Dolores Díaz-Cabrera

Psychosocial factors and mental work load: a reality perceived by nurses in intensive care units

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the perception of psychosocial factors and mental workload of nurses who work in intensive care units. It is hypothesised that nurses in these units could perceive psychosocial risks, manifesting in a high mental work load. The psychosocial dimension related to the positions cognitive demands is hypothesised to mostly explain mental work load. METHOD: Quantitative study, with a descriptive, cross-sectional, and comparative design. A total of 91% of the intensive care unit populations of three Chilean hospitals was surveyed, corresponding to 111 nurses. The instruments utilised included (A) a biosociodemographic history questionnaire; (b) the SUSESO-ISTAS 21 questionnaire; and (c) the Mental Work Load Subjective Scale (ESCAM, in Spanish). RESULTS: In total, 64% and 57% of participants perceived high levels of exposure to the psychosocial risks Psychosocial demands and Double shift, respectively. In addition, a medium-high level of overall mental load was observed. Positive and significant correlations between some of the SUSESO-ISTAS 21 and ESCAM dimensions were obtained. Using a regression analysis, it was determined that three dimensions of the psychosocial risk questionnaire helped to explain 38% of the overall mental load. CONCLUSION: Intensive care unit nurses felt that inadequate psychosocial factors and mental work overload existed in several of the tested dimensions.OBJETIVO: analizar la percepcion de Factores psicosociales y Carga mental de trabajo de enfermeras/os que laboran en Unidades Criticas. Se hipotetiza que los/as enfermeros/as de estas unidades pudieran percibir riesgos psicosociales; Mostraran una Carga mental de trabajo alta; y la dimension psicosocial relacionada con exigencias cognitivas del puesto explicara en mayor medida la Carga Mental. METODO: estudio cuantitativo, de diseno descriptivo, transversal y comparativo. Se censo el 91% de la poblacion de Unidades Criticas de tres hospitales chilenos, correspondiente a 111 enfermeras/os. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron: (a) Cuestionario de antecedentes biosociodemograficos; (b) Cuestionario SUSESO-ISTAS 21; y (c) Escala Subjetiva de Carga Mental de Trabajo (ESCAM). RESULTADOS: el 64% y el 57% de los/as participantes perciben un alto nivel de exposicion a los riesgos psicosociales Demandas psicologicas y Doble presencia, respectivamente. Ademas, se obtiene un nivel de Carga mental global media-alta. Se obtuvo correlaciones positivas y significativas entre algunas dimensiones de SUSESO-ISTAS 21 y ESCAM, y mediante un analisis de regresion se obtuvo que tres dimensiones del cuestionario de riesgos psicosociales contribuyen a explicar un 38% de la Carga mental global. CONCLUSION: las/os enfermeras/os de unidades criticas, perciben factores psicosociales inadecuados y sobrecarga mental de trabajo, en varias de sus dimensiones.

Impact of perceived physical and environmental conditions on mental workload: An exploratory study in office workers

Abstract The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of subjective assessments of environmental conditions on mental workload. A sample of 238 office workers assessed levels of perceived mental workload and the adequacy of certain environmental conditions of their working context (temperature, lighting, noise, spatial distribution and hygienic conditions) using the Subjective Mental Workload Scale. The effect of these five environmental conditions on five mental workload factors was tested by means of multivariate analysis of variance. Results show that the perception of noise, spatial distribution and hygienic conditions are associated with greater subjective mental workload in three specific dimensions of mental workload: task characteristics, temporal work organization and working rate

Factores psicosociales y Carga mental de trabajo: una realidad percibida por enfermeras/os en Unidades Críticas

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the perception of psychosocial factors and mental workload of nurses who work in intensive care units. It is hypothesised that nurses in these units could perceive psychosocial risks, manifesting in a high mental work load. The psychosocial dimension related to the positions cognitive demands is hypothesised to mostly explain mental work load. METHOD: Quantitative study, with a descriptive, cross-sectional, and comparative design. A total of 91% of the intensive care unit populations of three Chilean hospitals was surveyed, corresponding to 111 nurses. The instruments utilised included (A) a biosociodemographic history questionnaire; (b) the SUSESO-ISTAS 21 questionnaire; and (c) the Mental Work Load Subjective Scale (ESCAM, in Spanish). RESULTS: In total, 64% and 57% of participants perceived high levels of exposure to the psychosocial risks Psychosocial demands and Double shift, respectively. In addition, a medium-high level of overall mental load was observed. Positive and significant correlations between some of the SUSESO-ISTAS 21 and ESCAM dimensions were obtained. Using a regression analysis, it was determined that three dimensions of the psychosocial risk questionnaire helped to explain 38% of the overall mental load. CONCLUSION: Intensive care unit nurses felt that inadequate psychosocial factors and mental work overload existed in several of the tested dimensions.OBJETIVO: analizar la percepcion de Factores psicosociales y Carga mental de trabajo de enfermeras/os que laboran en Unidades Criticas. Se hipotetiza que los/as enfermeros/as de estas unidades pudieran percibir riesgos psicosociales; Mostraran una Carga mental de trabajo alta; y la dimension psicosocial relacionada con exigencias cognitivas del puesto explicara en mayor medida la Carga Mental. METODO: estudio cuantitativo, de diseno descriptivo, transversal y comparativo. Se censo el 91% de la poblacion de Unidades Criticas de tres hospitales chilenos, correspondiente a 111 enfermeras/os. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron: (a) Cuestionario de antecedentes biosociodemograficos; (b) Cuestionario SUSESO-ISTAS 21; y (c) Escala Subjetiva de Carga Mental de Trabajo (ESCAM). RESULTADOS: el 64% y el 57% de los/as participantes perciben un alto nivel de exposicion a los riesgos psicosociales Demandas psicologicas y Doble presencia, respectivamente. Ademas, se obtiene un nivel de Carga mental global media-alta. Se obtuvo correlaciones positivas y significativas entre algunas dimensiones de SUSESO-ISTAS 21 y ESCAM, y mediante un analisis de regresion se obtuvo que tres dimensiones del cuestionario de riesgos psicosociales contribuyen a explicar un 38% de la Carga mental global. CONCLUSION: las/os enfermeras/os de unidades criticas, perciben factores psicosociales inadecuados y sobrecarga mental de trabajo, en varias de sus dimensiones.

Impacto de las condiciones físico-ambientales percibidas sobre la carga mental de trabajo: un estudio exploratorio en empleados de oficina

Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue explorar la relación entre las condiciones físico-ambientales del puesto de trabajo y la carga mental de trabajo percibida. Una muestra de 238 trabajadores de oficina evaluó los niveles de carga mental de trabajo percibida y la adecuación de ciertas condiciones físico-ambientales del entorno laboral (temperatura, iluminación, ruido, distribución espacial y condiciones higiénicas) mediante la Escala Subjetiva de Evaluación de la Carga Mental de Trabajo. Mediante análisis de varianza multivariante se comprobó el efecto de las cinco condiciones físico-ambientales sobre cinco factores de carga mental. Los resultados mostraron que la percepción del ruido, la distribución espacial y las condiciones higiénicas se asocian con una mayor carga mental de trabajo subjetiva en tres dimensiones concretas de la carga mental: características de la tarea, organización temporal y ritmo de trabajo

Fatores psicossociais e carga mental de trabalho: uma realidade percebida pelos enfermeiros em Unidades de Terapia Intensiva 1

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the perception of psychosocial factors and mental workload of nurses who work in intensive care units. It is hypothesised that nurses in these units could perceive psychosocial risks, manifesting in a high mental work load. The psychosocial dimension related to the positions cognitive demands is hypothesised to mostly explain mental work load. METHOD: Quantitative study, with a descriptive, cross-sectional, and comparative design. A total of 91% of the intensive care unit populations of three Chilean hospitals was surveyed, corresponding to 111 nurses. The instruments utilised included (A) a biosociodemographic history questionnaire; (b) the SUSESO-ISTAS 21 questionnaire; and (c) the Mental Work Load Subjective Scale (ESCAM, in Spanish). RESULTS: In total, 64% and 57% of participants perceived high levels of exposure to the psychosocial risks Psychosocial demands and Double shift, respectively. In addition, a medium-high level of overall mental load was observed. Positive and significant correlations between some of the SUSESO-ISTAS 21 and ESCAM dimensions were obtained. Using a regression analysis, it was determined that three dimensions of the psychosocial risk questionnaire helped to explain 38% of the overall mental load. CONCLUSION: Intensive care unit nurses felt that inadequate psychosocial factors and mental work overload existed in several of the tested dimensions.OBJETIVO: analizar la percepcion de Factores psicosociales y Carga mental de trabajo de enfermeras/os que laboran en Unidades Criticas. Se hipotetiza que los/as enfermeros/as de estas unidades pudieran percibir riesgos psicosociales; Mostraran una Carga mental de trabajo alta; y la dimension psicosocial relacionada con exigencias cognitivas del puesto explicara en mayor medida la Carga Mental. METODO: estudio cuantitativo, de diseno descriptivo, transversal y comparativo. Se censo el 91% de la poblacion de Unidades Criticas de tres hospitales chilenos, correspondiente a 111 enfermeras/os. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron: (a) Cuestionario de antecedentes biosociodemograficos; (b) Cuestionario SUSESO-ISTAS 21; y (c) Escala Subjetiva de Carga Mental de Trabajo (ESCAM). RESULTADOS: el 64% y el 57% de los/as participantes perciben un alto nivel de exposicion a los riesgos psicosociales Demandas psicologicas y Doble presencia, respectivamente. Ademas, se obtiene un nivel de Carga mental global media-alta. Se obtuvo correlaciones positivas y significativas entre algunas dimensiones de SUSESO-ISTAS 21 y ESCAM, y mediante un analisis de regresion se obtuvo que tres dimensiones del cuestionario de riesgos psicosociales contribuyen a explicar un 38% de la Carga mental global. CONCLUSION: las/os enfermeras/os de unidades criticas, perciben factores psicosociales inadecuados y sobrecarga mental de trabajo, en varias de sus dimensiones.

Relationships between Contextual and Task Performance and Interrater Agreement: Are There Any?

Work performance is one of the most important dependent variables in Work and Organizational Psychology. The main objective of this paper was to explore the relationships between citizenship performance and task performance measures obtained from different appraisers and their consistency through a seldom-used methodology, intraclass correlation coefficients. Participants were 135 public employees, the total staff in a local government department. Jobs were clustered into job families through a work analysis based on standard questionnaires. A task description technique was used to develop a performance appraisal questionnaire for each job family, with three versions: self-, supervisor-, and peer-evaluation, in addition to a measure of citizenship performance. Only when the self-appraisal bias is controlled, significant correlations appeared between task performance rates. However, intraclass correlations analyses show that only self- (contextual and task) performance measures are consistent, while interrater agreement disappears. These results provide some interesting clues about the procedure of appraisal instrument development, the role of appraisers, and the importance of choosing adequate consistency analysis methods.

Adaptación al español de la Escala de Desempeño Cívico de Coleman y Borman (2000) y análisis de la estructura empírica del constructo

This article presents the results of a research in which the citizenship performance questionnaire from Coleman and Borman (2000) was adapted into Spanish and its empiric structure was analyzed. Once the original questionnaire was translated and adapted to a Spanish public administration context, it was administered to a sample of 135 public employees representing the complete staff of an Autonomic Government unit. Results show a high internal consistency of the questionnaire, although it seems to measure three interdependent dimensions. Two of these dimensions are highly stable and coincide with those proposed by LePine, Erez and Johnson (2002), Generalized Compliance and Altruism, while the third dimension is difficult to interpret. A second order factor analysis supports the existence of a unique underlying dimension of citizenship performance. These results have theoretical as well as practical implications that may help the interpretation and diagnosis in this domain.espanolEste articulo es el resultado de una investigacion en la que se adapto el cuestionario de desempeno civico de Coleman y Borman (2000) y se analizo su estructura empirica. Una vez traducido y adaptado el cuestionario original para su aplicacion en un contexto espanol de la Administracion Publica, se aplico a una muestra de 135 empleados publicos que constituyen el total del personal de una unidad del Gobierno Autonomico. Los resultados indican que el cuestionario tiene una alta consistencia interna, aunque parece medir tres dimensiones dependientes entre si. Dos de estas dimensiones son altamente estables y coinciden con las propuestas por LePine, Erez y Johnson (2002), Cumplimiento generalizado y Altruismo, mientras que la tercera es de dificil interpretacion. Un analisis factorial de segundo orden indica que existe una unica dimension subyacente de desempeno civico. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones teoricas y practicas que ayudan a la interpretacion y diagnostico del dominio. EnglishThis article presents the results of a research in which the citizenship performance questionnaire from Coleman and Borman (2000) was adapted into Spanish and its empiric structure was analyzed. Once the original questionnaire was translated and adapted to a Spanish public administration context, it was administered to a sample of 135 public employees representing the complete staff of an Autonomic Government unit. Results show a high internal consistency of the questionnaire, although it seems to measure three interdependent dimensions. Two of these dimensions are highly stable and coincide with those proposed by LePine, Erez and Johnson (2002), Generalized Compliance and Altruism, while the third dimension is difficult to interpret. A second order factor analysis supports the existence of a unique underlying dimension of citizenship performance. These results have theoretical as well as practical implications that may help the interpretation and diagnosis in this domain.