Gloria Guidetti

Aging and Work Ability: The Moderating Role of Job and Personal Resources

Objective: Demographic changes involving western countries and later retirements due to the recent pension reforms induce a gradual aging of the workforce. This imply an increasing number of workers with health problems and a decreasing of ability to work. In this direction, the present study aims at examining the role of job and personal resources between age and work ability within nurses. Method: The study was cross-sectional and not randomized; data were collected by a self-report questionnaire during a multi-center survey conducted in two Italian hospitals in 2016. In this way, 333 nurses were reached. Results: Multiple linear regression showed that age is significantly and negatively associated to work ability, and that job resources (e.g., decision authority and meaning of work) and personal resources (e.g., hope and resilience) moderate the relationship between age and work ability. Discussion: These results highlight that investing in work and personal resources to support WA is even more relevant for those professions where high physical effort is required.

La misurazione del burnout nei contesti sanitari: validità di costrutto e invarianza fattoriale della versione italiana dello Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI-Ita)

Introduzione. Il burnout rappresenta un rischio psicosociale rilevante nel contesto sanitario. La disponibilita di strumenti di valutazione del burnout di cui sono note le qualita psicometriche specificatamente riferite al contesto sanitario italiano e dunque importante al fine dell’affidabilita della misurazione del fenomeno. Obiettivo. Scopo del presente lavoro e quello di fornire evidenze empiriche circa le caratteristiche psicometriche della versione italiana dello Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI-Ita) in riferimento al contesto sanitario. Metodo. Il presente lavoro si basa su dataset provenienti da due studi distinti. Lo Studio I ha coinvolto 318 lavoratori del comparto sanitario impiegati in due presidi. Lo Studio II ha coinvolto 695 medici e infermieri di una azienda sanitaria. Risultati. Dall’analisi dei dati provenienti dallo Studio I, in cui sono stati messi in competizione differenti modelli, emerge che il modello quadri-fattoriale ipotizzato da Gil-Monte (Entusiasmo per il lavoro, Esaurimento psicologico, Indolenza, Colpa) e quello che meglio intercetta la struttura soggiacente ai dati. Le analisi sui dati dello Studio II evidenziano che la struttura fattoriale e invariante tra i sottogruppi di medici e infermieri. Discussione e Conclusioni. I risultati indicano che lo SBI-Ita riporta caratteristiche psicometriche soddisfacenti rappresentando uno strumento adeguato per la misurazione del burnout nei contesti sanitari in Italia. Puo essere utilizzato proficuamente nell’ambito di rilevazioni volte alla valutazione dei rischi psicosociali in intere popolazioni lavorative (es., valutazione stress-lavoro correlato in adempimento alla L.81/08), e in fase di approfondimento diagnostico nell’ambito di interventi volti al sostegno individuale del lavoratore.

Teachers’ work ability: a study of relationships between collective efficacy and self-efficacy beliefs

Introduction Work ability constitutes one of the most studied well-being indicators related to work. Past research highlighted the relationship with work-related resources and demands, and personal resources. However, no studies highlight the role of collective and self-efficacy beliefs in sustaining work ability. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine whether and by which mechanism work ability is linked with individual and collective efficacies in a sample of primary and middle school teachers. Materials and methods Using a dataset consisting of 415 primary and middle school Italian teachers, the analysis tested for the mediating role of self-efficacy between collective efficacy and work ability. Results Mediational analysis highlights that teachers’ self-efficacy totally mediates the relationship between collective efficacy and perceived work ability. Conclusion Results of this study enhance the theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence regarding the link between teachers’ collective efficacy and self-efficacy, giving further emphasis to the concept of collective efficacy in school contexts. Moreover, the results contribute to the study of well-being in the teaching profession, highlighting a process that sustains and promotes levels of work ability through both collective and personal resources.

Concerns about change and employee wellbeing: the moderating role of social support

Purpose Concerns about change, a measure of the perception about future losses due to organizational change, have received scarce attention within the organizational change literature. This study addresses some relevant questions still unexplored regarding, on the one hand, the relationship between concerns about change and employees’ burnout and work engagement. Moreover, it evaluates the buffering role of social supports, namely that of colleagues and superiors, during the anticipation stage of an organizational change process. Design/methodology/approach Six hundred and thirty-two employees of an administrative public sector filled out a self-reporting questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using hierarchical moderated regression in order to show direct and moderating effects. Findings Results suggest that concerns about change, measured during the anticipation stage of an organizational change process, relate to higher burnout and lower work engagement. Social support significantly affects the rel...

Musculoskeletal disorders among preschool teachers: analyzing the relationships among relational demands, work meaning, and intention to leave the job

BackgroundBased on the conservation of resource (COR) theory by Hobfoll, the aim of the present study was to test whether the relationships among relational demands, work meaning, and intention to leave vary as a function of the presence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).MethodThe study was cross-sectional and non-randomized. Analyses were carried out on a dataset consisting of 429 preschool teachers, who filled out a self-report questionnaire. Of them, 238 reported a MSD diagnosis and 191 were free form MSDs.ResultsAs expected, among those who reported MSDs, relational demands were significantly associated to intention to leave, and this relationship was mediated by work meaning; moreover, among those free from MSDs, no significant paths among the three variables were found.ConclusionIn general, results showed that suffering from MSDs impairs workers’ ability to face to relational demands, thus activating a spiral that encompasses diminished work meaning and intention to leave. Practical implications of results will be discussed in the paper.