Ilaria Setti

Engagement and Vicarious Traumatization in rescue workers

PurposeThe aims of this study are (1) to investigate the incidence of the symptoms of Vicarious Traumatization in a group of rescue workers; (2) to explore some of the main predictors of Engagement and Vicarious Traumatization; and (3) to identify the individual and organizational factors able to improve the state of well-being of those working in the helping professions.MethodsA total of 782 rescue workers, involved in critical operations of various kinds in constant contact with traumatized subjects, were investigated applying the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Scale (MBI-GS) and the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS).ResultsThe post-traumatic symptoms most frequently reported were those of an intrusive nature. A partial overlap emerged between the predictors of Vicarious Traumatization and Engagement: if compared with social and demographic characteristics and with the degree of commitment required by the work, organizational variables would appear to have the greatest influence over the two constructs. A supportive working environment in particular favors Engagement, reducing the probability of developing Burnout.ConclusionsThe results confirm the hypotheses that Engagement and Vicarious Traumatization are primarily determined by organizational variables, and, particularly, by the level of job support.

Organizational features of workplace and job engagement among Swiss healthcare workers.

The aim of this study was to determine the engagement level among healthcare workers in a Swiss hospital, identifying organizational predictors that could affect it. A four-part survey (a demographic questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, Areas of Worklife Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire) was completed by 206 nurses and physicians. With regards to organizational predictors of job engagement, energy was primarily influenced by workload, involvement by values, and efficacy by reward. Moreover, we found that engagement might affect psychophysical health conditions: better health generally corresponds to higher levels of engagement. These results confirm that engagement is influenced by organizational variables and that engaged employees are generally more healthy and efficient. Therefore, interventions to minimize the impact of work stressors and to improve engagement are needed. Effective management of excessive workload, higher levels of autonomy, and greater job support are vital to limit psychological problems of healthcare workers.

Measuring Moral Distress Among Critical Care Clinicians : Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Italian Moral Distress Scale-Revised

Objectives: Moral distress is a common experience among critical care professionals, leading to frustration, withdrawal from patient care, and job abandonment. Most of the studies on moral distress have used the Moral Distress Scale or its revised version (Moral Distress Scale-Revised). However, these scales have never been validated through factor analysis. This article aims to explore the factorial structure of the Moral Distress Scale-Revised and develop a valid and reliable scale through factor analysis. Design: Validation study using a survey design. Setting: Eight medical-surgical ICUs in the north of Italy. Subjects: A total of 184 clinicians (64 physicians, 94 nurses, and 14 residents). Interventions: The Moral Distress Scale-Revised was translated into Italian and administered along with a measure of depression (Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition) to establish convergent validity. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to explore the Moral Distress Scale-Revised factorial structure. Items with low (less than or equal to 0.350) or multiple saturations were removed. The resulting model was tested through confirmatory factor analysis. Measurements and Main Results: The Italian Moral Distress Scale-Revised is composed of 14 items referring to four factors: futile care, poor teamwork, deceptive communication, and ethical misconduct. This model accounts for 59% of the total variance and presents a good fit with the data (root mean square error of approximation = 0.06; comparative fit index = 0.95; Tucker-Lewis index = 0.94; weighted root mean square residual = 0.65). The Italian Moral Distress Scale-Revised evinces good reliability (&agr; = 0.81) and moderately correlates with Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (r = 0.293; p < 0.001). No significant differences were found in the moral distress total score between physicians and nurses. However, nurses scored higher on futile care than physicians (t = 2.051; p = 0.042), whereas physicians scored higher on deceptive communication than nurses (t = 3.617; p < 0.001). Moral distress was higher for those clinicians considering to give up their position (t = 2.778; p = 0.006). Conclusions: The Italian Moral Distress Scale-Revised is a valid and reliable instrument to assess moral distress among critical care clinicians and develop tailored interventions addressing its different components. Further research could test the generalizability of its factorial structure in other cultures.

Older workers: stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between organizational age stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy. First, the authors intend to test the measurement invariance of Henkens’s (2005) age stereotypes scale across two age group, respectively, under 50 and 50 years and older. Then, the moderator role of age groups in the relationship between age stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy is investigated. Design/methodology/approach The survey involved a large sample of 4,667 Italian bank sector’s employees. Findings The results show the invariance of the three dimensional structure of organizational stereotypes towards older workers scale: productivity, reliability and adaptability. Furthermore, the moderation is confirmed: the relationship between organizational age stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy is significant only for older respondents. Research limitations/implications Future studies should aim to replicate the findings with longitudinal designs. Practical implications The study suggests the importance to emphasize the positive characteristics of older workers and to reduce the presence of negative age stereotypes in the workplace, especially in order to foster the occupational self-efficacy of older workers. Originality/value The findings are especially relevant in view of the lack of evidence about the relationship between age stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy.

Proactive personality and training motivation among older workers: a mediational model of goal orientation

Purpose – This paper aims at examining the relationship between proactive personality and training motivation among older workers (aged over 55 years) in a context characterized by the growing ageing of the global population. First, the authors hypothesized that proactive personality predicts the motivation to learn among older workers and that this relationship is mediated by goal orientation. In particular, the authors hypothesized that learning goal orientation may mediate the relationship between proactive personality and learning motivation. Design/methodology/approach – The employees of an Italian bank completed an online questionnaire. AMOS 17 was used to carry out confirmatory factor analysis, and the SPSS macro was used to test the meditational model. Findings – The results confirmed both the hypotheses, demonstrating the influence of proactive personality on training motivation of older workers, as mediated by goal orientation and, in particular, by learning goal orientation. Practical implications – From an applicative point of view, this study may have implications for organizations that aim to increase the employability of older people by encouraging them to undertake more training. In particular, interventions aimed at increasing learning goal orientation could contribute in strengthening proactive personality that, in turn, may affect levels of training motivation. Originality/value – Even if proactive personality has already been found as a predictor of learning motivation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study demonstrates that the relationship between proactive personality and training motivation is mediated by goal orientation among older workers.

Predictive value of psychological resilience for mental health disturbances : A three-wave prospective study among police officers

Psychological resilience is considered an important predictor for mental health disturbances among rescue workers. To what extent resilience predicts mental health disturbances among police officers at different stages while adjusting for existing (mental) health disturbances is unclear. Among 566 police officers resilience was operationalized by the Resilience Scale-nl and the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 questionnaires (8 scales in total). Mental health disturbances (such as depression symptoms and PTSD) and other health-related variables were assessed at baseline and follow-ups at three and nine months. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses assessed the predictive values of the 8 resilience scales for mental health disturbances at baseline (n = 566), three months (n = 566) and nine months (n = 364), adjusted for demographics, work circumstances, and health-related factors at baseline. Seven of the eight resilience scales at baseline were cross sectional associated with mental health disturbances at baseline. Only four scales were independent predictors for mental health disturbances at three months. When examining mental health disturbances at nine months, only one resilience scale remained a significant predictor. In sum, psychological resilience has a declining protective capacity for mental health disturbances over a medium time-span, specifically when corrected for baseline mental health disturbances.

Il benessere nei vigili del fuoco volontari: la mindfulness come risorsa psicologica

Il principale obiettivo del presente studio e quello di indagare le condizioni di benessere occupazionale in un campione di vigili del fuoco volontari (N=99). In particolare, e stato verificato il ruolo di due specifiche risorse psicologiche, engagement e mindfulness, come fattori di protezione nei confronti del rischio di sviluppare esiti negativi di salute, in termini di sintomi post-traumatici e psicosomatici. Sono stati somministrati i seguenti questionari self-report: la Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9; la Mindful Awareness Attention Scale; la Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale; il General Health Questionnaire-12. I risultati, ottenuti tramite modelli di regressione, evidenziano come la mindfulness possa essere considerata, tra quelli esaminati, l’unico significativo fattore protettivo nei confronti del rischio di sviluppare traumatizzazione vicaria e sintomi psicosomatici. Da un punto di vista applicativo, emerge l’importanza di progettare interventi finalizzati all’incremento della mindfulness, al fine di supportare i vigili del fuoco volontari nell’affrontare stressor lavorativi sia acuti sia cronici.

The Influence of Job Insecurity on Task and Contextual Performance: The Mediational Role of Overall Job Attitude

Job insecurity, that is the perceived threat of losing the current job, has become an increasing concern for organizations in the last decade mainly due to uncertain economic conditions and global competition. In this study, we intend to examine in particular the mechanisms through which job insecurity affects work performance, a criterion of central interest to management scholars. Drawing on the compatibility principle in attitude theory, we proposed that overall job attitude (job satisfaction and affective commitment) predicts behavioural criteria in response to job insecurity. In particular, relying on social exchange theory and rational choice theory two predictions were compared: job insecurity can be an harmful stressor with negative strain reactions (behavioural withdrawal, low performance) or a challenge stressor that motivates employees to engage actively in actions coping with the threat (higher performance). A sample of 570 Italian employees were used to test the hypotheses derived from our framework. Results from structural equations provided support for the social exchange model, showing the negative influence of job insecurity (as hindrance stressor) on task and contextual performance, i.e., in-role and extra-role behaviours.

Well-Being and Affective Commitment among Ambulance Volunteers: A Mediational Model of Job Burnout

ABSTRACT Burnout represents a relevant risk for ambulance volunteers. According to the Job Demands-Resources model, role conflict and social support can be considered as antecedents of burnout which, in turn, may lower affective commitment. This study aims to investigate the relationship between social support, role conflict, and affective commitment, as mediated by job burnout. Survey data were collected from 352 Italian volunteers and analyzed using structural equation modeling methods. Social support was confirmed as a protective factor, and role conflict as an antecedent of burnout which, in turn, decreases affective commitment. The relationship between role conflict and affective commitment is mediated by burnout which, on the contrary, does not mediate the effect of social support on affective commitment. Social support may protect against burnout. Because of its positive effects on a personal and an organizational level, affective commitment may be increased raising levels of supervisor support and reshaping role expectations. It could be useful to carry out future longitudinal studies, in order to confirm the antecedents and effects of job burnout; furthermore, this research should be extended to other ambulance organizations, in order to generalize the results; finally, multi-group analyses would allow to bring out possible differences between paid-staff and volunteers.

Potentially Traumatic Events and Job Satisfaction

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of potentially traumatic events (PTEs), posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and coping self-efficacy (CSE) on post-event job satisfaction. Methods: Repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess differences in the course of job satisfaction during 1 year between population-based samples of affected and nonaffected workers. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted with pre-event health, job satisfaction and insecurity, and postevent PTSS and CSE as predictors. Results: About 16% of the affected workers had probable PTSD. The course of job satisfaction between affected (n = 123) and nonaffected workers (n = 644) did not differ significantly. PTSS and CSE did not independently predict post-event satisfaction, in contrast to pre-event job satisfaction. Conclusion: Findings suggest that when needed social support is provided, concerns about the negative effects of potentially traumatic events on job satisfaction could be somewhat relaxed.