D. Camerino

Shiftwork, work-family conflict among italian nurses, and prevention efficacy

Shiftwork may be a demanding situation because it raises problems for reconciling work and nonwork activities; as such, this conflict may be mitigated by designing and implementing effective preventative actions at the workplace. There is a paucity of research directly examining the impact of work schedules and preventative measures at work on work-family conflict. Hence, the authors posed the following questions in their study: What is the impact of different work schedules on work-family conflict? Is a preventative culture associated with less work-family conflict? Is work-family conflict associated with specific health and well-being indicators and if so, how does work-family conflict affect well-being as compared with other potential determinants? A subset of 750 nurses (≈10% of total workforce) were randomly selected from a larger sample. Nurses completed the Italian version of the NEXT questionnaire plus newly developed items to create an index on occupational safety and health prevention at work. Data were explored using two data mining techniques, Random Forests and Bayesian Networks, and modeled using hierarchical linear regression models. In all, 664 (88.5% of sample) nurses answered the questionnaire. The authors found that different work schedules had a differential impact on work-family conflict. In addition, effective risk communication between workers and people in charge of safety and health, and participation in preventative activities, quantitative workload, performing tasks not belonging to the nursing profession, and the number of weekends/month spent at work were all strongly associated with work-family conflict. The variable “time schedules” also acted as an effect modifier in the relationship between effective communication and participation in preventative activities and work-family conflict. In addition, quantitative demands played a role as a mediator (30% of total effect) in the relationship between effective communication and participation in preventative activities and work-family conflict. Work-family conflict was significantly associated with burnout, sleep, and presenteeism; its association with burnout was higher than other precursors. Shift schedules that involved night work implied different workload demands, less effective communication, and participation in preventative activities than the other work schedules considered. The presence of a preventative culture directly reduced work-family conflict and indirectly via reduction of work demands. The authors conclude that the development of a preventative culture among irregular and night shiftworkers can be effective in reducing work-family conflict, while positively increasing well-being and job performance. (Author correspondence: donatella.camerino@unimi.it)

Experiences with the Milan Automated Neurobehavioral System (MANS) in occupational neurotoxic exposure

It is known that in neurobehavioral toxicology, the data obtained by means of psychological testing can acquire sense only when testing conditions and procedures, among others, are kept under rigorous control. This demand, together with the diffusion of multicentered studies aimed at finding mutual agreement on the parameters to be measured and the interpretation criteria to be adopted, has determined our decision to convert six out of the seven tests of the WHO-NCTB into a computer-aided system (MANS). The choice of one of the two systems depends on the characteristics of the testing situation and on the different requirements of clinical, epidemiological and experimental studies. The validation of MANS, as to its reliability and sensitivity, is ongoing but some data have already been collected which show a high correlation of the computer-administered test results with the paper and pencil form as well as a good degree of discriminating power in different testing situations. The experience, made in the past three years, seems to show that the goal of having a simple, easy to handle and reliable instrument to be used and, if necessary easily adapted to a variety of situations and cultures, has been met. Further work is to be carried out to confirm its validity in the early detection of neurobehavioral impairments due to neurotoxic agents.

Gender Differences in Safety, Health and Work/Family Interference—Promoting Equity

The European labor market is still acting to women’s detriment. Among various projects, measures are in place against sex role segregation at work, vertical segregation within organizational hierarchies, and the uneven division of domestic labor. Strategic plans (Commission of the European Communities, 2007–2012) have been developed to address gender differences in safety and health at work and to promote equality. Inequalities reflect the histories of a particular country and its policies (cohort effects), life cycles (differential representations of social roles) and individual opportunities encountered during the life course to develop adequate coping strategies and working experience. For these reasons, gender issues are connected to age and historical period of birth determining differential needs in career, in length and scheduling of working hours. Because few studies in occupational health have examined these factors in Italy, we tried to carry out a review of studies focused on gender problems and their determinants with the intent to improve researches in occupational health and preventive projects. Moreover we analyzed studies about work related stress carried out on Italian workers to appreciate the presence of gender problems and determinants such as parenting responsibilities, work hours and work schedules, perceptions of organizational equity, work-family interference, flexibility and variability of working hours. Confirming gender inequalities, statistical analysis shows worse outcomes for females due to time pressure and lack of reward for efforts at work and at home. Interventions are discussed in terms of democratic participation in preventive programs as well.

Prevalence of Abnormal Neurobehavioral Scores in Populations Exposed to Different Industrial Chemicals1

The aim of the study is to establish the prevalence of neurobehavioral scores of occupationally exposed subjects below the 10th percentile rank of normalized curves obtained on a referent population. The Milan Automated Neurobehavioral System (MANS) was administered to 400 drivers from public and private firms; their data were distributed on the basis of age and years of school attendance and were normalized by determining percentile rank equivalence. The exposed population is made up of 20 lead- and zinc-exposed subjects, 18 welders exposed to aluminum for less than 1 year, 150 exposed to different metals in the ferromanganese production, 73 lithographic operators exposed to gasoline and petroleum, 197 exposed to solvents mixtures in the paint manufacture, and 23 dropouts of the same firm. The percentages of scores below 10th percentile rank were calculated in the different exposure groups and in the different age-school attendance ranges. The prevalence of results below the 10th percentile rank was found to be related to the intensity of the exposures and to the low levels of school attendance. In the 20–29 and the 30–39 age ranges, there was a prevalence of POMS scale scores below 10th percentile rank, in the 50–59 age range, the percentages were high for the Digit Symbol, the mean value of Simple Reaction Time, Serial Digit Learning, and Benton Visual Recognition.

Carbon Disulfide and the Central Nervous System: A 15-Year Neurobehavioral Surveillance of an Exposed Population1

Carbon disulfide-induced neurobehavioral effects are well known and do not need further evidence. Carbon disulfide vasculopathy and the syndromic complex resulting in depression, loss of memory and concentration, and behavior disturbances have been widely demonstrated. Less known is the evolution of the symptomatology when the environmental conditions are consistently improved, that is, the reversibility or the progression of the dysfunctions observed. This paper reports on a neurobehavioral follow-up in a viscose rayon factory carried out, in intervals, from 1974 to 1990. Several successive improvements were implemented in the plant through the years, until finally, the most radical changes were made at the end of the Seventies and these resulted in exposure levels far below the current Threshold Limit Values. A total of 493 subjects were examined and some of them were reexamined up to six times. The last examination was completed in September, 1990. In this paper, studies by our group over the 15 years of monitoring are discussed. The results show that the general mental state, as measured by neurobehavioral methods, reflects past and current exposure. This point was explored by dividing the subjects into six groups on the basis of their length of exposure and year of examination and by comparing their performances. The results show that even exposure to levels of carbon disulfide not exceeding 8 mg/m3 may induce absentmindedness and difficulties in perceptive abilities.