Organizational Justice and Perceived Organizational Support: Impact on Negative Work-Home Interference and Well-being Outcomes.

It is well established that negative work-home interference (NegWHI) impacts upon several work attitudes and behaviors. In the interests of both organizational effectiveness and employee well-being, it is important to identify concepts related to NegWHI and investigate their effects on well-being outcomes. This study examines the mediating role of (1) perceived organizational support (POS) in the relationship between organizational justice (OJ) and NegWHI; and (2) NegWHI in the relationships between POS and four well-being outcomes. A total of 509 employees of a Belgian hospital were surveyed. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and the bootstrapping method. Results showed that POS partially mediates the relationships between distributive and passive procedural justice and NegWHI, and fully mediates the relationship between the other justice dimensions and NegWHI. NegWHI partially mediates the relationships between POS and both job satisfaction and intention to quit, and fully mediates the relationship between POS and job strain. Furthermore, POS is positively related to job engagement. This study showed that organizations can help employees to better manage their work and family lives and reduce the impact of NegWHI by enhancing employees' feeling that they are supported by their organization. In order to increase POS, organizations need to promote justice in the workplace.

Occupational stress, work-home interference and burnout among Belgian veterinary practitioners.

There have been few formal studies on stress in veterinary surgeons and, in the rare studies available, stress is not examined jointly through the levels of job strain and job engagement, the sources of stress in the issue of work environment and the work-home interference. The authors' goal in this study was to analyse job engagement, job strain, burnout, work-home interference and job stress factors among 216 Belgian veterinary surgeons. Rural practice was compared to small animal and mixed activity. The mean job strain and job engagement level in veterinary surgeons was not higher than what we found in other working populations. However, 15.6% of the group were found to be suffering from high burnout. Rural practitioners had a lower level of job engagement than small animal veterinary surgeons. These small animal practitioners had a lower level of job strain than the mixed practitioners. The level of burnout did not differ significantly across the three types of activity. In comparison to other Belgian and Dutch workers, veterinary surgeons perceived more negative work-home interference. Bovine and mixed practitioners were the most concerned with this problem. The two most important sources of stress reported by bovine practitioners were relations to farmers and working time management (including emergencies and availability).

[Working conditions, stress and burnout of Belgian professionals in radiotherapy: Comparative analysis and emotional labor exploration]. / Conditions de travail, stress et burnout des professionnels belges de radiothérapie : analyse comparative et exploration du rôle du travail émotionnel.

PUPOSE: This national survey aims, on the one hand, to perform a comparative analysis of working conditions, job strain and burnout of Belgian nurses, physicists and radiation oncologists working in radiotherapy and, on the other hand, to explore the role of emotional labor in the development of stress and burnout. METHODS: We used the Working Conditions and Control Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Occupational States Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the negative work-home interaction subscale of the Survey Work-Home Interaction Nijmegen (NEGWHI), Perceived Organizational Support Scale and Emotional Labor Scale. One open question asked about problematic job situations. RESULTS: Ninety-eight nurses and physicists participated (33 % response rate), in addition to 66 radiation oncologists from a previous study. Although global scores of working conditions, job strain and burnout corresponded to normal scores, comparative analysis identified physicists as focus group concerning job strain and burnout. Moreover, nurses and physicists surface acting was a good predictor of job strain (ß=0.22, P=0.01), emotional exhaustion (ß=0.32, P<0.001) and depersonalization (ß=0.43, P<0.001). Nevertheless, perceived organizational support was a moderator in this relation. CONCLUSION: Radiotherapy employees were in the norms. The importance of organizational support was demonstrated to avoid potential health problems, for workers experiencing high levels of emotional demands.

Working conditions, job strain and work engagement among Belgian radiation oncologists.

PURPOSE: This national survey has measured the working conditions, work engagement, job strain, burn out, and the negative work-home interaction among Belgian radiation oncologists with validated questionnaires. In fact, previous studies had in general shown an interest to burn out and its association with working conditions among oncology workers, but not focused on radiation oncologists in particular. Moreover, few studies concerned work engagement and its association with working conditions although this could be important in preventing burn out. METHODS: We used the WOrking Conditions and Control Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Occupational States Inventory, the Maslach Burn out Inventory, and the negative work-home interaction subscale of the Survey Work-home Interaction Nijmegen. One open question asked about problematic job situations. RESULTS: Sixty-six radiation oncologists participated (30% response rate). Median scores of most of working conditions corresponded to normal scores. Control over time management (45.8) was close to low score, while control over future (60.9) was high. Median score of job strain (48.9) was normal, whereas median score of work engagement (60) was high. Median score of burn out was low. The mean of negative work-home interactions (1.1) was higher than the mean of 0.84 in a reference sample (t=4.3; P<0.001). The most frequent problematic situations referred to work organization (e.g. time pressure) and specific resources (e.g. chief support). CONCLUSIONS: Radiation oncologists showed a very high level of work engagement and experienced several job resources. However, some resources (as supervisor support) were missing and needed to be developed. These results were discussed in the context of motivational process described in the Job Demands-Resources Model.

Occupational stress and burnout in anaesthesia.

BACKGROUND: Formal studies on stress in anaesthetists have usually measured stress through mental or physiological indicators. When using this approach, one must be careful not to confuse the effects of stress or outcome variables and the sources of stress or antecedent variables. To date, it seems from the literature that there is no clear evidence of a common pattern of physiological effects of stress for all the sources of stress. Furthermore, work characteristics such as job satisfaction, job control and job support may moderate the effects of stress. METHODS: We measured the effects of stress together with the sources of stress and job characteristics, using self-reported questionnaires rather than physiological indicators in order to better diagnose stress in anaesthetists. RESULTS: The mean stress level in anaesthetists was 50.6 which is no higher than we found in other working populations. The three main sources of stress reported were a lack of control over time management, work planning and risks. Anaesthetists reported high empowerment, high work commitment, high job challenge and high satisfaction. However, 40.4% of the group were suffering from high emotional exhaustion (burnout); the highest rate was in young trainees under 30 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: Remedial actions are discussed at the end of the paper.