Job Crafting and Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Work Meaning.

One of the most widely researched personal resources is job crafting, for which several studies have confirmed the existence of a positive relationship with engagement. Some authors suggest that it would be necessary to go deeper into the mechanisms that can help us explain this relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study is to ascertain the possible influence of the meaning of work on the relationship between job crafting and engagement. The sample is composed of 814 workers (50.4% women) with an average age of 41.68 years (SD = 9.78). The results were obtained by simple mediation analysis using PROCESS. The meaning of work mediates the relationship between job crafting and engagement, this influence being especially significant in the case of cognitive crafting. This study confirms the positive relationship between job crafting and engagement. However, in the case of some types of job crafting, increased levels of engagement only occur if the individuals also manage to increase the levels of meaning attributed to the work role. Therefore, in order to improve the well-being levels of working people, it would also be necessary to help them understand how these changes help them to attribute more meaning to their work.

Assessing irritability in patients with stroke: psychometric properties of the Irritability Questionnaire.

Objective: Irritability is a very common symptom after stroke and a source of a great deal of distress to patients and caretakers. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Irritability Questionnaire (IQ) in a sample of patients with stroke.Methods: we recruited 94 participants (47 stroke patients and 47 healthy controls) that participated in a 6-month longitudinal observational study. The IQ includes three dimensions in the assessment: emotion, cognition, and behavior. IQ has two subscales: The Irritability Questionnaire (IRQ) and the Carer's Irritability Questionnaire (CIRQ). Internal consistency, convergent validity, and sensitivity to change were evaluated for both IRQ and CIRQ.Results: Cronbach's alpha for the IRQ was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.76 to 0.87), whereas for the CIRQ was 0.92 (95% CI: 0.89 to 0.94). Convergent validity was good for both subscales. IRQ did not show sensitivity to change at 6 months (p-value = 0.99), while CIRQ showed moderate changes (-0.29, p-value = 0.124).Conclusions: IQ presented good psychometric properties to assess irritability in stroke. The tool detected significant differences between groups (stroke and healthy controls) and can be considered a valid instrument for clinical and research purposes.

Cognitive, relational and task crafting: Spanish adaptation and analysis of psychometric properties of the Job Crafting Questionnaire.

Even though classic job design theories have evolved over the years and become more focused on employees' ability to autonomously change their job characteristics, tools to assess job crafting are still limited. The purpose of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Job Crafting Questionnaire (JCQ), taking into account the valuable contribution made by Wrzesniewski and Dutton's model to the understanding of the job crafting concept. The total sample consisted of 768 employees (participants' mean age was 41.63 and 49.7% of them were women). The sample was randomly divided into two halves in order to conduct two factor analyses (Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis). Concurrent and convergent validity was assessed by computing correlations with validated questionnaires for measuring job crafting (Job Crafting Scale, JCS), engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, UWES-9) and job burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, MBI-GS). The results indicated a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .880) which was similar to the original scale, and provided a good fit to the three-dimensional model tested. Appropriate evidence of construct validity was also shown (r = .45 with total JCS; r = .52 with total UWES-9 and r-values between -.33 and .45 with MBI dimensions). The results confirmed that the Spanish translation of the JCQ is a suitable tool for measuring job crafting and enabling practitioners and researchers to further expand the existing knowledge of this concept.

Degree of Functionality and Perception of Health-Related Quality of Life in People with Moderate Stroke: Differences between Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Typology.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this pilot study were to analyze the functional differences and the differences regarding the perception of health-related quality of life between people affected by ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, respectively, and between these and their normative groups. METHODS: A pre-post design study was conducted with 30 patients aged 65 ± 15 during eight weeks. It assessed disability, mobility, and health-related quality of life. Exact nonparametric tests were used to compare both types of stroke, and t-tests and effect size estimates were employed to compare the stroke group and the normative group. RESULTS: At baseline, there were differences in disability ("getting along" domain), where a poorer result was obtained by the hemorrhagic stroke group, and in the "vitality" and "mental health" domains of the health-related quality of life test, where the ischemic group obtained poorer results. Both groups made significant progress in their health assessments and functionality after eight weeks, and no significant differences were found between them at that time. The scores obtained in both groups differed statistically from the normative values, both at baseline and at posttest. CONCLUSIONS: Regardless of the stroke type, divergent results were only found in two domains, "vitality" and "mental health." There was an improvement over time, but the scores obtained were still lower than those observed in the normative group, which indicated that the participants' health was highly compromised. This study provides more information for faster rehabilitation after stroke; even so, more studies are needed.

Effect of the Wii Sports Resort on the improvement in attention, processing speed and working memory in moderate stroke.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is the most common neurological disease in the world. After the stroke, some people suffer a cognitive disability. Commercial videogames have been used after stroke for physical rehabilitation; however, their use in cognitive rehabilitation has hardly been studied. The objectives of this study were to analyze attention, processing speed, and working memory in patients with moderate stroke after an intervention with Wii Sports Resort and compared these results with a control group. METHODS: A pre-post design study was conducted with 30 moderate stroke patients aged 65 ± 15. The study lasted eight weeks. 15 participated in the intervention group and 15 belong to the control group. They were assessed in attention and processing speed (TMT-A and B) and working memory (Digit Span of WAIS-III). Parametric and effect size tests were used to analyze the improvement of those outcomes and compared both groups. RESULTS: At the baseline, there was no difference between TMT-A and B. A difference was found in the scalar score of TMT-B, as well as in Digit Backward Span and Total Digit Task. In TMT-A and B, the intervention group had better scores than the control group. The intervention group in the Digit Forward Span and the Total Digit obtained a moderate effect size and the control group also obtained a moderate effect size in Total Digit. In the Digit scalar scores, the control group achieved better results than the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: The results on attention, processing speed and working memory improved in both groups. However, according to the effect sizes, the intervention group achieved better results than the control group. In addition, the attention and processing speed improved more than the working memory after the intervention. Although more studies are needed in this area, the results are encouraging for cognitive rehabilitation after stroke.

Psychometric properties of the leisure time satisfaction scale in family caregivers / Propiedades psicométricas de la Escala de Satisfacción con el Ocio en familiares cuidadores

BACKGROUND: despite evidence of the numerous benefits of leisure to health and well-being appropriate tools to assess this construct are lacking. The purpose of this work was to analyse the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Leisure Time Satisfaction (LTS). METHOD: The sample was made up of 1048 primary family caregivers of dependent people. Scale structure was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concurrent and convergent validity were assessed by correlation with validated questionnaires for measuring burden (Zarit Burden Inventory - ZBI) and health (SF-36 Health Survey). RESULTS: The results show a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .938) suitable fit of the dimensional model tested via confirmatory factor analysis (GFI = .925, BBNNFI= .996; IFI= .998, RMSEA= .043), and appropriate convergent validity with similar constructs (r = -.44 with ZBI; and r-values between .226 and .440 with SF-36 dimensions). CONCLUSION: Psychometric results obtained from the LTS are promising and the results enable us to draw the conclusion that it is a suitable tool for assessing caregivers' leisure time satisfaction

ANTECEDENTES: a pesar de las evidencias sobre los beneficios del ocio para la salud y el bienestar, apenas existen instrumentos para medir este constructo. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las propiedades psicométricas de la versión española de la Escala de Satisfacción con el Ocio. MÉTODO: la muestra ha estado formada por 1.048 familiares cuidadores. La estructura de la escala ha sido analizada a través de análisis factoriales (exploratorio y confirmatorio) y para evaluar la validez concurrente y discriminante se han utilizado escalas validadas de sobrecarga (Zarit Burden Inventory - ZBI) y salud (SF-36 Health Survey). RESULTADOS: los resultados muestran una buena consistencia interna (Alpha de Cronbach = .938), un buen ajuste al modelo (GFI = .925, BBNNFI= .996; IFI= .998, RMSEA= .043) y una adecuada validez convergente con constructos similares (r = -.44 con ZBI y valores r entre .226 y .440 con SF-36). CONCLUSIÓN: las propiedades psicométricas de la versión española de la Leisure Time Satisfaction Scale (LTS) son prometedoras y los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que es un instrumento adecuado para evaluar la satisfacción con el ocio de familiares cuidadores de personas dependientes

Psychometric properties of the Leisure Time Satisfaction Scale in family caregivers.

BACKGROUND: Despite evidence of the numerous benefits of leisure to health and well-being appropriate tools to assess this construct are lacking. The purpose of this work was to analyse the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Leisure Time Satisfaction (LTS). METHOD: The sample was made up of 1048 primary family caregivers of dependent people. Scale structure was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concurrent and convergent validity were assessed by correlation with validated questionnaires for measuring burden (Zarit Burden Inventory - ZBI) and health (SF-36 Health Survey). RESULTS: The results show a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .938) suitable fit of the dimensional model tested via confirmatory factor analysis (GFI = .925, BBNNFI= .996; IFI= .998, RMSEA= .043), and appropriate convergent validity with similar constructs (r = -.44 with ZBI; and r-values between .226 and .440 with SF-36 dimensions). CONCLUSION: Psychometric results obtained from the LTS are promising and the results enable us to draw the conclusion that it is a suitable tool for assessing caregivers’ leisure time satisfaction.

Adaptation and analysis of psychometric features of the Caregiver Risk Screen: a tool for detecting the risk of burden in family caregivers.

BACKGROUND: There are a limited number of scales available in the Spanish language that can be used to detect burden among individuals who care for a dependent family member. The purpose of this work was to adapt and validate the Caregiver Risk Screen (CRS) scale developed by Guberman et al. (2001) (Guberman, N., Keefe, J., Fancey, P., Nahmiash, D. and Barylak, L. (2001). Development of Screening and Assessment Tools for Family Caregivers: Final Report. Montreal, Canada: Health Transition Fund). METHODS: The sample was made up of 302 informal caregivers of dependent family members (average age 57.3 years, and 78.9% were women). Scale structure was subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis. Concurrent and convergent validity were assessed by correlation with validated questionnaires for measuring burden (Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI)) and psychological health (SCL-90-R). RESULTS: The results show a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86), suitable fit of the one-dimensional model tested via confirmatory factor analysis (GFI = 0.91; CFI = 0.91; RMSEA = 0.097), and appropriate convergent validity with similar constructs (r = 0.77 with ZBI; and r-values between 0.45 and 0.63 with SCL-90-R dimensions). CONCLUSIONS: The findings are promising in terms of their adaptation of the CRS to Spanish, and the results enable us to draw the conclusion that the CRS is a suitable tool for assessing and detecting strain in family caregivers. Nevertheless, new research is required that explores all the psychometric features on the scale.

Normative data for a Spanish version of the rey auditory-verbal learning test in older people

The Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test is an easy to administer test that assesses many memory domains and is, therefore, widely used in the area of clinical neuropsychology. The purpose of this study was to provide normative data for an elderly population living in Spain. The sample of this study was comprised of 156 volunteers over 60 years of age, which were grouped into six different age groups. These groups comprised of 10 participants between the ages of 61and 65 in the first group, 23 participants (66-70) in the second, 28 participants (71-75) in the third, 35 participants (76-80) in the fourth, 32 participants (81-85) in the fifth and 28 participants (86-95) in the sixth group. Demographic data were collected and means, deviations, and ranges of all the measures were evaluated. Normative data were calculated from the percentiles, and then converted into age-corrected scaled scores with a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3 (AU)

No disponible

Autopercepción del estado de salud en familiares cuidadores y su relación con el nivel de sobrecarga / Family caregiver’s self-perceived health status and its relation to burden

El objetivo del estudio es conocer cómo percibe su estado de salud una muestra de cuidadores familiares de la provincia de Vizcaya y comparar los resultados con datos referidos a población general española. Además se pretende comprobar si existe relación entre la salud percibida y el nivel de sobrecarga. La muestra consta de 1.257 cuidadores/as de personas dependientes. Se ha utilizado un protocolo elaborado para recoger información sobre aspectos sociodemográficos, salud percibida relacionada con la calidad de vida (SF-36) y sobrecarga (Zarit Burden Inventory). Los resultados muestran que la percepción general de salud de las personas cuidadoras que han participado en el estudio es peor que la de la población general española y que esta percepción es especialmente acusada en lo que se refi ere al componente de salud mental. Además, las correlaciones muestran que cuanto peor es la salud percibida mayor es la sobrecarga. Estos resultados confirman los hallazgos obtenidos en otros estudios y proporcionan claves para orientar las intervenciones dirigidas a mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas cuidadoras (AU)

The study aims to analyze how health is self-perceived by a sample of caregivers of dependant relatives and how it compares with general Spanish population scores. The study also focuses on the relations between self-perceived health and burden. The sample comprised 1,257 caregivers living in Biscay who completed the protocol including sociodemographic data, measures of health-related quality of life (SF-36) and burden (Zarit Burden Inventory). Results show that the health perception of the caregivers taking part into the study reached lower scores in comparison to general Spanish population and that this perception was lower in mental than in physical health. Correlational data supports previous findings indicating that high levels of burden are associated with a worse perception of mental and physical health and provide information on how to guide interventions to improve family caregivers’ quality of life (AU)

[Family caregiver's self-perceived health status and its relation to burden]. / Autopercepción del estado de salud en familiares cuidadores y su relación con el nivel de sobrecarga.

The study aims to analyze how health is self-perceived by a sample of caregivers of dependant relatives and how it compares with general Spanish population scores. The study also focuses on the relations between self-perceived health and burden. The sample comprised 1,257 caregivers living in Biscay who completed the protocol including sociodemographic data, measures of health-related quality of life (SF-36) and burden (Zarit Burden Inventory). Results show that the health perception of the caregivers taking part into the study reached lower scores in comparison to general Spanish population and that this perception was lower in mental than in physical health. Correlational data supports previous findings indicating that high levels of burden are associated with a worse perception of mental and physical health and provide information on how to guide interventions to improve family caregivers' quality of life.