Secondary traumatic stress and work ability in death care workers: The moderating role of vicarious posttraumatic growth.

Death care work consists of dealing with traumatic events frequently, if not daily. This type of exposure is considered characteristic of the profession and can lead to significant negative consequences such as secondary traumatic stress. However, sometimes positive changes can occur as a result of experiencing trauma, which is referred to as vicarious posttraumatic growth. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of vicarious posttraumatic growth (VPTG) in the relationship between secondary traumatic stress (STS) and work ability (WA) in a sample of 231 death care workers in northern Italy. Regression analysis with interaction was performed using PROCESS. The results showed a negative association between STS and WA and a positive association between VPTG and WA. The interaction between STS and VPTG was also statistically significant. The moderating role of VPTG was partially confirmed by the analysis: at low and moderate VPTG levels, the conditional effect was negative and statistically significant, while at high VPTG, STS exposure had no significant and negative effect on WA, as if VPTG had some kind of protective role against STS. These results provide new insights into the role of VPTG in work environments with daily trauma exposure, such as death care.

Attitudes toward organizational change and their association with exhaustion in a sample of Italian police workers.

Introduction: Change management is an important topic for organizations and some personal characteristics may help or hinder coping with change. Methods: The aim of the present study was to find out whether attitudes toward organizational change can predict work-related exhaustion in a sample of police workers (N = 532) in northern Italy. Differences between groups in relation to role (police officers vs. other roles) and gender were also considered. Results: The results of hierarchical regression showed that change beliefs were negatively associated to exhaustion, while resistance to change was positively related to exhaustion; role and gender were also significantly and positive associated with the dependent variable. Regarding differences between groups, police officers had lower positive change beliefs and higher levels of exhaustion compared to workers in other roles. Regarding gender, women reported higher levels of exhaustion than men. Discussion: The results of the present study provide further insights into what aspects should be considered when promoting organizational change in the police work context.

How can the seafarers do it? Qualitative research in psychosocial risks of South Italy's seafarers.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial risk factors play an important role in the lives of seafarers on board. Not only physical but also mental health influences the performance of seafarers. This study aims to investigate the psychosocial aspects of life on board among southern Italian seafarers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between January and April 2021 with a sample of 20 seafarers using the snowball method. Griffith and Gonzales' (2000) guidelines for conducting face-to-face interviews were used. Interview topics were analysed using paper and pencil. RESULTS: The majority (90%) of seafarers were married or living in a romantic relationship. The seafarers worked more than 10 hours per day without a day of rest during their time on board. The main stressor for participants was the lack of family (16/20), followed by conflicts between work and rest (12/20), pressure from crew members (9/20) and feeling lonely (8/20). Seafarers were generally involved in traumatic events such as fatal accidents (5/20), injuries at work (4/20) and pirate attacks (4/20). The most important personal resources are the opportunity to travel (12/20), followed by passion for this type of work (9/20). The most common suggestion for a better quality of life on board concerns improving the quality of training (6/20). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are alarming for the working and living conditions of seafarers. Shipping companies should implement social policies to prevent an increase in psychosocial risks on board. Future studies could include the administration of a questionnaire to examine psychosocial stressors, seafarers' protective factors, and well-being and discomfort outcomes at work.

Self-Care for Nurses and Midwives: Findings from a Scoping Review.

Self-care for health care professionals is essential in order to optimize the care they provide and to prevent serious consequences for their health. This scoping review aimed to identify (a) the concepts used in the literature to describe self-care; (b) interventions that influence self-care. The scoping review was conducted according to the criteria and methodology by Arksey and O'Malley, from November 2020 to January 2021, by consulting the following databases: Pubmed, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library, Joanna Briggs Library. Various keywords and MesH terms were used for the search, including self-care, nurses, midwives, nursing, midwifery, self-compassion, and self-awareness. Eighteen studies were included. The concept of self-care is related to three constructs: (a) Mindfulness; (b) Compassion; and (c) Resilience. In the literature, self-care interventions can be distinguished as (a) mindfulness-based; (b) educational; (c) multimodal approach; and (d) mind-body interventions. In recent years, the concept of self-care is a topic of great interest in the literature; dealing with self-care from both a theoretical and a practical-personal and professional-perspective has become more important in order to promote practitioners' well-being. This scoping review helps to clarify the terms related to self-care and looks at tested interventions to improve the well-being of caregivers.

Exposure to Death and Bereavement: An Analysis of the Occupational and Psychological Wellbeing of Funeral and Mortuary Operators.

Confronting death and suffering represent central work-related contents in the funeral industry occupations. Despite past research evidence on the role of psychosocial risks, a positive side of the relationship with death exposure has also been highlighted. To expand research on these topics, the aim of the present study was to analyze the role of death exposure in affecting funeral and mortuary operators' wellbeing. Analysis of variance was performed on 201 questionnaires to analyze differences between work exposure. Workers always/very often exposed to death through sight or manipulation of bodies showed better psychological and occupational wellbeing compared to those not at all/very rarely committed with these tasks. Those who interacted very frequently with the bereaved showed better psychological and occupational wellbeing, compared to those who were never/very rarely committed with these relational tasks. Insights on the role of death and suffering exposure and information for occupational health practitioners are discussed.

Wellbeing in Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Self-Compassion in the Relationship between Personal Resources and Exhaustion.

Italy was the second country to be affected by COVID-19 in early 2020, after China. The confrontation with the pandemic led to great changes in the world of work and, consequently, to the personal world of workers. In such a challenging situation, it is essential to be able to rely on resources that facilitate individual coping. The aim of this study was to understand the association between personal resources (optimism and humor) and exhaustion, and the role of self-compassion in this relationship. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses on a heterogeneous sample of 422 Italian workers during the first lockdown in April-May 2020. The results revealed that optimism and humor were positively associated with self-compassion; optimism and humor also had a negative association with exhaustion; and self-compassion had a mediating role between the two personal resources and exhaustion. These results confirmed the importance of personal resources in maintaining workers' wellbeing during a challenging period such as the pandemic. The present study also contributes to the body of knowledge on self-compassion, a relatively new construct that has been little studied in the organizational field.

Funeral and Mortuary Operators: The Role of Stigma, Incivility, Work Meaningfulness and Work-Family Relation to Explain Occupational Burnout.

The funeral and mortuary sector, including funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria, is a largely neglected sector in regard to the study of occupational factors that can affect the quality of working life. The present study aimed at overcoming this gap by investigating job demands and resources that may affect burnout levels. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire involving funeral industry employees (N = 229) from cemetery, morgues, crematoria and funeral agencies in a Northern Italian region. The survey was cross-sectional and non-randomized. Results reveal that among job demands, stigma consciousness, supervisor incivility and work-to-family negative spillover significantly affect levels of burnout, whereas meaningfulness of work and family-to-work positive spillover may represent relevant resources to counter the onset of burnout. The results of this study contribute to new insights into the psychosocial working conditions that affect occupational wellbeing among the funeral industry sector by also giving insight into how to promote resources to prevent burnout.

Working during a Pandemic between the Risk of Being Infected and/or the Risks Related to Social Distancing: First Validation of the SAPH@W Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led the worldwide healthcare system to a severe crisis in which personnel paid the major costs. Many studies were promptly dedicated to the physical and psychological consequences of the COVID-19 exposure among healthcare employees, whereas the research on the other working populations has been substantially ignored. To bridge the current lack of knowledge about safe behaviors related to the risk of COVID-19 contagion at work, the aim of the study was to validate a new tool, the SAPH@W (Safety at Work), to assess workers' perceptions of safety. METHODS: A total of 1085 participants, employed in several organizations sited across areas with different levels of risk of contagion, completed an online questionnaire. To test the SAPH@W validity and measurement invariance, the research sample was randomly divided in two. RESULTS: In the first sub-sample, Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated the adequacy of the SAPH@W factorial structure. In the second sub-sample, multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the SAPH@W was invariant across gender, ecological risk level, and type of occupation (in-person vs. remote working). CONCLUSIONS: The study evidenced the psychometric properties of the SAPH@W, a brief tool to monitor workers' experiences and safety perceptions regarding the COVID-19 risk in any organisational setting.

Secondary Traumatic Stress in Italian Police Officers: The Role of Job Demands and Job Resources.

Police officers are among the workers most exposed to acute or chronic stressful events, which compromises their psychosocial well-being and physical health. Exposure to traumatic events, human suffering, problematic situations and episodes of violence can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress. The aim of this research is to explore the effect of job demands and job resources on secondary traumatic stress in police officers. To better understand this phenomenon and its consequences in this population, police officers were compared with health care professionals working as first responders. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to 112 and 286 health care professionals. The findings showed that compared with health care workers, police officers suffer from secondary traumatic stress to a greater extent. Moreover, the results showed that some police officers suffered more than health care professionals regarding certain consequences of secondary traumatic stress, such as negative emotions and burnout. This study suggests implications and offers insights for both police officers and the organizations in which they work: police officer organizations should contribute to preventing the phenomenon of secondary traumatic stress by proposing programs that implement resilience training and adaptive coping strategies.

Emotional Labour and Work-Family Conflict in Voice-to-Voice and Face-to-Face Customer Relations: A Multi-Group Study in Service Workers.

Professions that involve interaction with customers entail great emotional effort: workers are required to show emotions different from their true feeling and they experienced emotional dissonance and verbal aggression from customers. These job demands can generate discomfort and the effects of emotional labour can "expand" in other life domains. The study investigated the relationship among emotional dissonance, customer verbal aggression, affective discomfort at work and work-family conflict, considering differences between two groups of service workers: call centre agents (CA; N = 507, voice-to-voice relation with customers) and supermarket cashiers (SC; N = 444, face-to-face relation with customers). Results showed that emotional dissonance and customer verbal aggression had a positive relationship with work-family conflict, the mediational role of affective discomfort emerged in both groups; different effects of job demands in subsamples appeared. Suggestions for organisations and work processes emerged in order to identify practical implications useful to support employees in coping with emotional labour and to promote well-being and work-family balance.

Can mindfulness mitigate the energy-depleting process and increase job resources to prevent burnout? A study on the mindfulness trait in the school context.

BACKGROUND: Past studies in the teaching context provided evidence of the role of mindfulness-based intervention in improving occupational wellbeing. This study aims to increase the extant knowledge by testing the mechanism that links teachers' mindfulness at work to occupational wellbeing. Rooted in the job demand-resource model, the mindfulness trait is conceptualized as a personal resource that has the ability to impact and interact with job demands and resources, specifically workload stress appraisal and perceived meaningfulness of work, in affecting teachers' burnout. METHODS: A sample of primary, middle, and secondary school teachers (N = 605) completed a questionnaire that aimed to assess teachers' mindfulness trait and the measures of the quality of occupational life in the school context. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the model fit indices; further analyses were performed to test the hypotheses about mediation and moderation effects. RESULTS: The CFA showed good model fit indices. Further analyses highlighted that teachers' mindfulness is negatively associated with workload stress appraisal and that positively influenced work meaning, in turn mediating the relationship between mindfulness and burnout. Finally, mindfulness moderated the effect of workload stress appraisal on burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Rooted in the job demand-resource model, this study emphasizes an underrepresented personal resource, that is, the mindfulness trait at work, and the links that favor its impact on burnout. Practical and future research implications are also discussed.

The Nature of Job Crafting: Positive and Negative Relations with Job Satisfaction and Work-Family Conflict.

This study investigated job crafting as mediator and its relation with job satisfaction and work-family conflict, considering job autonomy as antecedent. The research involved 389 participants working in a public organization. A structural equations model was estimated revealing that job autonomy is positively associated with job crafting and job satisfaction, and negatively associated with work-family conflict. Job crafting is positively related with job satisfaction and work-family conflict, as adverse effect of job crafting. As regards mediated effects, results show positive associations between job autonomy and both job satisfaction and work-family conflict through job crafting. This study contributes to literature, considering positive and negative outcomes, covering the lacking literature on job crafting and work-family conflict, and suggesting implications for employees' well-being.

Secondary Traumatic Stress: Relationship With Symptoms, Exhaustion, and Emotions Among Cemetery Workers.

Background: Cemeteries workers are deserving of attention because they are exposed to various psychosocial risks: these workers are subject to painful contacts and daily exposed to a work content linked to death experiences and the emotions associated with them. Secondary trauma develops from this continuous contact with others' suffering; operators working with this type of traumatic content and dynamic could suffer from emotional disorders (Figley, 1995). Therefore, the secondary traumatic stress (STS) is seen as an occupational risk factor (Bride et al., 2004) and cemetery workers are subject to this risk. Studies on this topic have focused on the operators of emergencies, social, and health sectors; little attention has been given to cemetery workers. Aim: The present study considers the relations between the dimensions composing the STS and the psychological and physical symptoms, the perception of exhaustion, and the positive and negative emotions at work in a group of cemetery workers. Moreover, differences among occupational tasks are explored considering the different possibilities of contact with clients and trauma contagion. Methods: The study included a qualitative phase (interviews and focus groups) and subsequently a quantitative phase (self-report questionnaire) and involved 114 participants in a cemetery organization in northern Italy, divided into technicians employees (TE), technicians and specialists of decoration and garden (TS), gravediggers (GR) administrative and front office employees (AFO). Levels of secondary trauma and psychophysical symptoms were assessed, and correlations were calculated in the total sample and for the different job categories of employees. Results: AFO and TS showed the highest levels of STS and psychophysical symptoms, in particular for symptoms related to anxiety, sadness, insomnia, and gastric and musculoskeletal disorders. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of considering the STS among also this category of workers, since they are exposed daily not only with death, but also with suffering people; grief and emotional skills are important to cope with these job characteristics cemetery workers are not trained on this. It is important to monitor symptomatic levels not only to avoid chronicity, but also to provide employees with psychological support and training about secondary trauma and its consequences.

The Evaluation of Organizational Well-Being in An Italian Teaching Hospital Using the ANAC Questionnaire.

In Italy, the Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (Autorità Nazionale Anti-corruzione-ANAC) has developed a questionnaire to assess the organizational well-being of employees within public agencies. The study aimed to explore the relationship among variables in the ANAC questionnaire: Several job resources (lack of discrimination, fairness, career and professional development, job autonomy, and organizational goals' sharing) and outcomes of well-being at work, such as health and safety at work and sense of belonging. The research was carried out among workers in an Italian hospital in Northwest Italy (N = 1170), through an online self-report questionnaire. Data were grouped into two job categories: Clinical staff (N = 939) and non-clinical staff (N = 231). The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results showed that health and safety at work and sense of belonging had significant positive relationships with the other variables; some differences emerged between the determinants of the two outcomes and among groups. The study aims to identify some reflections and suggestions regarding the assessment of well-being in the health care sector; implications for practice are identified to promote organizational well-being and health in organizations.

[The evaluation of organizational well-being in the public sector: an integration of the ANAC questionnaire]. / La valutazione del benessere organizzativo: una integrazione del questionario ANAC (Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione).

BACKGROUND: In Italy, the work-related stress and organizational well-being evaluation is subject to specific norms and regulations. The Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione - ANAC) has developed a questionnaire to assess the organizational well-being of the employees in Public Administration Institutions. OBJECTIVES: The study aims to analyse, according to the Job Demands-Resources Theory, the relationship between some job demands (workload, discrimination) and job resources (supervisors and colleagues support, job autonomy, fairness, career opportunities, membership), and some outcomes (work-related stress, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction). METHODS: The research involved a public administration and was conducted through a self-report questionnaire (N=414, 60% of the employees). The ANAC questionnaire was integrated with measures from national and international literature on the topic of well-being and stress at work. RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses highlighted the relationship between outcomes, job demands and resources. Work-related stress showed a positive relation with demands (work load ß coefficient=0.22; perceived discrimination ß=0.14) and a negative one with some resources (supervisors' support ß=-0.21 and membership ß=-0.11). Emotional exhaustion had a negative relationship with some job resources, specifically career opportunities (ß=-0.14), autonomy (ß=-0.21) and membership (ß=-0.25). Job satisfaction showed a positive relationship with all job resources considered. CONCLUSIONS: The study seeks to integrate the assessment of well-being and work-related stress thus highlighting the importance of linking the different outcomes with job demands and resources. The results identify possible practices to promote well-being in the organization.

Turnover intentions in a call center: The role of emotional dissonance, job resources, and job satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Turnover intentions refer to employees' intent to leave the organization and, within call centers, it can be influenced by factors such as relational variables or the perception of the quality of working life, which can be affected by emotional dissonance. This specific job demand to express emotions not felt is peculiar in call centers, and can influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, a crucial problem among these working contexts. This study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model, the role of emotional dissonance (job demand), and two resources, job autonomy and supervisors' support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center. METHOD: The study involved 318 call center agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company. Data analysis first performed descriptive statistics through SPSS 22. A path analysis was then performed through LISREL 8.72 and tested both direct and indirect effects. RESULTS: Results suggest the role of resources in fostering job satisfaction and in decreasing turnover intentions. Emotional dissonance reveals a negative relation with job satisfaction and a positive relation with turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover and mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to extend the knowledge about the variables influencing turnover intentions, a crucial problem among call centers. Moreover, the study identifies theoretical considerations and practical implications to promote well-being among call center employees. To foster job satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions, in fact, it is important to make resources available, but also to offer specific training programs to make employees and supervisors aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance.

New Technologies Smart, or Harm Work-Family Boundaries Management? Gender Differences in Conflict and Enrichment Using the JD-R Theory.

Background: The relationship between technology-assisted supplemental work and well-being outcomes is a recent issue in scientific literature. Whether the use of technology for work purpose in off-work time may have a positive or negative impact on work-family balance remains an open question and the role of gender in this relationship is poorly understood. Aim: According to the JD-R theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between off-work hours technology assisted job demand (off-TAJD) and both work-family conflict (WFC) and work-family enrichment (WFE). Moreover, it considered two general job demands, workload and emotional dissonance, and one job resource, supervisory coaching. Method: The hypotheses were tested with a convenience sample of 671 workers. Data were collected with a self-report questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 23 and through multi-group structural equation model (SEM) (Mplus 7). Results: The estimated SEM [Chi-square (510) = 1041.29; p < 0.01; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06 (0.05, 0.06); SRMR = 0.05. M = 319/F = 352] showed that off-TAJD was positively related to WFC in both subsamples; off-TAJD was positively related also to WFE only in the Male group. Workload was positively related to WFC in both Male and Female subsamples. Emotional dissonance was positively related to WFC in both subsamples and was negatively related to WFE. Supervisory coaching was strongly, positively related to WFE in both groups, and only in the Male subsample presented a low negative relationship with WFC. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature on new challenges in work-life interface by analyzing the association between off-TAJD and WFC and Enrichment. Our findings suggest it is important to pay attention to gender differences in the study of the impact of supplemental work carried out during off-work hours using technology on the work-life interface. In fact, employee perception of Company demands of being available during off-work time, with the use of technology, may have different consequences for men and women, indicating potential differences in the centrality of the working role. Practical implications, at both cultural and organizational levels, should address the use of technology during leisure time.

[The role of safety climate and the relationship with job satisfaction: an exploratory study across three different occupational contexts.] / Il ruolo della percezione del clima di sicurezza e la relazione con la soddisfazione lavorativa: uno studio esplorativo in tre differenti contesti occupazionali.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the role of the "safety climate", or the organization's attention to health and safety of workers, and of job demand and resources in relation with job satisfaction. Wellbeing at work is a topic of growing interest, in line with the legislation and the programs on health and safety of workers and management and the evaluation of psychosocial risks. Several studies show that organizational actions concerning health and safety can be an indicator of the attention to employees' wellbeing, even if studies about the relationship between safety climate and some psychosocial outcomes are scant. METHODS: The study analysed the relationship between job demand, job resources, safety climate and job satisfaction in three different occupational contexts (public authority, N = 224; social care organization, N = 115; pharmaceutical company, N = 127); workers were divided into groups based on the risk level appeared in the objective assessment of work-related stress, in order to identify differences. The self-report questionnaire gathered information about: job satisfaction, work efforts, supervisors' support, colleagues support, safety climate (α between .72 and .93). Data analysis provided: Cronbach α, analysis of variance, correlations, stepwise multiple regressions. RESULTS: The results showed that job satisfaction (R2 between .23 and .88) had a negative relationship with efforts and a positive relationship with job resources and safety climate. CONCLUSIONS: It emerges the importance of safety climate: to support and promote wellbeing at work, organizations could endorse training and information programs on health and safety for all workers and management, not only for professional groups with high-risk level. Future studies could explore the relation between safety climate and other outcomes, such as emotional exhaustion or objective indicators of organizational health (e.g. absenteeism, accidents, etc.).

Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands - Resources Model.

BACKGROUND: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. AIM: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service. METHOD: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. RESULTS also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort. CONCLUSION: This study's findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify practical implications useful both to support employees in coping with emotional labor and to promote well-being in inbound call centers. In detail, results showed the need to improve training programs in order to enhance employees' emotion regulation skills, and to introduce human resource practices aimed at clarifying emotional requirements of the job.