

AIM: To provide insight into the individual and contextual factors that are related to intensive care nursing staff perceptions of work pressure and turnover. BACKGROUND: Hospitals are facing a shortage of intensive care nurses that will only become more pressing owing to demographic changes. Nurses' sickness absence and turnover are considered important threats to the supply of intensive care. DESIGN: A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used that was preceded by a qualitative, explorative study. METHOD: First, interviews and observations took place to better understand intensive care nurses' work situation. Next, quantitative data were obtained in 2010 from 461 Dutch qualified intensive care nurses who completed a questionnaire. FINDINGS: The outcomes of multiple regression analyses indicated that nurses' perceptions of work pressure were predicted by emotional demands, physical demands, threats from patients' relatives, social support and autonomy. Turnover intention was predicted by age, ability to deal with night shifts, social support and development opportunities. CONCLUSIONS: Given the importance of the availability of staff to secure intensive care, this study indicates that hospitals should pay more attention to intensive care nurses' work situation. Decreasing emotional and physical demands and increasing nurses' development opportunities are some of the measures hospitals can take to create a work environment that better accommodates the needs of their intensive care nursing staff.

Why do nurses change jobs? An empirical study on determinants of specific nurses' post-exit destinations.

AIM: The aims of this paper are, first, to identify the determinants of the 'intention to leave' of nurses working at a general hospital, and, second, to provide recommendations for various stakeholders targeting prevention of premature leaving to various post-exit destinations. BACKGROUND: Nurse turnover is a serious problem, especially given the increased need for professional medical care because of demographic changes, and puts severe pressure on health-care management staff. In order to meet future requirements for nursing staff, it is of utmost importance to empirically study their intention to leave either their department or hospital, and to identify the determinants of these various intentions to leave. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was completed by 318 nurses working at various departments at a general hospital in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Data were collected in May 2011. Using binary regression analysis, various determinants of nurses' reported post-exit career choices could be identified. CONCLUSION: Nurses' intention to leave is determined by their general satisfaction with management and leadership quality, their satisfaction with pay and benefits, their job satisfaction and work-to-home interference issues they have to deal with, but not by career development opportunities. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Preventing nurses from leaving their department or hospital requires careful attention from management and human resources professionals working in hospitals. In particular, the line managers who actually supervise nurses on a daily basis are key in ensuring that nurses are satisfied with their management and with the rewards they receive, and are able to cope with work-home interference.

Do you really want to hurt me? The impact of contextual factors on the moderating role of dark leadership in the relationships between learning climate facilitation, employability and turnover intention in the Netherlands and China.

Introduction: Both the Dutch and Chinese labor markets experience severe shortages of skilled personnel and high turnover rates, being distressing socio-economic factors. At the same time, large cross-cultural studies indicate that these national contexts are highly different from a socio-cultural perspective. When considering issues on employee development and retainment, the public debate opens for negative attributes as dark leadership, wondering if employees accept to be hurt. This study contributes to the employability research and, moreover, it contributes to the call for the ability to contextualize theories and to the convergence/divergence debate. We applied Western theories to investigate possible contextual differences in the relationships between learning climate facilitation and turnover intention, and to investigate whether this relationship is mediated by employability, and whether dark leadership is a possible moderator. Methods: To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 368 Dutch and 319 Chinese respondents who participate in an executive master's program, which was analyzed using PLS-Structural Equation Modeling. Results: Employees in the Netherlands and China were found to interpret our study variables differently. Separate analyses revealed that, in both contexts, learning climate facilitation was both directly and indirectly, via the balance dimension of employability, negatively related to turnover intention. In addition, in the Dutch sample, dark leadership appeared to weaken the relationship between learning climate facilitation and the corporate sense dimension of employability, but the latter did not seem to be a mediator in the relationship with turnover intention. In the Chinese sample, no moderation effects were found. Discussion: Our results show that both learning climate facilitation and dark leadership are important factors in the development and retainment of personnel and that particularly focusing on 'balancing group and individual goals' is important to retain personnel, regardless of national context. The latter may indicate the need for convergence of HR practices. At the same time, however, the different interpretations of the study's variables may indicate divergence in the meaning of HR concepts. In the discussion section, we elaborate on the study's implications for HR-researchers and -practitioners in national and global business contexts.

With a little help from my friends: adopting a P-E fit perspective in understanding the value of organizational learning climate for sustainable employability.

Purpose: The objective of our study was to investigate how organizational learning climate (measured as developmental opportunities and team support for learning), career commitment, and age are related to employees' self-perceived employability, vitality and work ability (e.g., their sustainable employability). Our study adopted a P-E fit perspective building upon the notion that sustainable employability is a function of both the person (P) and the environment (E) and tests a three-way interaction between organizational learning climate, career commitment, and age. Design: In total, 211 members of the support staff of a Dutch university completed a survey. Hierarchical stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings: Only one of the two dimensions of organizational learning climate that we measured, namely the developmental opportunities, appeared to be associated with all indicators of sustainable employability. Career commitment only had a direct positive relationship with vitality. Age was negatively related to self-perceived employability and to work ability, but not to vitality. The relationship between developmental opportunities and vitality was negatively influenced by career commitment (a negative two-way interaction effect), while a positive three-way interaction effect was found between career commitment, age, and development opportunities, and with self-perceived employability as the outcome. Theoretical and practical implications: Our findings confirmed the relevance of adopting a P-E fit perspective on sustainable employability, and of considering the possible role of age in this. It requires more detailed analyses in future research to unravel the role of age in the shared responsibility for sustainable employability. In practice, the results of our study imply that organizations should provide all employees with a working context that facilitates learning, however, with a special focus on older employees, for whom it is a particular challenge to protect their sustainable employability, possibly due to age-related stereotyping. Originality: Our study adopted a P-E fit perspective on sustainable employability and examined the association between organizational learning climate and all three components of sustainable employability: self-perceived employability, vitality and work ability. Moreover, it investigated whether and how the employee's career commitment and age influence this relationship.

Train to sustain: a randomised controlled trial evaluation of a vitality training employing behaviour-change techniques.

Introduction: This paper reports on the effects of a 9-week vitality training that employed behaviour-change techniques and was evaluated using a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in three large companies based in the Netherlands. Methods: A total of 84 adult employees from three participating organisations in the Netherlands were enrolled in the study. A parallel group RCT design was employed and participants were assigned using individual random assignment to either an intervention (n = 38) or a waitlist control group (n = 46). The intervention consisted of a 9-week vitality training employing the behaviour-change techniques of self-persuasion, implementation intentions, and self-efficacy, which was delivered in-house over five fortnightly 2-hour sessions. Primary outcomes (i.e., reported energy and stress) and secondary outcomes (i.e., reported daily life satisfaction and work capacity) were assessed prior to, immediately after, and 3 months following the intervention. Results: A mixed MANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect between treatment group and time period for the combination of reported energy, stress, daily life satisfaction, and work capacity. Subsequent univariate ANOVAs revealed significant interactions between treatment group and time period for reported energy, stress, and daily life satisfaction; however, not for reported work capacity. Improvements in outcomes were observed for both groups following their completion of the vitality training; however, not all improvements reached statistical significance. Reported self-efficacy regarding managing work-life balance was found to mediate the relationship between the effects of the intervention and reported energy; however, such an effect was not found for stress. Discussion: An intervention drawing upon evidence-based behaviour-change techniques shows promise for improving indicators associated with burnout; although, it is recommended that in future research a larger-scale evaluation be conducted over a longer time period with an active control group to establish effectiveness.Clinical trial registration: https://www.anzctr.org.au/, ACTRN12622001268730.

Work-family interface from a life and career stage perspective: the role of demands and resources.

Work-family conflict and enrichment are experiences that occur daily and have substantial consequences for employees, their families, and the organizations that employ them. The aim of the current review is to make a link between life and career stage, work and family conditions, and the work-family interface. The basic proposition is that life stages partly determine career development, and consequently the specific working conditions (job demands and job resources) and family conditions (family demands and family resources) that individuals are exposed to. As a result, the specific demands and resources in the work and family domains determine to what extent individuals experience that work and family are conflicting or enriching life domains. In this review we suggest that individuals in early adulthood will experience high inter-role conflict and low facilitation due to high demands and low resources in both life domains, while individuals in late adulthood will experience the opposite pattern; that is, low conflict and high facilitation due to low demands and high resources in both domains. Individuals in middle adulthood will experience high work-family conflict but also high family-work facilitation due to the presence of high job demands and resources in both life domains. Integrating life and career stage perspectives and the experience of work-family interface is of notable practical utility because it provides a mechanism to make more informed decisions about the relative need for and corresponding benefits of work-family programs.

"Expecting the unexpected?" Uncovering role expectation differences in a Dutch hospital.

The aim of this study was to empirically investigate differences in role expectations, among the stakeholders involved, about the devolved personnel management role of front-line managers (FLMs). In particular, we researched the role expectation differences between FLMs, their middle managers, and Human Resource (HR) practitioners. In total, nineteen semi-structured interviews have been conducted involving eleven FLMs, eight middle managers, and two HR practitioners working at the same Dutch hospital. Most discovered role expectation differences were related to how FLMs should execute their HR tasks (i.e., process ambiguity). FLMs were often uncertain if their role enactment met those of their middle managers and/or HR practitioners, herewith indicating role stress. Our findings underline the importance of paying attention to role expectations' differences in aligning components of the HRM-performance relationship. Future research could include the role expectations of other important stakeholders, such as: subordinates and top management. The outcomes of this empirical work are translated into four interventions to diminish FLMs' role stress.

Employability in the public sector: The impact of individual and organizational determinants.

Introduction: The importance of employability within organizations is increasing, due to various developments that initiate organizational changes. This study focuses on the employability in the public sector. While there seems to be a clear need for an employable public sector workforce, up until now there is little empirical research into the employability of workers in this sector, and into which specific individual and organizational characteristics influence it. Methods: We conducted structural equation modeling, using data from Dutch public sector employees (n = 13.471). Results: Our outcomes show that public sector employees consider themselves to be reasonably employable internally, and that they rate their external employability slightly higher. Moreover, it was found that both individual (personality and risk-taking behavior) and organizational characteristics (transformational leadership and red tape) influence their employability. Discussion: These results underline the dual responsibility of the employee and the organization in influencing workers' employability within the public sector.

Examining the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success amongst occupational psychology professionals.

Employability is core to our understanding of career sustainability, and at an individual level, identifying the personal resources that support employability in the achievement of career success is warranted. This study builds on the conservation of resources theory, examining the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success. To test our hypotheses, we utilised a context-specific practitioner sample of 135 individuals with UK-accredited occupational psychology qualifications. Employability was conceptualised using the competence-based model, underpinned by occupational expertise. Psychological capital and employability were measured using self-report questionnaires, whilst career success was determined via gross annual salary and practitioner status, ensuring objective measures of this outcome variable. Structural equation modelling identified that the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success was fully mediated by employability. These novel findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the role of psychological capital as a personal resource in achieving career success via its influence on employability.

Lockdown Social Isolation and Lockdown Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: The Impact of Mindfulness.

This study is aimed to examine the impact of mindfulness in the relationship between social isolation, job and financial insecurity, and stress during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, Psychological Contract theory, Mindfulness theory, and Awareness notion, we propose that lockdown job insecurity partially mediates the link from lockdown social isolation to lockdown financial insecurity, and that the relationship between lockdown social isolation and lockdown stress is mediated as follows: first, simple partial mediation through both lockdown job and financial insecurity and second, sequential mediation through lockdown job and financial insecurity, respectively. Moreover, we assume that mindfulness moderates the relationship between lockdown financial insecurity and lockdown stress. The results from our SEM analyses, using a sample of 1,356 respondents in China, support all the research hypotheses. Based on this empirical work, this study concludes that mindfulness, which is considered by many people to play a role in reducing stress during the COVID-19 lockdown period, is de facto endangering their mental health (that is, they experience more stress) instead. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations and proposals for future research are discussed.

Correction: Protocol of the Healthy Brain Study: An accessible resource for understanding the human brain and how it dynamically and individually operates in its bio-social context.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260952.].

Supervisor-Subordinate Age Dissimilarity and Its Impact on Supervisory Ratings of Employability: Does Supportive Learning Context Make a Difference?

Status incongruence resulting from a supervisor who is younger than their subordinate potentially leads to age stereotyping of employees. This article investigates the relationship between age difference and supervisory ratings of five competence-based measures of subordinate employability (Occupational Expertise, Anticipation/Optimisation, Personal Flexibility, Corporate Sense, and Balance). In addition, we consider the buffering role of a supportive learning context which allows older workers access to learning resources. Learning context is represented by duration of the supervisory relationship, perceived organizational learning climate and participation in, and application of, training and development. Using 295 dyads of employees and their direct supervisors in a Dutch building company, findings show that age dissimilarity reflecting status incongruence was related to lower supervisory ratings of Occupational Expertise (job-related competence) and Corporate Sense (social/organizational competence) regardless of learning context. Longer duration relationships exacerbated, rather than buffered, the age difference effect on some types of supervisory ratings. The implications of these findings for age stereotyping with regard to employability are considered.

The Role of Filial Piety in the Relationships between Work Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention: A Moderated Mediation Model.

In China, filial piety, which usually refers to showing respect and obedience to parents, has exerted an important effect in the relationship between work stress and turnover intention. However, the mechanism behind this effect is still unclear. To address this gap in the existing literature, we developed and tested a moderated mediation model of the relationship that work stress shares with job satisfaction and turnover intention. In accordance with the dual filial piety model and the stress-moderation model, our hypothesized model predicted that the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between work stress and turnover intention would be moderated by reciprocal filial piety (RFP) and authoritarian filial piety (AFP). The analytic results of data that were obtained from 506 employees of manufacturing industries in China supported this model. Specifically, RFP and AFP, as a contextualized personality construct, positively moderated the direct relationship between work stress and turnover intention as well as the corresponding indirect effect through job satisfaction. In particular, RFP and AFP strengthened the positive effect of work stress on turnover intention. Based on these findings, recommendations to help employees fulfill their filial duties and reduce the effect of work stress on turnover intention among employees of Chinese manufacturing industries are delineated.

A Distributed Interactive Decision-Making Framework for Sustainable Career Development.

The purpose of this article is to present a new distributed interactive career decision-making framework (diCDM) in which person and context together determine the development of a sustainable career. We build upon recent theories from two disciplines: decision theory and career theory. Our new conceptual framework incorporates distributed stakeholders into the career decision-making process and suggests that individuals make decisions through a system of distributed agency, in which they interact with their context to make each career decision, at varying levels of participation, from proactive to reactive. We focus on two key career decision-making drivers originating from the person (exercising personal agency and seeking meaning), and two key drivers from the career context (making demands on an individual's resources and affording scripts). This manuscript challenges the individual-driven approach to career development, and instead proposes that a process of distributed career decision-making takes place between each person and the various stakeholders, both individual and institutional, that also drive their career. Career seekers and counselors can use this framework to supplement an individual-focused approach and incorporate the role of distributed decision-makers in sustaining an individual's career. Empirical research is needed to explore and test the applicability of the framework to career decisions in practice.