Josep M. Blanch

Cuestionario de Bienestar Laboral General: Estructura y Propiedades Psicométricas

The general work well-being questionnaire (qBLG) was developed with the aim of providing a measurement tool particularly sensitive to the psychosocial dimension of work well-being of care workers, and to the bipolar nature of the well-being experience. 1252 professionals of health care (medical and nursing) and of higher education employed in hospitals and universities from Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Spain, respectively, answered a series of closed items from a questionnaire organized according with a theoretical model of general work well-being. Factor analysis found two independent factors in the qBLG, the first one including three scales of psychosocial well-being and the second three scales of collateral effects. All scales showed high internal consistency. The qBLG faithfully reproduces the structure of the proposed theoretical model, and combines the required psychometric properties for the evaluation of work well-being of health care and of higher education professionals.

Work, family, and gender: elements for a theory of work-family balance.

Over last century, work was not only a means of economic survival, but also a very strong factor of psychological structuring and of organization of personal, family, and everyday life. The new world of work provides new challenges to the balance of work and family life. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 453 people with the aim of analyzing the relation between variables such as family burdens and domestic responsibilities, and the appraisal of work and family, values involved in work-family balance. The results of this study show that, in the present economic and cultural context, assuming family burdens and domestic responsibilities increases the positive appraisal of work and family, both in men and women. This has theoretical and practical implications concerning the challenge of work-family balance.

El Malestar en el Empleo Temporal Involuntario

Resumen es: El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar el papel de la voluntariedad de la situacion ocupacional en el malestar psicologico en el empleo temporal. Se ap...

Malestar psicofisiológico en profesionales de la salud pública de la Región Metropolitana

Background: The public health reform in Chile resulted in changes in working conditions and organization of health centers. Aim : To examine the presence of psychophysiological symptoms in professionals of public hospitals in the Metropo- litan Region and their association with current working conditions. Material and Methods : A questionnaire of quality of working life was applied to a sample of 80 physicians and 110 nurses. The questionnaire considers scales and open questions. Results : Nurses had a higher level of discomfort than physicians (p < 0.01) and had signifi cantly higher scores for emotional distress, physical fatigue, digestive disorders, headache, insomnia, back pain and muscle tension (p < 0.01). There were statistically signifi cant negative correlations between psychophysiological distress and working conditions (r = -0.418), social climate (r = -0.395), satisfaction with the organization (r = -0.337) and psychosocial well-being (r = -0.267). A regression model showed that 21% of the variance in psychophysiological distress was explained by working conditions, psychosocial well-be ing and adaptation to the organization. Conclusions: There is a relationship between the high prevalence of psychophysiological symptoms and bad working conditions of public health professionals

Drama therapy for the prevention of workplace violence

OBJECTIVE To achieve, through a training and preventive intervention, a significant change in the emotional experience of a group of health care professionals at risk of exposure to workplace violence. METHOD 143 Catalonian health professionals participated in a training course on occupational risk prevention that incorporated theatrical staging techniques and psychotherapeutic strategies, focused on the interpretation of emotional experiences associated with violence in the workplace. They participated voluntarily in the program and were selectedaccording to type of healthcare delivered and professional diversity. A pre- and post-course questionnaire was administered. RESULTS Ninety-two percent of respondents claimed to have witnessed, and 85% had personally experienced, a violent episode in the previous five years. The comparison of mean scores before and after the training intervention revealed anincrease in the positive assessment of the effectiveness of ones own performance and communication skills (p< 0.001), and induced emotional experiences in line with a greater peace of mind (p< 0.005) and less anxiety (p< 0.005) with respect to the violent incident. CONCLUSIONS Staging experiential stressful situations can be a useful learning tool for managing emotions, which increases the perceived degree of ones ability to manage communication, teamwork and professional stress itself.

Labor conditions and the meanings of nursing work in Barcelona

Objetivo: analizar la relacion entre la valoracion cuantitativa de las condiciones de trabajo y la percepcion cualitativa de la propia experiencia laboral. Metodo: una muestra de 1.760 profesionales de enfermeria de Barcelona respondio a un cuestionario de valoracion de sus condiciones de trabajo y resumio en cinco palabras clave su propia experiencia laboral actual. Resultados: el corpus textual de significados del trabajo incluyo 8.043 formas lexicas, que fueron categorizadas y codificadas. Las personas encuestadas que valoraron mas alto sus condiciones de trabajo expresaron una vision de su trabajo en terminos de autonomia, realizacion y bienestar; mientras que quienes las valoraron mas bajo hablaron sobre todo de agotamiento, despersonalizacion y clima negativo. Un analisis de correspondencias evidencio una estrecha relacion entre las valoraciones cuantitativas de las condiciones laborales y los codigos verbales de significado del trabajo. Conclusiones: los significados dados al trabajo fueron no solo coherentes con las valoraciones numericas de las condiciones laborales, sino que ademas las hicieron mas comprensibles. La informacion obtenida plantea desafios para la reflexion y senala caminos orientados a la promocion de los aspectos positivos y a la prevencion de los negativos de las condiciones del trabajo de enfermeria.ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the relationship between the quantitative assessment of working conditions and the qualitative perception of one’s own work experience. Method: a sample of 1,760 nursing professionals from Barcelona answered a questionnaire assessing their working conditions and summarized their own current work experience in five key words. Results: the textual corpus of the meanings of nursing work included 8043 lexical forms, which were categorized and codified. Respondents who rated their work conditions the highest expressed a vision of their work in terms of autonomy, achievement and well-being, while those who rated their work conditions the lowest talked mostly of exhaustion, depersonalization and negative climate. A correspondence analysis showed a close relationship between the quantitative assessments of working conditions and the verbal codes of the meaning of work. Conclusions: the meanings given to work were not only consistent with the numerical evaluations of the working conditions but also made them more understandable. The information obtained poses challenges for reflection and indicates ways to promote the positive aspects and prevent the negative conditions of nursing work.