Sample records for healthy work environment
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Authentic leaders creating healthy work environments for nursing practice.
Shirey, Maria R
2006-05-01
Implementation of authentic leadership can affect not only the nursing workforce and the profession but the healthcare delivery system and society as a whole. Creating a healthy work environment for nursing practice is crucial to maintain an adequate nursing workforce; the stressful nature of the profession often leads to burnout, disability, and high absenteeism and ultimately contributes to the escalating shortage of nurses. Leaders play a pivotal role in retention of nurses by shaping the healthcare practice environment to produce quality outcomes for staff nurses and patients. Few guidelines are available, however, for creating and sustaining the critical elements of a healthy work environment. In 2005, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses released a landmark publication specifying 6 standards (skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership) necessary to establish and sustain healthy work environments in healthcare. Authentic leadership was described as the "glue" needed to hold together a healthy work environment. Now, the roles and relationships of authentic leaders in the healthy work environment are clarified as follows: An expanded definition of authentic leadership and its attributes (eg, genuineness, trustworthiness, reliability, compassion, and believability) is presented. Mechanisms by which authentic leaders can create healthy work environments for practice (eg, engaging employees in the work environment to promote positive behaviors) are described. A practical guide on how to become an authentic leader is advanced. A research agenda to advance the study of authentic leadership in nursing practice through collaboration between nursing and business is proposed.
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Indicators of healthy work environments--a systematic review.
Lindberg, Per; Vingård, Eva
2012-01-01
The purpose of this study was to systematically review the scientific literature and search for indicators of healthy work environments. A number of major national and international databases for scientific publication were searched for research addressing indicators of healthy work environments. Altogether 19,768 publications were found. After excluding duplicates, non-relevant publications, or publications that did not comply with the inclusion criteria 24 peer-reviewed publications remained to be included in this systematic review. Only one study explicitly addressing indicators of healthy work environments was found. That study suggested that the presence of stress management programs in an organization might serve as indicator of a 'good place to work', as these organizations were more likely to offer programs that encouraged employee well-being, safety and skill development than those without stress management programs. The other 23 studies either investigated employee's views of what constitute a healthy workplace or were guidelines for how to create such a workplace. Summarizing, the nine most pronounced factors considered as important for a healthy workplace that emerged from these studies were, in descending order: collaboration/teamwork: growth and development of the individual; recognition; employee involvement; positive, accessible and fair leader; autonomy and empowerment; appropriate staffing; skilled communication; and safe physical work.
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Authentic leadership, organizational culture, and healthy work environments.
Shirey, Maria R
2009-01-01
The purpose of this article is to showcase the relationship among authentic leadership, organizational culture, and healthy work environments using a stress and coping lens. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to determine what situations contribute to nurse manager stress, what coping strategies they utilize, what health outcomes they report, and what decision-making processes they follow to address stressful situations in their roles. A purposive sample of 21 nurse managers employed at 3 US acute care hospitals completed a demographic questionnaire and 14-question interview incorporating components of the Critical Decision Method. A secondary analysis of the data was conducted to identify differences in nurse manager narratives based upon differences in the organizational cultures where the managers worked. Of the 21 nurse managers studied, differences were evident in the organizational cultures reported. Nurse managers working in the positive organizational cultures (n = 12) generally worked in healthy work environments and engaged in more authentic leadership behaviors. Conversely, nurse managers working in the negative organizational cultures (n = 9) worked in unhealthy work environments and reported less optimism and more challenges engaging in authentic leadership practices. Organizational culture and leadership matter in creating and sustaining healthy work environments. Nurse managers play a pivotal role in creating these environments, yet they need supportive structures and resources to more effectively execute their roles.
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Healthy work environment--a challenge?
Jansson von Vultée, Pia Hannele
2015-01-01
In Sweden, leave due to sickness was high during the 1990s. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency was able to decrease sick days in the period between 2000 and 2010 but sick days are rising again in Sweden, mostly due to psychological problems among women and partly due to their work environment. It is important to find methods to identify poor work settings to prevent absenteeism due to sickness. The paper aims to discuss these issues. The authors created a web questionnaire focusing on the organizational setting and its impact on employee wellbeing--reported as mental energy, work-related exhaustion and work satisfaction. The questionnaire measures good and poor work environment factors to help managers improve organizational settings. The questionnaire was validated qualitatively and quantitatively. It is possible to measure individual wellbeing in an organizational context at an early stage. The authors followed a company undergoing organizational change and identified groups at risk of developing illness. Managers uncertain about employee mental status can measure employee wellbeing easily and cost effectively to prevent illness. The authors created a method, statistically evaluated, to proactively identify good and poor work environments to promote healthy co-workers.
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Creating healthy work environments: a strategic perspective.
Adamson, Bonnie J
2010-01-01
Although I find Graham Lowe and Ben Chan's logic model and work environment metrics thought provoking, a healthy work environment framework must be more comprehensive and consider the addition of recommended diagnostic tools, vehicles to deliver the necessary change and a sustainability strategy that allows for the tweaking and refinement of ideas. Basic structure is required to frame and initiate an effective process, while allowing creativity and enhancements to be made by organizations as they learn. I support the construction of a suggested Canadian health sector framework for measuring the health of an organization, but I feel that organizations need to have some freedom in that design and the ability to incorporate their own indicators within the established proven drivers. Reflecting on my organization's experience with large-scale transformation efforts, I find that emotional intelligence along with formal leadership development and front-line engagement in Lean process improvement activities are essential for creating healthy work environments that produce the balanced set of outcomes listed in my hospital's Balanced Scorecard.
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Does job satisfaction mediate the relationship between healthy work environment and care quality?
Bai, Jinbing
2016-01-01
A healthy work environment can increase nurse-reported job satisfaction and patient care outcomes. Yet the associations between healthy work environment, nurse job satisfaction and QC have not been comprehensively examined in Chinese ICUs. To investigate the mediating effect of nurse job satisfaction on the relationship between healthy work environment and nurse-reported quality of care (QC) in Chinese intensive care units (ICUs). A total of 706 nurses were recruited from 28 ICUs of 14 tertiary hospitals. The nurses completed self-reported questionnaires to evaluate healthy work environment, job satisfaction and quality of patient care. Mediation analysis was conducted to explore the mediating effect between nurse-reported healthy work environment and QC. Nurse work environment showed positive correlations with nurse-reported QC in the ICUs. Nurse-reported job satisfaction showed full mediating effects between healthy work environment and QC in the medical-surgical ICUs, surgical ICUs and neonatal/paediatric ICUs and indicated a partial mediating effect in the medical ICUs. Significant mediating effects of nurse job satisfaction provide more support for thinking about how to use this mediator to increase nurse and patient care outcomes. Nurse administrators can design interventions to increase nurse work environment and patient care outcomes with this mediating factor addressed. © 2015 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.
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The N2N instrument to evaluate healthy work environments: an Italian validation.
Palese, Alvisa; Dante, Angelo; Tonzar, Laura; Balboni, Bernardo
2014-02-01
The aims of the study were to (a) validate N2N Healthy Work Environment tool, (b) assess the healthiness of work environments as perceived by nurses themselves and (c) identify the factors associated with Italian nurses' perception of work environment healthiness. The linguistic and cultural adaptation of USA-N2N Healthy Work Environments was achieved through a process of forward/backward translation. Content validity was assessed by three expert nurses. The stability of the instrument was checked with a test/retest evaluation. The instrument psychometric properties, the confirmatory factor analysis as well the healthiness of the work environment and its determinant factors were evaluated with a sample of 294 nurses. The content and face validity of the N2N Healthy Work Environment instrument was confirmed. The instrument demonstrated good internal consistency (α of 0.82), excellent stability values (ρ > 0.70) and high levels of acceptability (response rate: 96.4 %). The confirmatory factor analysis has corroborated the existence of two factors as documented in the original instrument (Mays et al. in J Nurs Manag 19:18-26, 2011). Eighty-seven (29.6 %) nurses perceived the work environment where they work as "healthy". Working under a functional model of care delivery (χ(2) 24.856, p 0.000) and being responsible for one project or more (χ(2) 5.256, p 0.021) were associated with healthy environments. The instrument--valid and reliable, short in the number of items, easy to understand and based on international standards--allows a systematic assessment of the healthiness of the environment and might provide not only the opportunity to evaluate the effects of new organizational models and interventions, but also the possibility to activate a process of self-analysis and a process of ongoing review. The instrument can be used to systematically check the healthiness of Italian working environments, allowing for organizational diagnosis, targeted interventions and
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Leading change to create a healthy and satisfying work environment.
Sanders, Carolyn L; Krugman, Mary; Schloffman, Danielle H
2013-01-01
Nurse executives must take a leadership role in creating a healthy work environment for nurses and all disciplines. Engaging in partnerships and empowering clinical nurses to construct the solutions to barriers that may stand in the way of the goal of a satisfied and healthy workforce are important strategies toward success. This publication outlines many projects a 3-time Magnet-designated academic hospital has implemented, working with our shared leadership councils, to meet the standards for a healthy work environment. These initiatives, from the unit to the hospital level, included standardizing a culture change of uninterrupted meal breaks, the creation of intensive care unit Zen rooms, strategies to better manage increased patient volumes, best practices for facility design, enhancing physician-nurse relations, and a hospital wellness program. Data were benchmarked against national nurse and employee surveys to compare progress and report outcomes. Two important nursing organization structures that have contributed to the success of a healthy and satisfied nursing work environment include UEXCEL, a longstanding clinical nurse professional practice program, and the hospital's 11-year participation in the University HealthSystem Consortium/American Association of Colleges of Nursing National Post-Baccalaureate Nurse Residency Program. A highly engaged, well-educated, and committed nursing workforce, nurtured by a strong leadership team, has created a positive work environment characterized by low turnover and high retention.
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The relationship between healthy work environments and retention of nurses in a hospital setting.
Ritter, Desiree
2011-01-01
The purpose of the present paper was to determine the effect a healthy work environment has on the retention of nurses in a hospital setting. There is a nursing shortage that has been ongoing and is expected to continue, resulting in challenges for the healthcare system in the United States. The significance of this issue is the impact the nursing shortage will have on healthcare organizations and patients. The present paper included an extensive review of the current literature. The literature reviewed encompassed scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles. This article focused on nurses, work environments and the impact of the work environments on retention. Important issues that emerged from this analysis were the dangers of an unhealthy environment, the impact a healthy work environment has on patient outcomes and retention, the Magnet link to healthy work environments and the manager's role in creating and sustaining a healthy work environment. The literature provided evidence of the link between healthy work environments and the retention of nurses in a hospital setting. The implications for management are to implement changes now to create a healthy work environment that will recruit and retain nurses to secure their position in the future. © 2010 The Author. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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Using evidence-based leadership initiatives to create a healthy nursing work environment.
Nayback-Beebe, Ann M; Forsythe, Tanya; Funari, Tamara; Mayfield, Marie; Thoms, William; Smith, Kimberly K; Bradstreet, Harry; Scott, Pamela
2013-01-01
In an effort to create a healthy nursing work environment in a military hospital Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU), a facility-level Evidence Based Practice working group composed of nursing.Stakeholders brainstormed and piloted several unit-level evidence-based leadership initiatives to improve the IMCU nursing work environment. These initiatives were guided by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments which encompass: (1) skilled communication, (2) true collaboration, (3) effective decision making, (4) appropriate staffing, (5) meaningful recognition, and (6) authentic leadership. Interim findings suggest implementation of these six evidence-based, relationship-centered principals, when combined with IMCU nurses' clinical expertise, management experience, and personal values and preferences, improved staff morale, decreased staff absenteeism, promoted a healthy nursing work environment, and improved patient care.
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Clark, Cynthia M; Sattler, Victoria P; Barbosa-Leiker, Celestina
2016-10-01
Fostering healthy work environments that enhance job satisfaction and reflect high levels of employee engagement and productivity is imperative for all organizations. This is especially true for health care organizations where unhealthy work conditions can lead to poor patient outcomes. A convenience sample of 520 nursing faculty and practice-based nurses in the United States participated in a study to test the psychometric properties of the Healthy Work Environment Inventory (HWEI). A factor analysis and other reliability analyses support the use of the HWEI as a valid and reliable instrument to measure perceptions of work environment health. The HWEI is a 20-item psychometrically sound instrument to measure perceptions of the health of the work environment. It may be completed either as an individual exercise or by all members of a team to compare perceptions of work environment health, to determine areas of strength and improvement, and to form the basis for interviewing. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(10):555-562.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.
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Empowering a healthy practice environment.
Kushner, Jodi; Ruffin, Tasha
2015-03-01
This article provides frontline nurses a tool kit so they can advocate a healthy practice environment. The healthy nurse, healthy work hours, job satisfaction, adequate sleep, power naps at work, and balancing family/work are discussed. The overweight nurse, nurse fatigue, compassion fatigue, shift work sleep disorder, and role strain are discussed as barriers to a healthy practice environment. Case reports with analysis and recommendations are discussed to overcome these barriers. Resources are presented for frontline nurses to develop a tool kit for transforming their environment to a healthy practice environment and to empower them to become healthy nurses. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Policy to Foster Civility and Support a Healthy Academic Work Environment.
Clark, Cynthia M; Ritter, Katy
2018-06-01
Incivility in academic workplaces can have detrimental effects on individuals, teams, departments, and the campus community at large. Alternately, healthy academic workplaces generate heightened levels of employee satisfaction, engagement, and morale. This article describes the development and implementation of a comprehensive, legally defensible policy related to workplace civility and the establishment of a healthy academic work environment. A detailed policy exemplar is included to provide a structure for fostering a healthy academic work environment, a fair, consistent, confidential procedure for defining and addressing workplace incivility, a mechanism for reporting and subsequent investigation of uncivil acts if indicated, and ways to foster civility and respectful workplace behavior. The authors detail a step-by-step procedure and an incremental approach to address workplace incivility and reward policy adherence. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(6):325-331.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.
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AACN's healthy work environment standards and an empowering nurse advancement system.
Vollers, Dawn; Hill, Edie; Roberts, Cynthia; Dambaugh, Lori; Brenner, Zara R
2009-12-01
An empowering clinical nurse advancement system can facilitate institutional behaviors that embrace all of AACN's healthy work environment standards and thus serve as a building block for developing a flourishing health care environment. The results generate positive outcomes that are evident to health care professionals, patients, patients' families, and health care organizations. Patients benefit from highly satisfied employees who work in a culture of caring and excellence.
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Building a healthy work environment: a nursing resource team perspective.
Vaughan, Leslie; Slinger, Trisha
2013-01-01
Leadership and staff from the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) Nursing Resource Team (NRT), including members of their Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Council, attended the first Southern Ontario Nursing Resource Team Conference (SONRTC), held March 2012 in Toronto. The SONRTC highlighted healthy work environments (HWEs), noting vast differences among the province's various organizations. Conversely, CQI Council members anecdotally acknowledged similar inconsistencies in HWEs across the various inpatient departments at LHSC. In fact, the mobility of the NRT role allows these nurses to make an unbiased observation about the culture, behaviours and practices of specific units as well as cross-reference departments regarding HWEs. Studies have documented that HWEs have a direct impact on the quality of patient care. Furthermore, the literature supports a relationship between HWEs and nurse job satisfaction. Based on this heightened awareness, the NRT CQI Council aimed to investigate HWEs at LHSC. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments was adapted in developing a survey for measuring HWEs based on the perceptions of NRT staff. Each of the departments was evaluated in terms of the following indicators: skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision-making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition and authentic leadership (AACN 2005). Ultimately, the Building a Healthy Work Environment: A Nursing Resource Team Perspective survey was employed with NRT nurses at LHSC, and data was collected for use by leadership and staff for creating HWE strategies aimed at improving the quality of patient care.
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Work environments for healthy and motivated public health nurses.
Saito, Naoko; Yamamoto, Takeshi; Kitaike, Tadashi
2016-01-01
Objectives By defining health as mental health and productivity and performance as work motivation, the study aimed to identify work environments that promote the health and motivation of public health nurses, using the concept of a healthy work organizations, which encompasses the coexistence of excellent health for each worker and the productivity and performance of the organization.Methods Self-administered questionnaires were sent to 363 public health nurses in 41 municipal public health departments in Chiba prefecture. The questions were comprised of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for mental health and the Morale Measurement Scale (5 items) for work motivation. Demographic data, workplace attributes, workload, and workplace environment were set as independent variables. The Comfortable Workplace Survey (35 items in 7 areas) was used to assess workers' general work environments. The "Work Environment for Public Health Nurses" scale (25 items) was developed to assess the specific situations of public health nurses. While aggregation was carried out area by area for the general work environment, factor analysis and factor-by-factor aggregation were used for public health nurse-specific work environments. Mental health and work motivation results were divided in two based on the total scores, which were then evaluated by t-tests and χ(2) tests. Items that showed a significant correlation were analyzed using logistic regression.Results The valid responses of 215 participants were analyzed (response rate: 59.2%). For the general work environment, high scores (the higher the score, the better the situation) were obtained for "contributions to society" and "human relationships" and low scores were obtained for "career building and human resource development." For public health nurse-specific work environments, high scores were obtained for "peer support," while low scores were obtained for "easy access to advice and training" and
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Implementing healthy work environment standards in an academic workplace: An update.
Harmon, Rebecca B; DeGennaro, Gina; Norling, Meg; Kennedy, Christine; Fontaine, Dorrie
In 2005 the American Association of Critical Care Nurses defined six Healthy Work Environment (HWE) standards for the clinical setting (AACN, 2005), which were reaffirmed and expanded in 2016 (AACN, 2016). These clinical standards were adapted for use in the academic setting by Fontaine, Koh, and Carroll in 2012. The intention of this article is threefold: to present a revised version of the academic workplace standards which are appropriate for all School of Nursing (SON) employees, staff as well as faculty; to proposes the addition of a seventh standard, self-care, which provides the foundation for all standards; and to describe the continuing implementation of these seven standards at the University of Virginia School of Nursing (UVA SON). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Nursing work environment in Saudi Arabia.
Aboshaiqah, Ahmad E
2015-05-01
The purpose of this study was to assess the work environment as perceived by nurses in a large tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. The quality of patient care services has been associated with the quality of work environment of nurses. It is therefore important to assess the work environment in order to acquire baseline data and enable the institution to benchmark their status from established quality standards. This study used a descriptive survey with 1007 staff nurses across service units of a 1000-bed government-operated hospital. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Healthy Work Environment Assessment Questionnaire was used for data collection. Scores were aggregated and interpreted. Effective decision making, authentic leadership, appropriate staffing, true collaboration, skilled communication and meaningful recognition were rated as good (mean range 3.53-3.76). Healthy work environments mutually benefit patients, nurses, nurse managers, health care providers, the health team, administration, the institution and the community at large. Valuable baseline data on the status of the work environment in this setting were generated. This should allow administrators and staff to work together in improving weaknesses and strengthening further whatever gains that are attained to ensure consistent provision of safe and quality patient care. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Quaye, Emmanuel
2010-01-01
This thesis was intended to examine the effect of the healthiness of change process and psychosocial work environment factors in predicting job stress, health complaints and commitment among employees in a Ghanaian bank (N=132), undergoing organizational change. The change process was measured in terms of dimensions from the Healthy Change Process Index (HCPI) and the psychosocial work environment was measured by the Demands-Control-Support (DCS) model. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal...
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Healthy mind and body in a healthy work environment.
Perez-Padron, Manuel; Bernabé, Eduardo; Gomez-Santos, Gladys; Tsakos, Georgios; Lozano de Luacess, Vicente
2010-12-01
To assess the relationship between psychological distress and physical somatic symptoms as well as work environment conditions in the diverse population of dentists based in the Canary Islands (Spain). 203 dentists officially registered with the local General Dental Councils, returned the questionnaire delivered by mail. Participants provided information on demographic characteristics, self-constructed questions like self-perceived environmental working conditions (location, access, temperature, humidity and pollution). They also completed the Spanish versions of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the revised version of the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R). The GHQ-12 was used to assess psychological distress and the somatic physical symptoms were assessed with the 12-item somatic subscale extracted from the SCL-90-R. Three different linear regression models were constructed. Psychological distress was positively related to somatic symptoms in all the models even after adjusting for sex and age. This association also remained significant for self-perceived environmental working conditions in the two final models. 23% of the dentists had psychological distress. The mean score for the SCL-90-R somatic subscale was 0.55 points (Standard Deviation: 0.50). Self-perceived environmental working conditions were also associated with the strong relationship found between psychological distress and physical somatic symptoms among dentists.
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Huddleston, Penny; Gray, Jennifer
2016-09-01
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Healthy Work Environment Assessment Tool was developed as a simple screening tool to assess the characteristics of a healthy work environment (HWE) in critical care environments. The purposes of these 2 qualitative research studies are to explore the nurse leaders' and direct care nurses' perceptions of the meaning of a HWE, to describe the nurse leaders' and direct care nurses' perceptions of a HWE, and to define the characteristics of a HWE in acute care settings. Exploratory descriptive designs using focus groups and guided questions with tape-recorded interviews were used to define the characteristics of an HWE. The 6 original themes from AACN HWE standards and 2 new themes emerged as a result of the nurse leaders and direct care nurses defining the characteristics of a HWE, which included appropriate staffing, authentic leadership, effective decision making, meaningful recognition, skilled communication, true collaboration genuine teamwork, and physical and psychological safety. The qualitative statements from these 2 studies will be used in future studies to describe and develop HWE scales for nurse leaders and direct care nurses and to assess the psychometric properties of these new tools.
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Creating healthy work in small enterprises - from understanding to action
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Stephen, Legg; Ian S., laird; Olsen, Kirsten Bendix
2014-01-01
Although much is known about small and medium enterprises (SMEs), our current knowledge and understanding of occupational health and safety (OHS) and the work environment in SMEs is limited. Far less is known about how SMEs put our knowledge of OSH into action. In short, how do we create healthy...... work and healthy lives as well as ‘healthy business' in SMEs? The present paper, which also acts as an editorial for this special issue, addresses these questions by providing a summary of current knowledge - our understanding - about how to create healthy work and healthy lives for workers and owner......-managers in SMEs whilst concurrently also aiming to create a healthy business (in terms of profitability and sustainability). This paper and the special issue also emphasise the need to convert this knowledge into action - ‘from understanding to action'....
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Healthy building environments for ageing adults
Kort, Helianthe S.M.
2017-01-01
A healthy building environment, when looking from a gerontechnology perspective, should facilitate ageing adults' functioning, self-esteem, and prosperity. Creating healthy environments is becoming more and more relevant in society. Older adults tend to stay more indoors when compared to younger
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The nurse manager's role in creating a healthy work environment.
Whiley, K
2001-08-01
The role of nurse manager of an acute or critical care unit is one of the most difficult roles in healthcare today. This individual must juggle patient care issues, staff concerns, medical staff relationships, supply inadequacies, and organizational initiatives--and then balance all of this with a personal life. The only way in which any of this is remotely possible is if the patient care unit provides a supportive environment for patients, families, and staff. The nurse manager is a pivotal person in this effort: research repeatedly shows that people don't leave their jobs, they leave their managers. This article describes how the nurse manager of an acute neurosciences unit worked with her staff to define, create, and maintain a work environment in which patient care improved, people enjoyed working, and retention of staff increased.
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Nowrouzi, Behdin; Lightfoot, Nancy; Larivière, Michael; Carter, Lorraine; Rukholm, Ellen; Schinke, Robert; Belanger-Gardner, Diane
2015-07-01
This article reports on a literature review of workplace interventions (i.e., creating healthy work environments and improving nurses' quality of work life [QWL]) aimed at managing occupational stress and burnout for nurses. A literature search was conducted using the keywords nursing, nurses, stress, distress, stress management, burnout, and intervention. All the intervention studies included in this review reported on workplace intervention strategies, mainly individual stress management and burnout interventions. Recommendations are provided to improve nurses' QWL in health care organizations through workplace health promotion programs so that nurses can be recruited and retained in rural and northern regions of Ontario. These regions have unique human resources needs due to the shortage of nurses working in primary care. © 2015 The Author(s).
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Work environment investments: outcomes from three cases.
Rydell, Alexis; Andersson, Ing-Marie
2017-09-27
Work environment investments are important in order to create a healthy and safe workplace. This article presents findings from a seven-step interventions process aimed at examining and following-up work environment investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a particular focus on air contaminants. Three different cases were analyzed and included in the study: (a) an educational center for welding; (b) a paint station in furniture manufacturing; (c) a joinery in furniture manufacturing. The results show that the work environment investments were highly appreciated by the employees and managers, but at the same time the investment could be optimized through markedly decreased exposure levels for the worker. Factors such as follow-ups of the investment, education and training in how to use the equipment, worker involvement in the process and leadership engagement are important in order to optimize work environment investments.
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[Healthy school environments].
Quintero-Corzo, Josefina; Munévar-Molina, Raúl A; Munévar-Quintero, Fabio I
2015-04-01
Objective To determine factors that characterizes school environments and their relationship with student learning, welfare and health. Method This is a case study supported by a comprehensive qualitative paradigm applied to classroom ecology. The fieldwork was carried out in six public schools for students in economic strata one and two that use computers in virtual classrooms. The information was collected through field journals, film recordings, observation, and recordings of interviews. The information was analyzed by categories in open general and focused cycles. Results The virtual era has enriched the debate about the importance of the environment in pedagogical processes. Nonetheless, the emergence of new diseases is a risk which students are exposed to. Pollution and overcrowding factors prevail in traditional classroom activities, while in the computer rooms the environment is healthier. Hence the need to incorporate these issues into the curriculum reforms and action plans to guide healthy living of schoolchildren and their families. Despite budget constraints, innovative ideas and projects were found. Schools have developed free preventive and corrective strategies such as workshops, talks and lectures by invited specialists, trainees, and students writing theses. They have also introduced controlled Internet access. Conclusion The educational community understands that the concept of health is at the heart of a comprehensive concept of education. In addition, classroom ecology has determining implications for learning and living together in pleasant and healthy environments that are incorporated into institutional educational projects.
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... Health Menu Topics Environment & Health Healthy Living Pollution Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games ... Lessons Topics Expand Environment & Health Healthy Living Pollution Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games ...
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Healthy Work Revisited: Do Changes in Time Strain Predict Well-Being?
Moen, Phyllis; Kelly, Erin L.; Lam, Jack
2013-01-01
Building on Karasek and Theorell (R. Karasek & T. Theorell, 1990, Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life, New York, NY: Basic Books), we theorized and tested the relationship between time strain (work-time demands and control) and seven self-reported health outcomes. We drew on survey data from 550 employees fielded before and 6 months after the implementation of an organizational intervention, the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) in a white-collar orga...
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Screening the working environment in outdoor pig systems.
Geng, Q; Torén, A; Salomon, E
2009-07-01
This study investigated how well organic growing-fattening pig systems provided a safe and healthy working environment and identified areas where improvements are needed. The study formed part of a larger project aimed at identifying strategies for creating a good animal and working environment and resource-efficient nutrient management in outdoor pig systems. Field studies were carried out at six Swedish farms in two types of outdoor pig systems (mobile and stationary). A method known as WEST (Work Environment Screening Tool) and a modified version of WEST, called WEST-agriculture (WEST-AG), were utilized for screening. Together, the two methods covered six factors of the working environment. The results were expressed in WEST-AG points and WEST points, an economic measure of the risk of impacts on health and productivity expressed as Swedish Krona (SEK) per thousand working hours. The results demonstrated that the risk of injury and ergonomic load during manual feeding and watering was much higher than during semi-automatic feeding and watering at farms with the mobile system. The study also identified other health-risk areas and provided valuable information for further improvement of the working environment in different outdoor pig systems.
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Building partnerships for healthy environments: research, leadership and education.
Thompson, Susan; Kent, Jennifer; Lyons, Claudine
2014-12-01
As populations across the globe face an increasing health burden from rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases, health professionals are collaborating with urban planners to influence city design that supports healthy ways of living. This paper details the establishment and operation of an innovative, interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together urban planning and health. Situated in a built environment faculty at one of Australia's most prestigious universities, the Healthy Built Environments Program (HBEP) partners planning academics, a health non-government organisation, local councils and private planning consultants in a state government health department funded consortium. The HBEP focuses on three strategic areas: research, workforce development and education, and leadership and advocacy. Interdisciplinary research includes a comprehensive literature review that establishes Australian-based evidence to support the development, prioritisation and implementation of healthy built environment policies and practices. Another ongoing study examines the design features, social interventions and locational qualities that positively benefit human health. Formal courses, workshops, public lectures and e-learning develop professional capacity, as well as skills in interdisciplinary practice to support productive collaborations between health professionals and planners. The third area involves working with government and non-government agencies, and the private sector and the community, to advocate closer links between health and the built environment. Our paper presents an overview of the HBEP's major achievements. We conclude with a critical review of the challenges, revealing lessons in bringing health and planning closer together to create health-supportive cities for the 21st century.
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Food-and-beverage environment and procurement policies for healthier work environments.
Gardner, Christopher D; Whitsel, Laurie P; Thorndike, Anne N; Marrow, Mary W; Otten, Jennifer J; Foster, Gary D; Carson, Jo Ann S; Johnson, Rachel K
2014-06-01
The importance of creating healthier work environments by providing healthy foods and beverages in worksite cafeterias, in on-site vending machines, and at meetings and conferences is drawing increasing attention. Large employers, federal and state governments, and hospital systems are significant purchasers and providers of food and beverages. The American Heart Association, federal government, and other organizations have created procurement standards to guide healthy purchasing by these entities. There is a need to review how procurement standards are currently implemented, to identify important minimum criteria for evaluating health and purchasing outcomes, and to recognize significant barriers and challenges to implementation, along with success stories. The purpose of this policy paper is to describe the role of food-and-beverage environment and procurement policy standards in creating healthier worksite environments; to review recently created national model standards; to identify elements across the standards that are important to consider for incorporation into policies; and to delineate issues to address as standards are implemented across the country. © 2014 International Life Sciences Institute.
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Environment Work as Fundamental Right and Civil Liability of Employer
Adélia Procópio Camilo
2015-01-01
Just as every citizen has the right to a balanced environment, essential to their quality of life, every worker is entitled to the protection rules to a safe and healthy work environment. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that the working environment is part of the environmental protection system of the Constitution must be considered in its true perspective, as a fundamental right. Under this analysis, it should carry this protection, taking responsibility for one wh...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Biering, Karin; Lund, Thomas; Andersen, Johan Hviid
2015-01-01
-force becomes increasingly important. Previous studies among healthy workers suggest that the psychosocial working environment is associated with sickness absence. Whether the psychosocial working environment plays a role for patients with existing cardiovascular disease on return to work and sickness absence...
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Cornett, Patricia A; O'Rourke, Maria W
2009-01-01
The professional practice of registered nurses (RNs) and their professional role competence are key variables that have an impact on quality and patient safety. Organizations in which RNs practice must have the capacity to fully support the professional role of those RNs in exercising their legitimate power derived through nurse licensing laws and professional standards and ethics. The interplay of individual RN practice and organizational practice, and measurement thereof, are the essence of organizational capacity. Two models are discussed that tie together the attributes of healthy workplace environments and provide the structure to guide and sustain organizational capacity.
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Kalijodo transformation in establishment of healthy environment in Jakarta
Sutanto, Erik; Junadi, Purnawan
2018-03-01
A good city setting can create a healthy environment. One of the structuring of cities that can create a healthy environment is the development of public space like Green Open Space (RTH) and Child-Friendly Integrated Public Space (RPTRA) such as in Kalijodo, Jakarta, Indonesia. The objective of building a public space in Kalijodo is to restore the functioning of the green zone in the area that previously used for housing residents and prostitution businesses to increase public space in Jakarta. The purpose of this study is to describe the formation of a healthy environment and the impact felt by users of this public space. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with a phenomenological approach through interview, observation and documentation. There are three types of community activities in the public sphere, such as sports, children’s playground, and relaxation. The results show that the decline in crime rates and the presence of facilities and infrastructure in time to establish a healthy environment. The construction of facilities in the public spaces changes the image of Kalijodo from the previous place that has a negative image then turned into a positive image because the environment of Kalijodo became healthy. We also find that this changing image creates a positive spirit of the surrounding community and people are generally healthier and happier.
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School Nurses' Experiences and Perceptions of Healthy Eating School Environments.
Muckian, Jean; Snethen, Julia; Buseh, Aaron
School nurses provide health promotion and health services within schools, as healthy children have a greater potential for optimal learning. One of the school nurses' role is in encouraging healthy eating and increasing the availability of fruits and vegetables in the school. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe school nurses' perceptions of their role in promoting increased fruit and vegetable consumption in the school setting. One avenue to increased availability of fruits and vegetables in schools is Farm to School programs mandated by the Federal government to improve the health of school children. School nurses are optimally positioned to work with Farm to School programs to promote healthy eating. A secondary aim was to explore school nurses' knowledge, experiences and/or perceptions of the Farm to School program to promote fruit and vegetable consumption in the school setting. Three themes emerged from the focus groups: If There Were More of Me, I Could Do More; Food Environment in Schools; School Nurses Promote Health. School nurses reported that they addressed health issues more broadly in their roles as educator, collaborator, advocate and modeling healthy behaviors. Most of the participants knew of Farm to School programs, but only two school nurses worked in schools that participated in the program. Consequently, the participants reported having little or no experiences with the Farm to School programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Using the WEIS-SR to evaluate employee perceptions of their college work environment.
Dorsey, Julie; Kaye, Miranda; Barratt, Jennifer; Biondi, Jennifer; Habrial, Amanda; Lane, Amanda; Marinelli, Victoria; Paulino, Tiffany; Singletary, Amanda
2016-04-06
Colleges have been experiencing reduced resource allocations, shifting student expectations, and organizational change. These changes increase employee stress at all levels. Ensuring that employee needs are being met and promoting a healthy and productive workforce has never been more important. To investigate employees' current perceptions of their work environments using the Work Environment Impact Scale-Self Rating (WEIS-SR). Full and part time employees on a small college campus in the United States were surveyed using the WEIS-SR through an online survey program to protect their anonymity. Perception of staffing levels, workplace support for a healthy lifestyle, number of supervisors, and personal health ratings contributed to employee perceptions of their work environment. There were also differences between staff, administration, and tenured and non-tenured faculty. From an occupational performance perspective, valuable information on employees' levels of volition, performance capacity and habituation, and perceptions of their physical and social environment in relation to their work environments was obtained. Further support for the use of the WEIS-SR and psychometric properties of the instrument (reliability and validity) was obtained.
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Willems Van Dijk, Julie A; Catlin, Bridget; Cofsky, Abbey; Carroll, Carrie
2015-11-01
Communities across the United States are increasingly tackling the complex task of changing their local environments and cultures to improve access to and consumption of healthy food. Communities that have received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize have deployed numerous evidence-informed strategies to enhance their local food environments. Their experiences can provide lessons for other communities working to improve health. In this article we examine how the prize-winning communities worked in a multidisciplinary collective manner to implement evidence-based strategies, deployed suites of strategies to expand the reach of food-related work, balanced evidence against innovation, and measured their own progress. Most of the communities also faced challenges in using evidence effectively to implement strategies to promote healthy food environments. Policy makers can accelerate the adoption of evidence-informed approaches related to food and health by embedding them in program standards and funding requirements. Establishing opportunities for ongoing training to enhance community practitioners' evaluation skills and collaborative leadership would also improve the effectiveness of community implementation of these strategies. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
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Genaidy, Ash M; Rinder, Magda M; A-Rehim, Amal D
2008-08-01
The manufacturing sector in the US is challenged by high health care costs and shortage of qualified workers, which are largely attributed to the degree of fit between the worker and work environment. In this regard, a healthy worker-work environment interface is a necessary and sufficient condition for the containment of health care costs and the retaining/attraction of highly qualified knowledge workers and should be based on the principles of optimum physical, cognitive and emotional health for the workers. In prior research, the Work Compatibility Improvement Framework (WCIF) was introduced as a vehicle to address these issues and was defined as the identification, improvement and maintenance of the well-being characteristics of the workforce and its interaction with the work environment through the application of engineering, medicine, management and human sciences methodologies, technologies and best practices. This paper advances WCIF by examining its applications in manufacturing with regard to the evaluation of working conditions impacting musculoskeletal/stress outcome measures. A study was conducted in a machining department of a bag packaging manufacturer in the Midwest of the United States. The work tasks were planned and executed with regard to the following aims: (1) to compute work compatibility as a function of work demands and energisers; (2) to establish whether the prevalence of musculoskeletal/stress disorders increases with a decrease in the quality of worker-work environment interface in terms of work compatibility level and other work factors such as shift and job category. A major finding is that a 'poor' work environment (a function of all work domains) results in musculoskeletal/stress disorders that are 105% and 67% higher than those for a 'good' work environment. The evening shift exhibited the poorest compatibility followed by the night shift relative to the day shift. Application of the work compatibility approach demonstrated the
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High-dependency care: experiences of the psychosocial work environment.
Rahman, Hanif Abdul; Naing, Lin; Abdul-Mumin, Khadizah
2017-11-23
to explore high-dependency care nurses' experiences of their psychosocial work environment. four focus groups were conducted with 23 emergency and critical care hospital nurses in Brunei. All sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive-approach thematic analysis. three major themes were identified. 'Specialisation/specific skills' explained a fundamental requirement for the high-dependency care nurses to work effectively and efficiently in their workplace. 'Task completion' narrated the pressure they experienced to complete their tasks within time constraints exacerbated by a reduced number of staff. 'Acknowledgement' signified their need for fair and adequate reward for their hard work through career progression and promotion. this study facilitates the design of future interventions and policies that promote a healthy psychosocial work environment by ensuring nurses working in these areas have the required specialisation skills, there is a balance of workload and nurse-to-patient ratios, and they are offered fairness and equity in career progression and promotion.
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Does employee participation in workplace health promotion depend on the working environment?
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jørgensen, Marie Birk; Villadsen, Ebbe; Burr, Hermann
2016-01-01
OBJECTIVES: To investigate if participation in workplace health promotion (WHP) depends on the work environment. METHODS: Questionnaire data on participation in WHP activities (smoking cessation, healthy diet, exercise facilities, weekly exercise classes, contact with health professionals, health...
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Promotion of a healthy work life at small enterprises in Thailand by participatory methods.
Krungkraiwong, Sudthida; Itani, Toru; Amornratanapaichit, Ratanaporn
2006-01-01
The major problems of small enterprises include unfavourable working conditions and environment that affect safety and health of workers. The WISE (Work Improvement in Small Enterprises) methodology developed by the ILO has been widely applied to improve occupational safety and health in small enterprises in Thailand. The participatory methods building on local good practices and focusing on practicable improvements have proven effective in controlling the occupational hazards in these enterprises at their sources. As a result of applying the methods in small-scale industries, the frequency of occupational accidents was reduced and the working environment actually improved in the cases studied. The results prove that the participatory approach taken by the WISE activities is a useful and effective tool to make owner/managers and workers in small enterprises voluntarily improve their own working conditions and environment. In promoting a healthy work life at small enterprises in Thailand, it is important to further develop and spread the approach.
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Nursing leadership and management effects work environments.
Tomey, Ann Marriner
2009-01-01
The aim of this literature search was to identify recent research related to nursing leadership and management effects on work environment using the 14 forces of magnetism. This article gives some historical perspective from the original 1983 American Academy of Nursing study through to the 2002 McClure and Hinshaw update to 2009 publications. Research publications were given a priority for references. The 14 forces of magnetism as identified by Unden and Monarch were: '1. Quality of leadership..., 2. Organizational structure..., 3. Management style..., 4. Personnel policies and programs..., 5. Professional models of care..., 6. Quality of care..., 7 Quality improvement..., 8. Consultation and resources..., 9. Autonomy..., 10. Community and the hospital..., 11. Nurse as teacher..., 12. Image of nursing..., 13. Interdisciplinary relationships... and 14. Professional development....'. Correlations have been found among positive workplace management initiatives, style of transformational leadership and participative management; patient-to-nurse ratios; education levels of nurses; quality of patient care, patient satisfaction, employee health and well-being programmes; nurse satisfaction and retention of nurses; healthy workplace environments and healthy patients and personnel. This article identifies some of the research that provides evidence for evidence-based nursing management and leadership practice.
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Prioritizing sleep for healthy work schedules
Takahashi Masaya
2012-01-01
Abstract Good sleep is advantageous to the quality of life. Sleep-related benefits are particularly helpful for the working class, since poor or inadequate amounts of sleep degrade work productivity and overall health. This review paper explores the essential role of sleep in healthy work schedules and primarily focuses on the timing of sleep in relation to the work period (that is, before, during and after work). Data from laboratory, field and modeling studies indicate that consistent amoun...
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Kim, Soowon; Adamson, Katie Clarke; Balfanz, Deborah R; Brownson, Ross C; Wiecha, Jean L; Shepard, Dennis; Alles, Wesley F
2010-01-01
This paper presents a new, comprehensive tool for communities to assess opportunities for active living and healthy eating and to mobilize all sectors of society to conquer obesity and chronic disease. Relevant existing tools and input from an expert panel were considered to draft the Community Healthy Living Index (CHLI). CHLI covers five major sectors where people live, work, learn, and play: schools, afterschools, work sites, neighborhoods, and the community-at-large. CHLI and the accompanying procedures enable community teams to assess programs, the physical environment, and policies related to healthy living and to plan improvement strategies. In 2008, with local YMCAs acting as conveners, community assessment teams from six US communities pilot-tested CHLI for cognitive response testing, inter-rater reliability, and implementation feasibility. CHLI was revised to reflect the test results. Pilot analyses demonstrated that the process was feasible, with most questions being interpreted as intended and showing substantial to almost perfect agreement between raters. The final CHLI is being disseminated nationally. Preliminary data illustrate CHLI obtains reliable results and is feasible to implement. CHLI is a promising tool for community-based prevention efforts to draw attention to opportunities for healthy living and create impetus for community changes.
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Workplace social and organizational environments and healthy-weight behaviors.
Tabak, Rachel G; Hipp, J Aaron; Marx, Christine M; Brownson, Ross C
2015-01-01
The workplace is an important setting for health promotion including nutrition and physical activity behaviors to prevent obesity. This paper explores the relationship between workplace social environment and cultural factors and diet and physical activity (PA) behaviors and obesity among employees. Between 2012 and 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with participants residing in four Missouri metropolitan areas. Questions included demographic characteristics, workplace socio/organizational factors related to activity and diet, and individual diet and PA behaviors, and obesity. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine associations between the workplace socio/organizational environment and nutrition, PA, and obesity. There were differences in reported health behaviors and socio/organizational environment by gender, race, age, income, and worksite size. For example, agreement with the statement the 'company values my health' was highest among Whites, older employees, and higher income workers. As worksite size increased, the frequency of reporting seeing co-workers doing several types of healthy behaviors (eat fruits and vegetables, doing PA, and doing PA on breaks at work) increased. In adjusted analyses, employees agreeing the company values my health were more likely to engage in higher PA levels (aOR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.09-2.16) and less likely to be obese (aOR=0.73, 95% CI: 0.54-0.98). Seeing co-workers eating fruits and vegetables was associated with increased reporting of eating at least one vegetable per day (aOR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.06-1.91) and seeing co-workers being active was associated with higher PA levels (aOR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.19-2.05). This research suggests that social/organizational characteristics of the workplace environment, particularly feeling the company values the workers' health and to seeing co-workers engaging in healthy behaviors, may be related to nutrition and PA behaviors and obesity. These findings point to the potential for
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Workplace social and organizational environments and healthy-weight behaviors.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rachel G Tabak
Full Text Available The workplace is an important setting for health promotion including nutrition and physical activity behaviors to prevent obesity. This paper explores the relationship between workplace social environment and cultural factors and diet and physical activity (PA behaviors and obesity among employees.Between 2012 and 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with participants residing in four Missouri metropolitan areas. Questions included demographic characteristics, workplace socio/organizational factors related to activity and diet, and individual diet and PA behaviors, and obesity. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine associations between the workplace socio/organizational environment and nutrition, PA, and obesity.There were differences in reported health behaviors and socio/organizational environment by gender, race, age, income, and worksite size. For example, agreement with the statement the 'company values my health' was highest among Whites, older employees, and higher income workers. As worksite size increased, the frequency of reporting seeing co-workers doing several types of healthy behaviors (eat fruits and vegetables, doing PA, and doing PA on breaks at work increased. In adjusted analyses, employees agreeing the company values my health were more likely to engage in higher PA levels (aOR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.09-2.16 and less likely to be obese (aOR=0.73, 95% CI: 0.54-0.98. Seeing co-workers eating fruits and vegetables was associated with increased reporting of eating at least one vegetable per day (aOR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.06-1.91 and seeing co-workers being active was associated with higher PA levels (aOR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.19-2.05.This research suggests that social/organizational characteristics of the workplace environment, particularly feeling the company values the workers' health and to seeing co-workers engaging in healthy behaviors, may be related to nutrition and PA behaviors and obesity. These findings point to the
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Knudsen, Herman; Busck, Ole Gunni; Lind, Jens
2011-01-01
The article explores how employee participation influences the quality of the work environment and workers’ well-being at 11 Danish workplaces from within six different industries. Both direct participation and representative forms of participation at the workplace level were studied. Statistical...... as well as qualitative comparative analyses reveal that work environment quality and high levels of participation go hand in hand. Within a typology of participation models the highest level of participation, including strong elements of collective participation, and also the best work environment...
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Working Environment and Technological Development
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Clausen, Christian; Nielsen, Klaus T.; Jensen, Per Langaa
1997-01-01
and their and their concept of working environment2) Technology renewal, which considers the role of the working environment in connection with the development and use of concrete technologies3) Working environment planning, which considers the existing efforts to place the working environment in a planning process.......The paper describes the purpose, themes, overarching research questions and specific projects of the programme: Working Environment and Technological Development. The major research themes are:1) Management concepts and the working environment, which considers the visions...
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Doran, Diane; Clarke, Sean; Hayes, Laureen; Nincic, Vera
2014-09-01
Much has been written about interventions to improve the nursing work environment, yet little is known about their effectiveness. A Delphi survey of nurse experts was conducted to explore perceptions about workplace interventions in terms of feasibility and likelihood of positive impact on nurse outcomes such as job satisfaction and nurse retention. The interventions that received the highest ratings for likelihood of positive impact included: bedside handover to improve communication at shift report and promote patient-centred care; training program for nurses in dealing with violent or aggressive behaviour; development of charge nurse leadership team; training program focused on creating peer-supportive atmospheres and group cohesion; and schedule that recognizes work balance and family demands. The overall findings are consistent with the literature that highlights the importance of communication and teamwork, nurse health and safety, staffing and scheduling practices, professional development and leadership and mentorship. Nursing researchers and decision-makers should work in collaboration to implement and evaluate interventions for promoting practice environments characterized by effective communication and teamwork, professional growth and adequate support for the health and well-being of nurses.
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Environment Work as Fundamental Right and Civil Liability of Employer
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Adélia Procópio Camilo
2015-12-01
Full Text Available Just as every citizen has the right to a balanced environment, essential to their quality of life, every worker is entitled to the protection rules to a safe and healthy work environment. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that the working environment is part of the environmental protection system of the Constitution must be considered in its true perspective, as a fundamental right. Under this analysis, it should carry this protection, taking responsibility for one who infringe. Thus, the risks of the project belong to the employer, and if it violates the middle of the work environment and exposes the risk your employee, should be held responsible, since the danger was created by the activity - even if it is not, at first, considered harmful. For the development of the issue will be used observational- monographic method, from which works to query multiple reputable authors. There will be a comparison between the various schools of thought as well as the jurisprudential understanding of.
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Pearson, Alan; Srivastava, Rani; Craig, Dianna; Tucker, Donna; Grinspun, Doris; Bajnok, Irmajean; Griffin, Pat; Long, Leslye; Porritt, Kylie; Han, Thuzar; Gi, Aye A
2007-03-01
Objectives The objective of this review was to evaluate evidence on the structures and processes that support development of effective culturally competent practices and a healthy work environment. Culturally competent practices are a congruent set of workforce behaviours, management practices and institutional policies within a practice setting resulting in an organisational environment that is inclusive of cultural and other forms of diversity. Inclusion criteria This review included quantitative and qualitative evidence, with a particular emphasis on identifying systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials. For quantitative evidence, other controlled, and descriptive designs were also included. For qualitative evidence, all methodologies were considered. Participants were staff, patients, and systems or policies that were involved or affected by concepts of cultural competence in the nursing workforce in a healthcare environment. Types of interventions included any strategy that had a cultural competence component, which influenced the work environment, and/or patient and nursing staff in the environment. The types of outcomes of interest to this review included nursing staff outcomes, patient outcomes, organisational outcomes and systems level outcomes. Search strategy The search sought both published and unpublished literature written in the English language. A comprehensive three-step search strategy was used, first to identify appropriate key words, second to combine all optimal key words into a comprehensive search strategy for each database and finally to review the reference lists of all included reviews and research reports. The databases searched were CINAHL, Medline, Current Contents, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, The Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Embase, Sociological Abstracts, Econ lit, ABI/Inform, ERIC and PubMed. The search for unpublished literature used Dissertation Abstracts International. Methodological
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Parents and Students and Healthy Indoor School Environments
School-aged children spend a great deal of time inside school buildings. Parents can play an important role in creating healthy indoor school environments. Parents and students alike can make a powerful case for protecting health in schools.
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Healthy workplaces: the effects of nature contact at work on employee stress and health.
Largo-Wight, Erin; Chen, W William; Dodd, Virginia; Weiler, Robert
2011-01-01
Cultivating healthy workplaces is a critical aspect of comprehensive worksite health promotion. The influence of healthy workplace exposures on employee health outcomes warrants research attention. To date, it is unknown if nature contact in the workplace is related to employee stress and health. This study was designed to examine the effects of nature contact experienced at work on employee stress and health. Office staff at a southeastern university (n = 503, 30% response rate) participated in the cross-sectional study. We used a 16-item workplace environment questionnaire, the Nature Contact Questionnaire, to comprehensively measure, for the first time, nature contact at work. The Perceived Stress Questionnaire and 13 established health and behavioral items assessed the dependent variables, general perceived stress, stress-related health behaviors, and stress-related health outcomes. There was a significant, negative association between nature contact and stress and nature contact and general health complaints. The results indicate that as workday nature contact increased, perceived stress and generalized health complaints decreased. The findings suggest that nature contact is a healthy workplace exposure. Increasing nature contact at work may offer a simple population-based approach to enhance workplace health promotion efforts. Future researchers should test the efficacy of nature-contact workplace stress interventions.
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Delta Healthy Sprouts: Participants' Diet and Food Environment at Baseline
Local food environments influence the nutrition and health of area residents. This baseline analysis focuses on the food environments of women who participated in the Delta Healthy Sprouts project, a randomized, controlled, comparative trial designed to test the efficacy of two Maternal, Infant, an...
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Healthy Kids; Healthy World - Take Your Child to Work Day 2016
On April 28th CGH joined several NCI offices at the Shady Grove campus to celebrate Take Your Child to Work Day 2016. Volunteers hosted three activity stations, each offering creative fun with a message: With healthy kids, we can create a healthier world.
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[Training session on healthy environments: evaluation of an intervention for local stakeholders].
Roy, Virginie; Rivard, Marie-Claude; Trudeau, François
2016-01-01
Around the world, various interventions have been developed to encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyles, particularly nutrition and physical activity. Physical, political, economic and socio-cultural environments have a major influence on individual attitudes in relation to healthy lifestyle. However, stakeholders with the greatest impact on improving these environments are not always well informed about the theory and their roles on the creation of environments favourable to healthy lifestyles. Various stakeholders from the province of Quebec were therefore invited to attend training sessions in order to prepare them to act on these four environments. 1) To describe the perceptions of the stakeholders who attended these sessions concerning the content and teaching methods and 2) to identify stakeholders’ changes of perceptions and practices following the training session. Twelve (12) focus groups and 52 individual interviews were conducted across Quebec with stakeholders who attended a training session. Our results indicate increased awareness of stakeholders on the importance of their role but also the need to more precisely target those aspects requiring increased awareness. A content better suited to the level of expertise is therefore proposed to maximize the benefits of these training sessions. Training sessions must be addressed to influential stakeholders with a limited knowledge on the subject, which is often the case for municipal decision-makers known to play a major role in promoting environments favourable to healthy eating and physical activity.
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Promoting healthy eating at work: a guide for employers
Public Health Agency
2010-01-01
This booklet is part of the Work Well aimed at promoting health in the workplace. It outlines to employers the benefits of promoting healthy eating at work, what action can be taken, the range of healthier food options that can be provided in a canteen or by using external caterers, ways of promoting healthy eating among employees that do not have to be expensive or time consuming, and key steps for action.
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Ubiquitous Working: Do Work Versus Non-work Environments Affect Decision-Making and Concentration?
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Carolin P. Burmeister
2018-03-01
Full Text Available New communication technologies and mobile devices have enabled knowledge workers to work independently of location and in more than one fixed environment (ubiquitous working. Previous research shows that physical environments can influence cognition and work performance. We manipulated environment (i.e., a virtual office as a typical work environment compared to a virtual garden as a non-work environment and time pressure (i.e., inducing time pressure vs. no time pressure in order to investigate whether the environment influences decision-making and concentration. N = 109 students participated in this laboratory experiment. We posited (a that a work environment would activate a work-related schema which in turn would enhance concentration performance and make decisions more risky compared to non-work environments and (b that the environmental effect is more pronounced if time pressure is present compared to conditions where no time pressure is present. We found modest hypothesis-confirming main effects of environment on decision-making and concentration but no interaction effect with time pressure. As we used an innovative methodology that entails several limitations, future research is needed to give insights into the process and to investigate whether results hold true for all types of work settings, work demands, or work activities.
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Ubiquitous Working: Do Work Versus Non-work Environments Affect Decision-Making and Concentration?
Burmeister, Carolin P; Moskaliuk, Johannes; Cress, Ulrike
2018-01-01
New communication technologies and mobile devices have enabled knowledge workers to work independently of location and in more than one fixed environment (ubiquitous working). Previous research shows that physical environments can influence cognition and work performance. We manipulated environment (i.e., a virtual office as a typical work environment compared to a virtual garden as a non-work environment ) and time pressure (i.e., inducing time pressure vs. no time pressure ) in order to investigate whether the environment influences decision-making and concentration. N = 109 students participated in this laboratory experiment. We posited (a) that a work environment would activate a work-related schema which in turn would enhance concentration performance and make decisions more risky compared to non-work environments and (b) that the environmental effect is more pronounced if time pressure is present compared to conditions where no time pressure is present. We found modest hypothesis-confirming main effects of environment on decision-making and concentration but no interaction effect with time pressure. As we used an innovative methodology that entails several limitations, future research is needed to give insights into the process and to investigate whether results hold true for all types of work settings, work demands, or work activities.
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The healthy worker effect in asthma: work may cause asthma, but asthma may also influence work.
Le Moual, Nicole; Kauffmann, Francine; Eisen, Ellen A; Kennedy, Susan M
2008-01-01
Despite the increasing attention to the relationship between asthma and work exposures, occupational asthma remains underrecognized and its population burden underestimated. This may be due, in part, to the fact that traditional approaches to studying asthma in populations cannot adequately take into account the healthy worker effect (HWE). The HWE is the potential bias caused by the phenomenon that sicker individuals may choose work environments in which exposures are low; they may be excluded from being hired; or once hired, they may seek transfer to less exposed jobs or leave work. This article demonstrates that population- and workplace-based asthma studies are particularly subject to HWE bias, which leads to underestimates of relative risks. Our objective is to describe the HWE as it relates to asthma research, and to discuss the significance of taking HWE bias into account in designing and interpreting asthma studies. We also discuss the importance of understanding HWE bias for public health practitioners and for clinicians. Finally, we emphasize the timeliness of this review in light of the many longitudinal "child to young adult" asthma cohort studies currently underway. These prospective studies will soon provide an ideal opportunity to examine the impact of early workplace environments on asthma in young adults. We urge occupational and childhood asthma epidemiologists collaborate to ensure that this opportunity is not lost.
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The farrier's work environment.
Löfqvist, Lotta; Pinzke, Stefan
2012-01-01
The horse industry in Sweden has rapidly expanded in recent years. This increasing number of horses implies a greater need for more farriers. Shoeing a horse is hard physical work, and includes awkward work postures and repetitive movements. It is well known that hard physical work increases the risk of injuries and musculoskeletal problems. The risk is especially high for musculoskeletal disorders when certain movements are constantly repeated. Heavy or repeated unilateral loads lead to considerable stress on the muscles, which can lead to rupture and fatigue that can cause long term problems. A case study showed that farriers worked 75% of their work time with their backs in bent positions (often more than 70 degrees). Farriers are also exposed to risk factors in their physical environment like dust, noise and poor lighting. Risk of kicks and bites, eye injuries and burns are other factors that make their work environment hazardous. There are only a few studies available that have documented the farriers' working environment and these are not of recent date. A US study from 1984 described kicks and bites from horses, metal splinters in the eyes, heat exhaustion and problematic postures to be perceived as the greatest risks in their work. The back, knees and wrists were the most exposed body regions. There is a need for more current and in-depth studies investigating the farriers' working conditions in order to gain more knowledge of their health and work environment. The aim of the present study is to investigate the physical health and work environment of farriers. The investigation will use questionnaires, work load measurements and workplace analysis. The results will serve as a base for improvements concerning the design of the workplace, equipment, tools and aids as well as supplying recommendations about physical exercise and the correct work technique, etc. The results are planned to be incorporated in the education of farriers.
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Work, eat and sleep : towards a healthy ageing at work program offshore
Riethmeister, Vanessa; Brouwer, Sandra; van der Klink, Jac; Bültmann, Ute
2016-01-01
BACKGROUND: Health management tools need to be developed to foster healthy ageing at work and sustain employability of ageing work-forces. The objectives of this study were to 1) perform a needs assessment to identify the needs of offshore workers in the Dutch Continental Shelf with regard to
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Work environment and school dropout
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Claus D.; Andersen, Johan Hviid; Lund, Thomas
Aim The aim of this presentation is to examine the possible impact of work environment (and especially psychosocial work environment) on school dropout. The questions raised are: to what extent do psychosocial work environment and especially the social relations between young apprentices...... and their colleagues and managers play a role in dropping out of upper secondary education? Methods A cohort of 3058 adolescents born in 1989 and a cohort of approximately 2000 young adults born in 1983 are used to examine the associations between work environment and subsequent dropout in upper secondary educational...... indicated that ‘being treated badly by superior’ was part of the reason for doing so. Further analyses show that reporting repetitive and monotonous work tasks increases the risk of dropping out (OR: 1.74) and that reporting bad working climate at ones work place increases the risk of considering...
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Environment and healthy eating: perceptions and practices of undergraduate students
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maria Assunta Busato
2015-12-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Healthy eating has to be in accordance with food needs taking into account culture, race, gender, ethnicity, financial condition and aspects of quality, variety, balance and moderation.Objective: To know the perceptions about the environment and healthy food of undergraduate students as well as assessing their eating habits.Method: This is a prospective observational study conducted at a university in Santa Catarina involving undergraduate students from courses in Health Sciences. Of the 1816 students enrolled in 2014/1, 10% were randomly selected, of both genders, including students of all courses.Results: 175 students participated in the research, 81.14% (n = 142 were female. Their age ranged from 18 to 30 years old. More than half of students 58% (n = 101, have no income, however they receive financial help from their parents, and 61% (n = 106 of the students have their meals at home, and 58% (n = 101 prepare their own meal. 47% (n = 83 take on average 15-30 minutes to eat and 51% (n = 90 classified the environment where they have meals as peaceful, among family/friends. 89% (n = 156 consider lunchtime as the main meal consuming rice, beans, meat and salad. For dinner 62% (n = 108 prefer snacks and lighter meals and 5% (n = 10 do not dine. Conclusion: The understanding of the environment and healthy eating showed that students grant special importance for being in a clean and pleasant environment, which was highlighted as fundamental to a good nutrition.
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How to Create Healthy Indoor Environments in Schools
Rhodes, Diane; Di Nella, Frank
2012-01-01
A green and healthy indoor environment should be a fundamental concern in the place where kids learn and grow. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) has been shown to have positive effects on student and staff productivity, performance, comfort and attendance. Conversely, poor IAQ in classrooms--caused by mold and moisture issues, problems with HVAC…
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Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts
Every person has a stake in environmental public health. As the environment deteriorates, so does the physical and mental health of the people within it. Healthy places are those designed and built to improve the quality of life for all people who live, work, worship, learn, and play within their borders -- where every person is free to make choices amid a variety of healthy, available, accessible, and affordable options. The CDC recognizes significant health issues and places that are vital in developing the Healthy Places program and provides examples in this report.
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Lindmark, Camilla
1999-01-01
Three small organisations in Sweden were studied in order to describe found motives for and against work with quality, environment and working environment among people in a small organisation. Some motives for work within the three areas mainly expressed beliefs about increased production results and increased psychological well-being of people. The work was also thought to have a positive impact on the organisation in terms of coping with changes in the surrounding. Arguments why small organ...
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Working environment committees
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Scheller, Vibeke Kristine; Hansen, Agnete Meldgaard; Nielsen, Klaus T.
In Denmark, a new Working Environment Act was passed in 2010. The assumptions behind the act are that increased flexibility in the organization of OHS work will: 1) enable a more systematic approach, 2) elevate OHS issues to a strategic level within the company, and 3) integrate these concerns...
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Prioritizing sleep for healthy work schedules
2012-01-01
Good sleep is advantageous to the quality of life. Sleep-related benefits are particularly helpful for the working class, since poor or inadequate amounts of sleep degrade work productivity and overall health. This review paper explores the essential role of sleep in healthy work schedules and primarily focuses on the timing of sleep in relation to the work period (that is, before, during and after work). Data from laboratory, field and modeling studies indicate that consistent amounts of sleep prior to work are fundamental to improved performance and alertness in the workplace. In addition, planned naps taken during work maintain appropriate levels of waking function for both daytime and night-time work. Clearly, sufficient sleep after work is vital in promoting recovery from fatigue. Recent data also suggest that the time interval between shifts should be adjusted according to the biological timing of sleep. Although sleep is more likely to be replaced by job and other activities in the real life, research shows that it is worthwhile to revise the work schedules in order to optimize sleep before, sometime during and after the work period. Therefore, we suggest establishing work-sleep balance, similar to work-life balance, as a principle for designing and improving work schedules. PMID:22738292
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Prioritizing sleep for healthy work schedules
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Takahashi Masaya
2012-03-01
Full Text Available Abstract Good sleep is advantageous to the quality of life. Sleep-related benefits are particularly helpful for the working class, since poor or inadequate amounts of sleep degrade work productivity and overall health. This review paper explores the essential role of sleep in healthy work schedules and primarily focuses on the timing of sleep in relation to the work period (that is, before, during and after work. Data from laboratory, field and modeling studies indicate that consistent amounts of sleep prior to work are fundamental to improved performance and alertness in the workplace. In addition, planned naps taken during work maintain appropriate levels of waking function for both daytime and night-time work. Clearly, sufficient sleep after work is vital in promoting recovery from fatigue. Recent data also suggest that the time interval between shifts should be adjusted according to the biological timing of sleep. Although sleep is more likely to be replaced by job and other activities in the real life, research shows that it is worthwhile to revise the work schedules in order to optimize sleep before, sometime during and after the work period. Therefore, we suggest establishing work-sleep balance, similar to work-life balance, as a principle for designing and improving work schedules.
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Prioritizing sleep for healthy work schedules.
Takahashi, Masaya
2012-03-13
Good sleep is advantageous to the quality of life. Sleep-related benefits are particularly helpful for the working class, since poor or inadequate amounts of sleep degrade work productivity and overall health. This review paper explores the essential role of sleep in healthy work schedules and primarily focuses on the timing of sleep in relation to the work period (that is, before, during and after work). Data from laboratory, field and modeling studies indicate that consistent amounts of sleep prior to work are fundamental to improved performance and alertness in the workplace. In addition, planned naps taken during work maintain appropriate levels of waking function for both daytime and night-time work. Clearly, sufficient sleep after work is vital in promoting recovery from fatigue. Recent data also suggest that the time interval between shifts should be adjusted according to the biological timing of sleep. Although sleep is more likely to be replaced by job and other activities in the real life, research shows that it is worthwhile to revise the work schedules in order to optimize sleep before, sometime during and after the work period. Therefore, we suggest establishing work-sleep balance, similar to work-life balance, as a principle for designing and improving work schedules.
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Work environments for employee creativity.
Dul, Jan; Ceylan, Canan
2011-01-01
Innovative organisations need creative employees who generate new ideas for product or process innovation. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the effect of personal, social-organisational and physical factors on employee creativity. Based on this framework, an instrument to analyse the extent to which the work environment enhances creativity is developed. This instrument was applied to a sample of 409 employees and support was found for the hypothesis that a creative work environment enhances creative performance. This paper illustrates how the instrument can be used in companies to select and implement improvements. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The ergonomics discipline addresses the work environment mainly for improving health and safety and sometimes productivity and quality. This paper opens a new area for ergonomics: designing work environments for enhancing employee creativity in order to strengthen an organisation's capability for product and process innovation and, consequently, its competitiveness.
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Healthy Housing Opportunities During Weatherization Work
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Wilson, J.; Tohn, E.
2011-03-01
In the summer and early fall of 2010, the National Center for Healthy Housing interviewed people from a selection of state and local agencies that perform weatherizations on low-income housing in order to gauge their approach to improving the health and safety of the homes. The interviews provided a strong cross section of what work agencies can do, and how they go about funding this work when funds from the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) do not cover the full extent of the repairs. The report also makes recommendations for WAP in how to assist agencies to streamline and maximize the health and safety repairs they are able to make in the course of a standard weatherization.
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Nursing leadership style and psychosocial work environment.
Malloy, Terry; Penprase, Barbara
2010-09-01
This study examines the relationship between leadership style and the psychosocial work environment of registered nurses. Research consistently supports the positive relationship between transformational leadership style and job satisfaction. There is less evidence, which identifies the relationship between leadership style and psychosocial work environment. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5× was used to identify the leadership style. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire was used to measure psychosocial work environment dimensions. Statistical analysis included Pearson's r correlation between leadership style and psychosocial work environment and anova to analyse group means. There is a significant correlation between leadership style and 22 out of the 37 dimensions of the psychosocial work environment. This correlation was significant ranging from r = 0.88, P leadership scores of the immediate supervisor report significant differences in their psychosocial work environment. This study supports the significant correlation between leadership style and psychosocial work environment for registered nurses. The results of this study suggest that there would be an improvement in the nursing psychosocial work environment by implementation of transformational and contingent reward leadership behaviours. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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Health effects of a subway environment in healthy volunteers.
Klepczyńska Nyström, A; Svartengren, M; Grunewald, J; Pousette, C; Rödin, I; Lundin, A; Sköld, C M; Eklund, A; Larsson, B-M
2010-08-01
Environmental particle exposure, often estimated as the particulate mass of particles with a diameter subway environment. 20 healthy volunteers were exposed to a subway and a control environment for 2 h, followed by measurements of lung function and the inflammatory response in the lower airways (bronchoscopy) and in the peripheral blood. No cellular response was found in the airways after exposure to the subway environment. In the blood, we found a statistically significant increase in fibrinogen and regulatory T-cells expressing CD4/CD25/FOXP3. Subway and road tunnel environments have similar levels of PM(10) and PM(2.5), whilst the concentrations of ultrafine particles, nitrogen monoxide and dioxide are lower in the subway. Although no cellular response was detected, the findings indicate a biological response to the subway environment. Our studies show that using gravimetric estimates of ambient particulate air pollution alone may have clear limitations in health-risk assessment.
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Enhancing a sustainable healthy working life: design of a clustered randomized controlled trial
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Koolhaas Wendy
2010-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background To improve a sustainable healthy working life, we have developed the intervention 'Staying healthy at work', which endeavours to enhance work participation of employees aged 45 years and older by increasing their problem-solving capacity and stimulating their awareness of their role and responsibility towards a healthy working life. This research study aims to evaluate the process and the effectiveness of the intervention compared with care as usual. Methods/design The study is a cluster-randomized controlled trial design (randomized at the supervisor level, with a 1-year follow-up. Workers aged 45 years and older have been enrolled in the study. Workers in the intervention group are receiving the intervention 'Staying healthy at work'. The main focus of the intervention is to promote a healthy working life of ageing workers by: (1 changing workers awareness and behaviour, by emphasizing their own decisive role in attaining goals; (2 improving the supervisors' ability to support workers in taking the necessary action, by means of enhancing knowledge and competence; and (3 enhancing the use of the human resource professionals and the occupational health tools available within the organization. The supervisors in the intervention group have been trained how to present themselves as a source of support for the worker. Workers in the control group are receiving care as usual; supervisors in the control group have not participated in the training. Measurements have been taken at baseline and will be followed up at 3, 6 and 12 months. The primary outcome measures are vitality, work ability and productivity. The secondary outcomes measures include fatigue, job strain, work attitude, self-efficacy and work engagement. A process evaluation will be conducted at both the supervisor and the worker levels, and satisfaction with the content of the intervention will be assessed. Discussion The intervention 'Staying healthy at work' has the
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Jan Gerard Hoendervanger
2015-01-01
Activity-Based Working (ABW) is supported by work environments that combine hot-desking with a variety of workplaces, designed to support different types of activities. While the advantages of these work environments in terms of efficiency are undisputed, their effectiveness with respect to job
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Hoendervanger, Jan Gerard
2015-01-01
Activity-Based Working (ABW) is supported by work environments that combine hot-desking with a variety of workplaces, designed to support different types of activities. While the advantages of these work environments in terms of efficiency are undisputed, their effectiveness with respect to job
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Nurses' work environment: indicators of satisfaction.
Suliman, Mohammad; Aljezawi, Maen
2018-01-10
This study aimed to investigate nurses' perceptions of the nursing work environment in Jordanian hospitals. Previous research has indicated a strong relationship between nurses' work environment and their satisfaction at work. However, little is known about the situation in Jordan. A cross-sectional and descriptive design was used. A sample of 500 nurses was recruited. The study was conducted using the Individual Workload Perception Revised scale (IWPS-R). A sum of 382 out of 500 nurses from three health care sectors in Jordan responded to the questionnaires (response rate = 76.4%). The results indicate that nurses working in the public hospitals had significantly better perceptions about their work environment than nurses working in private and university hospitals. Older nurses with lower academic qualifications are more likely to be satisfied with their work. Furthermore, nurses who have good perceptions of support from their manager and peers, and a manageable workload are more likely to stay in their jobs. The public hospitals are currently considered a more suitable milieu for nurses in Jordan. Other health care sectors should work to enhance nurses' working conditions. Providing a supportive work environment with a manageable workload will encourage nurses to stay in their hospitals. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts
2007-04-10
Every person has a stake in environmental public health. As the environment deteriorates, so does the physical and mental health of the people within it. Healthy places are those designed and built to improve the quality of life for all people who live, work, worship, learn, and play within their borders -- where every person is free to make choices amid a variety of healthy, available, accessible, and affordable options. The CDC recognizes significant health issues and places that are vital in developing the Healthy Places program and provides examples in this report. Created: 4/10/2007 by CDC National Center for Environmental Health. Date Released: 4/13/2007.
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The healthy food environment policy index: findings of an expert panel in New Zealand.
Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Dominick, Clare; Devi, Anandita; Swinburn, Boyd
2015-05-01
To assess government actions to improve the healthiness of food environments in New Zealand, based on the healthy food environment policy index. A panel of 52 public health experts rated the extent of government implementation against international best practice for 42 indicators of food environment policy and infrastructure support. Their ratings were informed by documented evidence, validated by government officials and international benchmarks. There was a high level of implementation for some indicators: providing ingredient lists and nutrient declarations and regulating health claims on packaged foods; transparency in policy development; monitoring prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and monitoring risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. There was very little, if any implementation of the following indicators: restrictions on unhealthy food marketing to children; fiscal and food retail policies and protection of national food environments within trade agreements. Interrater reliability was 0.78 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.76-0.79). Based on the implementation gaps, the experts recommended 34 actions, and prioritized seven of these. The healthy food environment policy index provides a useful set of indicators that can focus attention on where government action is needed. It is anticipated that this policy index will increase accountability of governments, stimulate government action and support civil society advocacy efforts.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Erica Fabiola Brito Tuma
2015-12-01
Full Text Available This paper will address the applicability of environmental principles in cases of syndrome of "burnout". For this, it will analyze the concepts of general environment and its categories, highlighting the working environment in which the characteristics of its healthiness will be appointed. They will be treated also the concepts of degradation of environmental quality and pollution, and how they occur in the middle working environment, emphasizing the protection of quality of life and health of workers. So relate the "burnout" syndrome as the middle work environment degradation factor, and discussed the consequences of this framework. Finally, recent decisions will be presented the Superior Labor Court (TST about this psychological pathology.
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Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek; Hrabe, David P; Szalacha, Laura A
2013-01-01
Although nurses are educated to take outstanding care of others, they themselves often have poor health outcomes, including high rates of depression and obesity, which are associated with stressful work environments. Furthermore, a high percentage of new graduate nurses leave their positions in the first year of employment, resulting in exorbitant costs to health care systems. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships among key variables that influence job satisfaction and healthy lifestyle behaviors of new graduate nurses, including workplace stress, work environment, lifestyle beliefs, and mental health. A descriptive correlational design was used with baseline data from 61 new graduate nurses attending the 2-day Nurse Athlete program, a workshop that focuses on nutrition, energy management, and physical activity. Higher levels of workplace stress were associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety as well as lower levels of resiliency, job satisfaction, and healthy lifestyle beliefs. Nurse leaders and managers must invest in creating healthy work environments for new and experienced nurses as well as provide mental health screening, resources, and intervention programs that focus on education and skills-building in health promoting behaviors, including emotional regulation of stress, anxiety, and depression.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Donatella Di Marco
2016-08-01
Full Text Available Discrimination is a complex phenomenon with adverse consequences at personal and organisational levels. Past studies have demonstrated that workers who are victims of discrimination might show less job satisfaction, less organisational commitment and worse levels of health and productivity. Although most research has focused on the effects of discrimination on victims, less is known about the extent to which discrimination produces consequences on workers who perceive the existence of a discriminatory work environment. The goal of this article is to analyse the consequences of the perception of a discriminatory work environment on employees’ health. The importance of this relationship is studied taking into account the mediating effect of job satisfaction. In order to reach this goal a cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 1633 Italian workers (male= 826, female= 764, employed in private and public sectors, and in different hierarchical positions. Results suggest that the perception of a discriminatory work environment is negatively associated with employees’ health. This relationship is partially mediated by job satisfaction (R²= .17. This study demonstrates that perceiving a discriminatory work environment might have a negative impact on workers’ health. A higher level of job satisfaction might buffer this effect. These findings have several practical implications. On the one hand, Human Resource Managers need to intervene in order to recognise and diminish implicit biases, creating a healthy and inclusive environment (e.g. through training, diversity policies, etc.. On the other hand, promoting job satisfaction (e.g. providing mechanisms of voice might help workers to preserve their well-being, coping with the negative effects of a discriminatory work environment.Keywords: Discriminatory work environment, Job satisfaction, Employees’ health, Human Resource Management, Italian workers, Workplace, Work-related stress
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Healthy work revisited: do changes in time strain predict well-being?
Moen, Phyllis; Kelly, Erin L; Lam, Jack
2013-04-01
Building on Karasek and Theorell (R. Karasek & T. Theorell, 1990, Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life, New York, NY: Basic Books), we theorized and tested the relationship between time strain (work-time demands and control) and seven self-reported health outcomes. We drew on survey data from 550 employees fielded before and 6 months after the implementation of an organizational intervention, the results only work environment (ROWE) in a white-collar organization. Cross-sectional (wave 1) models showed psychological time demands and time control measures were related to health outcomes in expected directions. The ROWE intervention did not predict changes in psychological time demands by wave 2, but did predict increased time control (a sense of time adequacy and schedule control). Statistical models revealed increases in psychological time demands and time adequacy predicted changes in positive (energy, mastery, psychological well-being, self-assessed health) and negative (emotional exhaustion, somatic symptoms, psychological distress) outcomes in expected directions, net of job and home demands and covariates. This study demonstrates the value of including time strain in investigations of the health effects of job conditions. Results encourage longitudinal models of change in psychological time demands as well as time control, along with the development and testing of interventions aimed at reducing time strain in different populations of workers.
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Cummings, Greta G; MacGregor, Tara; Davey, Mandy; Lee, How; Wong, Carol A; Lo, Eliza; Muise, Melanie; Stafford, Erin
2010-03-01
encourage and develop transformational and relational leadership are needed to enhance nurse satisfaction, recruitment, retention, and healthy work environments, particularly in this current and worsening nursing shortage. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Sheats, Jylana L; Winter, Sandra J; Romero, Priscilla Padilla; King, Abby C
2017-04-01
Creating environments that support healthy eating is important for successful aging, particularly in light of the growing population of older adults in the United States. There is an urgent need to identify innovative upstream solutions to barriers experienced by older adults in accessing and buying healthy food. FEAST (Food Environment Assessment STudy) is an effort that is part of the global Our Voice initiative, which utilizes a combination of technology and community-engaged methods to empower citizen scientists (i.e., community residents) to: (1) use the Healthy Neighborhood Discovery Tool (Discovery Tool) mobile application to collect data (geocoded photos, audio narratives) about aspects of their environment that facilitate or hinder healthy living; and (2) use findings to advocate for change in partnership with local decision and policy makers. In FEAST, 23 racially/ethnically diverse, low-income, and food-insecure older adults residing in urban, North San Mateo County, CA, were recruited to use the Discovery Tool to examine factors that facilitated or hindered their access to food as well as their food-related behaviors. Participants collectively reviewed data retrieved from the Discovery Tool and identified and prioritized important, yet feasible, issues to address. Access to affordable healthy food and transportation were identified as the major barriers to eating healthfully and navigating their neighborhood food environments. Subsequently, participants were trained in advocacy skills and shared their findings with relevant decision and policymakers, who in turn dispelled myths and discussed and shared resources to address relevant community needs. Proximal and distal effects of the community-engaged process at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months were documented and revealed individual-, community-, and policy-level impacts. Finally, FEAST contributes to the evidence on multi-level challenges that low-income, racially/ethnically diverse older adults experience
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Working Environment Authority Interventions to Promote Well-Being at work
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Agnete Meldgaard; Starheim, Liv
How can working environment authorities intervene at workplace level to promote the well-being of employees? This issue is discussed in light of recent developments in the inspection strategies and methodologies of the Danish Working Environment Authority. Well-being at work – or the psychosocial...... for improvements, or a combination of the establishment of issue based working groups that cut across traditional workplace committees; to the direct involvement of employees in problem definitions and identification of solutions; and to the use of a concrete and everyday language in describing problems...
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Working environment in power generation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1989-05-01
The proceedings contain 21 papers, of which 7 are devoted to nuclear power generation. They are concerned with the working environment in the controlled areas of the Bohunice nuclear power plant, the unsuitable design of the control rooms with respect to reliability and safety of operation of the nuclear power plant, optimization of the man-working conditions relation, operation of transport facilities, refuelling and fuel element inspection, the human factor and the probabilityy assessment of the nuclear power plant operating safety, a proposal to establish a universal ergonometric programme for the electric power distribution system, and physical factors in the ergonometric analysis of the working environment. (J.B.)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kaj Frick
2013-01-01
Full Text Available In the Nordic work environment model, health risks at work are mainly to be managed in cooperation with the employees and their representatives. The model is based on strong trade unions and is supported by the state through participatory rights and funding to produce and disseminate knowledge on risks and solutions. The model is evident in the large Swedish municipal sector with its strong unions and extensive social dialogue. However, municipal employees also face widespread risks, mainly from mental and physical overload. They led the costly wave of rising sickness absence from the late 1990s. Municipal (and other employers therefore attempt to reduce the absence. The rural municipality of Leksand started a project Hälsosam with the broad objectives to half the absence, implement a national agreement on better dialogue, make Leksand an attractive employer, and improve employee influence and work environment. The article’s objective is to use Hälsosam’s intervention project to explore the limits of what the Nordic work environment model can achieve against risks rooted in the employers’ prerogative of organizing, resourcing, and managing the operations that create the conditions at work. Hälsosam’s practice focused on sickness absence and the forms of the new national agreement. The absence was halved by reducing cases of long-term sickness. There was also workplace health promotion and the safety reps were supported through regular meetings. However, little was done to the extensive mental and physical overload revealed in a survey. Nor was the mandatory work environment management improved, as was ordered by the municipal council. This remained delegated to first-line managers who had a limited ability to handle work risks. This limited practice implemented Leksand’s political priority to reduce the absenteeism, while other objectives had less political support. The difficulties to improve the work environment and its management
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Nurse burnout and the working environment.
O'Mahony, Nuria
2011-09-01
This article examines levels of burnout experienced by emergency nurses and the characteristics of their work environment to determine if there is a relationship between the two. A literature review of recent articles on emergency nurses' burnout and contributing factors was undertaken. A quantitative study, in which nurses were asked to indicate the extent of their agreement with a series of statements on burnout and the working environment, was then undertaken, and the results were analysed to ascertain the extent to which the two topic are related. The results indicate that 52 per cent of nurses in an emergency department in Ireland experience high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, which are significantly related to the nature of their work environment. Improvements to the environment and to education are required to reduce the risk of nurses developing burnout in the future.
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Production loss among employees perceiving work environment problems.
Lohela-Karlsson, Malin; Hagberg, Jan; Bergström, Gunnar
2015-08-01
The overall aim of this explorative study was to investigate the relationship between factors in the psychosocial work environment and work environment-related production loss. Employees at a Swedish university were invited to answer a workplace questionnaire and were selected for this study if they reported having experienced work environment-related problems in the past 7 days (n = 302). A stepwise logistic regression and a modified Poisson regression were used to identify psychosocial work factors associated with work environment-related production loss as well as to identify at what level those factors are associated with production loss. Employees who reported having experienced work environment problems but also fair leadership, good social climate, role clarity and control of decision had significantly lower levels of production loss, whereas employees who reported inequality and high decision demands reported significantly higher levels of production loss. Never or seldom experiencing fair leadership, role clarity, equality, decision demands and good social climate increase the risk of production loss due to work environment problems, compared to those who experience these circumstances frequently, always or most of the time. Several psychosocial work factors are identified as factors associated with a reduced risk of production losses among employees despite the nature of the work environment problem. Knowledge of these factors may be important not only to reduce employee ill-health and the corresponding health-related production loss, but also reduce immediate production loss due to work environment-related problems.
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Di Marco, Donatella; López-Cabrera, Rocio; Arenas, Alicia; Giorgi, Gabriele; Arcangeli, Giulio; Mucci, Nicola
2016-01-01
Discrimination is a complex phenomenon with adverse consequences at personal and organizational levels. Past studies have demonstrated that workers who are victims of discrimination might show less job satisfaction, less organizational commitment and worse levels of health and productivity. Although most research has focused on the effects of discrimination on victims, less is known about the extent to which discrimination produces consequences on workers who perceive the existence of a discriminatory work environment. The goal of this article is to analyze the consequences of the perception of a discriminatory work environment on employees’ health. The importance of this relationship is studied taking into account the mediating effect of job satisfaction. In order to reach this goal a cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 1633 Italian workers (male = 826, female = 764), employed in private and public sectors, and in different hierarchical positions. Results suggest that the perception of a discriminatory work environment is negatively associated with employees’ health. This relationship is partially mediated by job satisfaction (R2 = 0.17). This study demonstrates that perceiving a discriminatory work environment might have a negative impact on workers’ health. A higher level of job satisfaction might buffer this effect. These findings have several practical implications. On the one hand, Human Resource Managers need to intervene in order to recognize and diminish implicit biases, creating a healthy and inclusive environment (e.g., through training, diversity policies, etc.). On the other hand, promoting job satisfaction (e.g., providing mechanisms of voice) might help workers to preserve their well-being, coping with the negative effects of a discriminatory work environment. PMID:27625625
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Di Marco, Donatella; López-Cabrera, Rocio; Arenas, Alicia; Giorgi, Gabriele; Arcangeli, Giulio; Mucci, Nicola
2016-01-01
Discrimination is a complex phenomenon with adverse consequences at personal and organizational levels. Past studies have demonstrated that workers who are victims of discrimination might show less job satisfaction, less organizational commitment and worse levels of health and productivity. Although most research has focused on the effects of discrimination on victims, less is known about the extent to which discrimination produces consequences on workers who perceive the existence of a discriminatory work environment. The goal of this article is to analyze the consequences of the perception of a discriminatory work environment on employees' health. The importance of this relationship is studied taking into account the mediating effect of job satisfaction. In order to reach this goal a cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 1633 Italian workers (male = 826, female = 764), employed in private and public sectors, and in different hierarchical positions. Results suggest that the perception of a discriminatory work environment is negatively associated with employees' health. This relationship is partially mediated by job satisfaction (R (2) = 0.17). This study demonstrates that perceiving a discriminatory work environment might have a negative impact on workers' health. A higher level of job satisfaction might buffer this effect. These findings have several practical implications. On the one hand, Human Resource Managers need to intervene in order to recognize and diminish implicit biases, creating a healthy and inclusive environment (e.g., through training, diversity policies, etc.). On the other hand, promoting job satisfaction (e.g., providing mechanisms of voice) might help workers to preserve their well-being, coping with the negative effects of a discriminatory work environment.
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Reneman, MF; Brouwer, S; Meinema, A; Dijkstra, PU; Geertzen, JHB; Groothoff, JW
2004-01-01
Aim of this study was to investigate test-retest reliability of the Isernhagen Work System Functional Capacity Evaluation (IWS FCE) in healthy subjects. The IWS FCE consists of 28 tests that reflect work-related activities such as lifting, carrying, bending, etc. A convenience sample of 26 healthy
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OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS AS INDICATORS OF INADEQUATE WORK CONDITIONS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
Petar Babović
2009-01-01
Occupational accidents due to inadequate working conditions and work environment present a major problem in highly industrialised countries, as well as in developing ones. Occupational accidents are a regular and accompanying phenomenon in all human activities and one of the main health related and economic problems in modern societies.The aim of this study is the analysis of the connections of unfavourable working conditions and working environment on occupational accidents. Occurrence of oc...
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Home health agency work environments and hospitalizations.
Jarrín, Olga; Flynn, Linda; Lake, Eileen T; Aiken, Linda H
2014-10-01
An important goal of home health care is to assist patients to remain in community living arrangements. Yet home care often fails to prevent hospitalizations and to facilitate discharges to community living, thus putting patients at risk of additional health challenges and increasing care costs. To determine the relationship between home health agency work environments and agency-level rates of acute hospitalization and discharges to community living. Analysis of linked Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Home Health Compare data and nurse survey data from 118 home health agencies. Robust regression models were used to estimate the effect of work environment ratings on between-agency variation in rates of acute hospitalization and community discharge. Home health agencies with good work environments had lower rates of acute hospitalizations and higher rates of patient discharges to community living arrangements compared with home health agencies with poor work environments. Improved work environments in home health agencies hold promise for optimizing patient outcomes and reducing use of expensive hospital and institutional care.
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The influence of factors of work environment and burnout syndrome on self-efficacy of medical staff.
Nowakowska, Iwona; Rasińska, Renata; Głowacka, Maria Danuta
2016-06-02
Conditions of a healthy, friendly and safe work environment and proper work organisation increase self-efficacy and decrease or eliminate the factors causing the occurrence of burnout symptoms, all of which have a decisive impact on increasing the quality of work. The aim of the study was to analyse and assess the influence of factors of work environment and burnout syndrome on the self-efficacy of medical staff. The study comprised randomly selected professionally-active nurses working on hospital wards (N=405) on the area of two provinces in Poland. The study used the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory and a questionnaire concerning the factors that influence the process of work organisation at nursing positions in hospitals. Lower scores for self-efficacy resulted in a worse assessment of development opportunities and promotion prospects (r=-0.11), participation in the decision-making process (r=-0.11) and teamwork (r=-0.10). Lower self-efficacy contributed to the occurrence of burnout symptoms r∈[-0.19 - -0.17]. Properly shaped and used organisational factors are stimulating for professional efficiency and effectiveness, and consequently, for the quality of nursing work. Negative assessment of the factors in the work environment contributes to the occurrence of burnout symptoms and decrease in self-efficacy. Nurses with lower self-efficacy more often experienced symptoms of burnout.
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Buranatrevedh, Surasak
2013-04-01
Work environment and health promotion needs are important factors for quality of life of workers. Study occupational health and safety hazards and control measures as well as health status and health promotion needs among personnel in Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University. This was a cross sectional study. Questionnaires were designed to collect demographic data, health status, health promotion needs, occupational health and safety hazards, and job demand/control data. Questionnaires were sent out to 181 personnel and 145 were returned filled-out (80.1%). Among them, 42.8% had physical illness or stress, 68.3% had debt problem, 20% had some problems with coworker or work environment, 65.5% had a high workload, and 64.1% felt they did not get enough work benefits. Job demand and control factors included attention from leaders, fast-pace work, relationship among coworkers, repetitive work, hard work, high stress work, and high workload The occupational safety and health system included training to use new equipment, supervisor training, work skill training, work in sitting position for long period of time, appropriate periodic health exam, appropriate medical service, proper canteen, proper salary raise, and facilities for health promotion. In the occupational health hazards, employees were working in low temperature, bright light, and had a lack of health promotion programs. Requested programs to improve quality of life were Thai traditional massage, workplace improvement, health promotion, one-day travel, and Friday's happy and healthy program. Results from the present study can be used to improve workplace environment and health of personnel in the Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University.
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Psychosocial work environment and retirement age
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Thorsen, Sannie Vester; Jensen, Per H.; Bjorner, Jakob Bue
2016-01-01
Purpose Retention of senior employees is a challenge for most developed countries. We aimed to identify psychosocial work environment factors of importance for the retention of older employees by evaluating the association between the psychosocial work environment and voluntary early retirement i...... at the labor market. However, we found no evidence that low demands or good relations between colleagues could influence older employees’ decision on early retirement....
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Orchestration in work environment policy programs
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hasle, Peter; Limborg, Hans Jørgen; Grøn, Sisse
2017-01-01
In spite of many years’ efforts, it is difficult to prove substantial improvements of the work environment and policymakers are continuously searching for new efficient strategies. This paper examines the concept of orchestration of work environment programs, based on an empirical analysis...... of recent Danish policy. Orchestration is a strategy where different stakeholders and activities are integrated into a unified program aimed at a specific target group. The analysis includes three policy cases, supplemented with two company case studies. The research shows a move toward a more governance...... type of regulation, which is not only emerging in network but also includes more explicitly orchestrated policy programs. The stakeholders participate in the network with different interests and the orchestration of work environment policies is therefore built on a platform of regulation...
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Shukri, Madihah; Jones, Fiona; Conner, Mark
2016-12-01
The present study examined the roles of work factors (i.e. job demands and job resources), work-family conflicts and culture on predictors of healthy intentions (fruit and vegetable consumption, low-fat diet and physical activity) within the framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Employees from the United Kingdom (N = 278) and Malaysia (N = 325) participated in the study. Results indicated that higher job demands were significantly related to lower intentions to eat a low-fat diet. Women reported higher intentions to eat a low-fat diet than men did, while participants from the United Kingdom had lower intentions to engage in physical activity compared with those from Malaysia. The efficacy of TPB variables in explaining intentions was verified, with perceived behavioural control (i.e. self-efficacy), attitudes and descriptive norms combined with past behaviour predictive across the samples. The results also suggest the roles of culture and work interference with family variables in moderating TPB-intention relationships and confirm that TPB variables mediate the effects of job demands and job resources on intentions. Practically, to promote health, identifying strategies to reduce stress factors; specifying important cognitive factors affecting work factors and thus, healthy intentions; and acknowledging cultural-specific determinants of healthy intentions are recommended. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Perception of orchestral musicians about work environment and conditions
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Clarissa Stefani Teixeira
2014-04-01
Full Text Available The objective of this study was to investigate the perception of 11 orchestral string (viola and violin musicians of both genders with respect to their work environment and conditions. We applied a questionnaire with demographic information and the scale Profile of Work Environment and Working Conditions by Nahas et al. (2009, which analyzes the following components: physical environment, social environment, development and professional achievement, salary and benefits, and social relevance. The social environment component presented the highest score - 8.00 (1.50 points, followed by professional achievement - 7.11 (1.96 points, and physical environment - 6.89 (0.93 points. The salary and benefits provided by the orchestra presented the lowest score - 6.78 (1.56 points. In general, the musicians showed positive perceptions of the components related to work environment and working conditions. However, remuneration and social relevance are work bases that could contribute to improve the working conditions of these professionals.
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Engineering subcultures and working environment in Danish enterprises
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Broberg, Ole
2000-01-01
Engineers' role in the management of working environment has been studied in 20 Danish enterprises based on questionnaires to 680 engineers. In general, engineers are not aware that they may influence the working environment of other people through their decisions. It is suggested that engineering...... subcultures be examined in order to change engineers' attitudes toward the working environment of workers and users....
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Action-oriented use of ergonomic checkpoints for healthy work design in different settings.
Kogi, Kazutaka
2007-12-01
Recent experiences in the action-oriented use of ergonomic checkpoints in different work settings are reviewed. The purpose is to know what features are useful for healthy work design adjusted to each local situation. Based on the review results, common features of ergonomic checkpoints used in participatory training programs for improving workplace conditions in small enterprises, construction sites, home work and agriculture in industrially developing countries in Asia are discussed. These checkpoints generally compile practical improvement options in a broad range of technical areas, such as materials handling, workstation design, physical environment and work organization. Usually, "action checklists" comprising the tiles of the checkpoints are used together. A clear focus is placed on readily applicable low-cost options. Three common features of these various checkpoints appear to be important. First, the checkpoints represent typical good practices in multiple areas. Second, each how-to section of these checkpoints presents simple improvements reflecting basic ergonomic principles. Examples of these principles include easy reach, fewer and faster transport, elbow-level work, coded displays, isolated or screened hazards and shared teamwork. Third, the illustrated checkpoints accompanied by corresponding checklists are used as group work tools in short-term training courses. Many practical improvements achieved are displayed in websites for inter-country work improvement networks. It is suggested to promote the use of locally adjusted checkpoints in various forms of participatory action-oriented training in small-scale workplaces and in agriculture particularly in industrially developing countries.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sunday Joseph Ayamolowo
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Background: Job satisfaction, quality of work environment and morale of health practitioners is beginning to receive attention worldwide.Objectives: This study examined the nature of the work environment of community health nurses, and determined the level of job satisfaction among these nurses. It further explored the relationship between work environment and job satisfaction of these nurses, and perceived factors in the work environment that would increase their job satisfaction. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed. The study was conducted in public primary health care facilities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. All the 216 nurses in these facilities were recruited but only 161 nurses responded to the instrument administered. A 58- item semi-structured questionnaire was used to survey nurses currently practicing in the above health setting. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Findings from the study revealed the mean score of nurses’ perception of their work environment to be 64.65±19.77. Forty four percent (44% of the nurses perceived their WE as of an average quality while 31% reported high quality WE. A majority (67.1% of the nurses had low degree of job satisfaction while only few nurses (3.1% reported high degree of satisfaction with job. A significant positive strong correlation was found between overall work environment and the general job satisfaction of the nurses(r = 0.55, p = < 0.01. “Provisions of modern equipment for work” and “increment/prompt payment of salary” were the most prominent factors in work environment that the nurses perceived as capable of increasing their job satisfaction (54.7% and 49.7% respectively. The least reported factor was “recommendation when one does a good job” (1.9%.Conclusion: The study concluded that a healthy work environment for nurses in the primary health care settings is an important factor in improving work satisfaction
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Jørgensen, Marie Birk; Villadsen, Ebbe; Burr, Hermann; Punnett, Laura; Holtermann, Andreas
2016-01-01
Objectives To investigate if participation in workplace health promotion (WHP) depends on the work environment. Methods Questionnaire data on participation in WHP activities (smoking cessation, healthy diet, exercise facilities, weekly exercise classes, contact with health professionals, health screenings) and the work environment (social support, fatiguing work, physical, quantitative and emotional demands, job control and WHP availability setting) were collected cross-sectionally in 2010 in a representative sample (n=10 605) of Danish workers. Binary regression analyses of the association between work environment characteristics and participation in WHP were conducted and adjusted for age, gender and industry. Results WHP offered during leisure time was associated with lower participation in all measured activities compared with when offered during working hours. Low social support and fatiguing work were associated with low participation in WHP. No associations with participation in WHPs were observed for physical work or quantitative demands, work pace or job strain. However, high physical demands/low job control and high emotional demands/low job control were associated with low participation. Conclusions Lower participation in WHP was associated with programmes during leisure, low social support, very fatiguing work and high physical or emotional demands with low job control. This suggests that to obtain proper effect of health promotion in a workplace setting, a good work environment is essential. PMID:27279474
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Cho, Hyeonmi; Han, Kihye
2018-05-14
This study aimed to determine the relationships among the unit-level nursing work environment and individual-level health-promoting behaviors of hospital nurses in South Korea and their perceived nursing performance quality. This study used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires from 432 nurses in 57 units at five hospitals in South Korea. Nursing performance quality, nursing work environment, and health-promoting behaviors were measured using the Six Dimension Scale of Nursing Performance, Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II, respectively. Nurses working in units with nurse managers who were characterized by better ability and by quality leadership, and who provided more support to nurses exhibited significantly greater health responsibility and physical activity. Nurses working with sufficient staffing and resources reported better stress management. Positive collegial nurse-physician relationships in units were significantly associated with more healthy eating among nurses. Nurses working in units with sufficient staffing and resources, and who had a higher level of spiritual growth and health responsibility, were more likely to perceive their nursing performance quality as being higher. To improve the quality of nursing practice, hospitals should focus on helping nurses maintain healthy lifestyles, as well as improving their working conditions in South Korea. Organizational support for adequate human resources and materials, mutual cooperation among nurses and physicians, and workplace health-promotion interventions for spiritual growth and health responsibility are needed. Organizational efforts to provide sufficient staffing and resources, boost the development of personal resources among nurses, and promote nurses' responsibility for their own health could be effective strategies for improving nursing performance quality and patient outcomes. © 2018 Sigma
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The experience of demanding work environments in younger workers.
Winding, T N; Labriola, M; Nohr, E A; Andersen, J H
2015-06-01
Investigating whether certain individual or background characteristics are associated with an increased risk of experiencing an excessively demanding work environment in younger workers may help to reduce future inequality in health and maximize their labour market participation. To describe the work environment of Danish 20- to 21-year olds and to investigate the influence of family socioeconomic background and individual characteristics at age 14-15 on later experience of physical and psychosocial work environments. We obtained information on subjects' school performance, vulnerability, health and parental socioeconomic status from registers and a questionnaire completed in 2004. A questionnaire concerning eight measures of subjects' psychosocial and physical work environment in 2010 was used to determine the outcomes of interest. The study population consisted of 679 younger workers aged 20-21. The psychosocial work environment was in general good but younger workers experienced more demanding physical work than the general working population. Overall, individual as well as family factors had a limited impact on their assessment of the work environment. Low self-esteem at age 14-15 was associated with experiencing high demands and lack of trust and fairness at work, whereas low parental socioeconomic status was associated with a demanding physical work environment. This study showed a social gradient in experiencing a demanding physical work environment at age 20-21. The psychosocial work environment experienced by younger workers was generally good, but vulnerable young people may need special attention to protect them from or prepare them for psychosocially demanding jobs later in life. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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In search of a common European approach to a healthy indoor environment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Adan, Olaf C G; Ng-A-Tham, Julie; Hanke, Wojtek
2007-01-01
Increasingly, policymakers in Europe and around the world are realizing the importance of healthy indoor environments for public health. Certain member states of the European Union (EU) have already achieved successes in improving indoor environmental quality, such as controlling certain...... barriers: a) the subsidiarity principle in EU policymaking, introducing decentralization of decision making to the member states; b) fragmentation of the topic of the indoor environment; c) the differences in climate and governance among different member states that make a common policy difficult; and d...
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Perceived work-related stress and early atherosclerotic changes in healthy employees.
Bugajska, Joanna; Widerszal-Bazyl, Maria; Radkiewicz, Piotr; Pasierski, Tomasz; Szulczyk, Grazyna Anna; Zabek, Jakub; Wojciechowska, Bozena; Jedryka-Góral, Anna
2008-08-01
This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perceived work-related stress and preclinical atherosclerosis. A total of 100 managers and 50 office workers aged 35-65 participated in a questionnaire study. Individual, family and work-related stress risk factors and coping were evaluated in all the studied individuals. Serum levels of biochemical (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, TG, glucose) and serological risk factors of atherosclerosis (anticardiolipin, anti-beta(2) GPI, anti-oxLDL, anti-HSP and anti-hsCRP antibodies) were evaluated. A computer analysis of B-mode ultrasound images was used to assess carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and atherosclerotic plaque in carotid arteries. Statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS v. 11.5. The studied individuals showed average ranges of both the global stress level and of coping results. In 71% no changes were found in the ultrasound image and in 29% of individuals (43) the presence of plaque was shown. The mean value of the IMT measure was 0.0618 +/- 0.013 mm. IMT and plaque correlated negatively with the level of global work-related stress (r = -0.26; P related stress and coping, or between coping and IMT (P > 0.05), or between work-related stress and healthy lifestyle (no smoking, no excessive use of alcohol, high physical activity), or between healthy lifestyle and IMT (P > 0.05). Positive correlation between IMT and LDL and smoking did not result from higher stress reaction in the studied individuals. The explanation of the negative correlation between perceived work-related stress and preclinical atherosclerosis was not confirmed either by the subjects under high stress undertaking healthy protective activities or by their escaping into unhealthy behaviour. The most probable interpretation of the results is that in individuals with a low level of perceived work-related stress, somatization of stress takes place.
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The Public Schools as a Work Environment
McIntire, Walter G.; Drummond, Robert J.
1975-01-01
Examines the perceptions of elementary and secondary school teachers, and school board members, of the school as a work environment. The Work Environment Preferences Scale, an instrument based on Weber's components of bureaucratic organizations, was administered to all the teachers and board members of a small Maine school district. (Author)
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Influencing behaviour for safe working environments
Boer, de, J. (Johannes); Teeuw, W.B. (Wouter)
2011-01-01
Safety at work The objective of the project Safety at Work is to increase safety at the workplace by applying and combining state of the art artefacts from personal protective equipment and ambient intelligence technology. In this state of the art document we focus on the developments with respect to how (persuasive) technology can help to influence behaviour in a natural, automatic way in order to make industrial environments safer. We focus on personal safety, safe environments and safe beh...
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Microclimate risk evaluation in agroindustrial work environments
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Monarca, D.; Porceddu, P.; Cecchini, M.; Babucci, V.
2005-01-01
The concept of workers' safety includes not only the prevention from accidents, as a result of improvements in the devices utilised, but also their welfare and comfort microclimate, i.e., the complex of parameters that affect the thermal exchange between workers and the surrounding environment is one of the main factors that affect the working environment. The paper describes the main risk assessment methodologies and the main actions to be taken for improving the working environment and workers' personal comfort [it
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Fatahi, Mahsa; Demenescu, Liliana Ramona; Speck, Oliver
2016-06-01
To retrospectively assess perception of safety of healthy individuals working with human 7 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. A total of 66 healthy individuals with a mean age of 31 ± 7 years participated in this retrospective multicentre survey study. Nonparametric correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relation between self-reported perception of safety and prevalence of sensory effects while working with 7 T MRI scanners for an average 47 months. The results indicated that 98.5 % of the study participants had a neutral or positive feeling about safety aspects at 7 T MRI scanners. 45.5 % reported that they feel very safe and none of the participants stated that they feel moderately or very unsafe while working with 7 T MRI scanners. Perception of safety was not affected by the number of hours per week spent in the vicinity of the 7 T MRI scanner or the duration of experience with 7 T MRI. More than 50 % of individuals experienced vertigo and metallic taste while working with 7 T MRI scanners. However, participants' perceptions of safety were not affected by the prevalence of MR-related symptoms. The overall data indicated an average perception of a moderately safe work environment. To our knowledge, this study delineates the first attempt to assess the subjective safety perception among 7 T MRI workers and suggests further investigations are indicated.
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HEALTHY WORK IN THE AGEING EUROPE
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sonja Lekovic
2008-12-01
Full Text Available Workplace health promotion (WHP has been defined as the combined efforts of employers, employees and society to improve the health and well-being of people at work. This is achieved through a combination of: improving the work organization and the working environment , promoting the active participation of employees in health activities, encouraging personal development. In our country, this subject is still unpopular, and organized work on introduction and implementation of already existing directives of ENWHP still does not exist. As a result, the competitiveness of the European Union during the next few decades will depend on the contribution of older workers, especially in comparison with North America and Asia. The general aim, therefore, is to extend workability and health up to a higher age. The most important force for change is the workplace. There are different action plans and a host of tools with which the health, qualifications, motivation and therefore the work ability and employability of a company’s older workers both now and in the future can be fostered.
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Jørgensen, Marie Birk; Villadsen, Ebbe; Burr, Hermann; Punnett, Laura; Holtermann, Andreas
2016-06-08
To investigate if participation in workplace health promotion (WHP) depends on the work environment. Questionnaire data on participation in WHP activities (smoking cessation, healthy diet, exercise facilities, weekly exercise classes, contact with health professionals, health screenings) and the work environment (social support, fatiguing work, physical, quantitative and emotional demands, job control and WHP availability setting) were collected cross-sectionally in 2010 in a representative sample (n=10 605) of Danish workers. Binary regression analyses of the association between work environment characteristics and participation in WHP were conducted and adjusted for age, gender and industry. WHP offered during leisure time was associated with lower participation in all measured activities compared with when offered during working hours. Low social support and fatiguing work were associated with low participation in WHP. No associations with participation in WHPs were observed for physical work or quantitative demands, work pace or job strain. However, high physical demands/low job control and high emotional demands/low job control were associated with low participation. Lower participation in WHP was associated with programmes during leisure, low social support, very fatiguing work and high physical or emotional demands with low job control. This suggests that to obtain proper effect of health promotion in a workplace setting, a good work environment is essential. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/
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Perception of orchestral musicians about work environment and conditions
Clarissa Stefani Teixeira; Fausto Kothe; Luis Felipe Dias Lopes; Érico Felden Pereira
2014-01-01
The objective of this study was to investigate the perception of 11 orchestral string (viola and violin) musicians of both genders with respect to their work environment and conditions. We applied a questionnaire with demographic information and the scale Profile of Work Environment and Working Conditions by Nahas et al. (2009), which analyzes the following components: physical environment, social environment, development and professional achievement, salary and benefits, and social relev...
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Working Environment and Technological Development - An Introduction
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Clausen, Christian; Nielsen, Klaus T.
1997-01-01
The chapter is concerned with the different departures, research questions, positions and controversies that is identified in the research programme: Working Environment and Technological Environment. The chapter counterposes positions from six different chapters and raises four themes for debate...... and further research. 1) Whast is planning? 2) Organisational change - learning or political processes? 3) Transformations of technology. 4) Strategies for considering working conditions....
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Coleman Karen J
2012-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The Healthy Options for Nutrition Environments in Schools (Healthy ONES study was an evidence-based public health (EBPH randomized group trial that adapted the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI rapid improvement process model to implement school nutrition policy and environmental change. Methods A low-income school district volunteered for participation in the study. All schools in the district agreed to participate (elementary = 6, middle school = 2 and were randomly assigned within school type to intervention (n = 4 and control (n =4 conditions following a baseline environmental audit year. Intervention goals were to 1 eliminate unhealthy foods and beverages on campus, 2 develop nutrition services as the main source on campus for healthful eating (HE, and 3 promote school staff modeling of HE. Schools were followed across a baseline year and two intervention years. Longitudinal assessment of height and weight was conducted with second, third, and sixth grade children. Behavioral observation of the nutrition environment was used to index the amount of outside foods and beverages on campuses. Observations were made monthly in each targeted school environment and findings were presented as items per child per week. Results From an eligible 827 second, third, and sixth grade students, baseline height and weight were collected for 444 second and third grade and 135 sixth grade students (51% reach. Data were available for 73% of these enrolled students at the end of three years. Intervention school outside food and beverage items per child per week decreased over time and control school outside food and beverage items increased over time. The effects were especially pronounced for unhealthy foods and beverage items. Changes in rates of obesity for intervention school (28% baseline, 27% year 1, 30% year 2 were similar to those seen for control school (22% baseline, 22% year 1, 25% year 2 children
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The experience of demanding work environments in younger workers
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Winding, Trine Nøhr; Labriola, Merete; Nohr, Ellen Aagaard
2015-01-01
younger workers aged 20-21. The psychosocial work environment was in general good but younger workers experienced more demanding physical work than the general working population. Overall, individual as well as family factors had a limited impact on their assessment of the work environment. Low self-esteem...... at age 20-21. The psychosocial work environment experienced by younger workers was generally good, but vulnerable young people may need special attention to protect them from or prepare them for psychosocially demanding jobs later in life....
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Perceived nursing work environment of acute care pediatric nurses.
Kotzer, Anne Marie; Koepping, Dianne M; LeDuc, Karen
2006-01-01
Nurse job satisfaction is a complex phenomenon and includes elements of the work environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate nurses' perception of their real (current) and ideal (preferred) work environment in a pediatric tertiary care setting. Using a descriptive survey design, a convenience sample of staff nurses from three inpatient units was surveyed using the Work Environment Scale (WES) by Moos (1994). The WES consists of 10 subscales characterizing three dimensions: Relationship, Personal Growth, and System Maintenance and Change. Overall, nurses affirmed a highly positive and supportive work environment on their units. Non-significant findings between the real and ideal scores for the Involvement and Managerial Control subscales suggest that staff are concerned about and committed to their work, and satisfied with their managers' use of rules and procedures. Statistically significant differences between selected real and ideal subscale scores will help target intervention strategies to enhance the nursing work environment.
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Ni Mhurchu, C; Vandevijvere, S; Waterlander, W; Thornton, L E; Kelly, B; Cameron, A J; Snowdon, W; Swinburn, B
2013-10-01
Retail food environments are increasingly considered influential in determining dietary behaviours and health outcomes. We reviewed the available evidence on associations between community (type, availability and accessibility of food outlets) and consumer (product availability, prices, promotions and nutritional quality within stores) food environments and dietary outcomes in order to develop an evidence-based framework for monitoring the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages in retail food environments. Current evidence is suggestive of an association between community and consumer food environments and dietary outcomes; however, substantial heterogeneity in study designs, methods and measurement tools makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The use of standardized tools to monitor local food environments within and across countries may help to validate this relationship. We propose a step-wise framework to monitor and benchmark community and consumer retail food environments that can be used to assess density of healthy and unhealthy food outlets; measure proximity of healthy and unhealthy food outlets to homes/schools; evaluate availability of healthy and unhealthy foods in-store; compare food environments over time and between regions and countries; evaluate compliance with local policies, guidelines or voluntary codes of practice; and determine the impact of changes to retail food environments on health outcomes, such as obesity. © 2013 The Authors. Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.
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Work environment, overtime and sleep among offshore personnel.
Parkes, Katharine R
2017-02-01
Personnel working on North Sea oil/gas installations are exposed to remote and potentially hazardous environments, and to extended work schedules (typically, 14×12h shifts). Moreover, overtime (additional to the standard 84-h week) is not uncommon among offshore personnel. Evidence from onshore research suggests that long work hours and adverse environmental characteristics are associated with sleep impairments, and consequently with health and safety risks, including accidents and injuries. However, little is known about the extent to which long hours and a demanding work environment combine synergistically in relation to sleep. The present study sought to address this issue, using survey data collected from offshore day-shift personnel (N=551). The multivariate analysis examined the additive and interactive effects of overtime and measures of the psychosocial/physical work environment (job demands, job control, supervisor support, and physical stressors) as predictors of sleep outcomes during offshore work weeks. Control variables, including age and sleep during leave weeks, were also included in the analysis model. Sleep duration and quality were significantly impaired among those who worked overtime (54% of the participants) relative to those who worked only 12-h shifts. A linear relationship was found between long overtime hours and short sleep duration; personnel who worked >33h/week overtime reported job demands, and positively related to supervisor support, only among personnel who worked overtime. Poor sleep quality was predicted by the additive effects of overtime, low support and an adverse physical environment. These findings highlight the need to further examine the potential health and safety consequences of impaired sleep associated with high overtime rates offshore, and to identify the extent to which adverse effects of overtime can be mitigated by favourable physical and psychosocial work environment characteristics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd
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de Brouwer, B J M; Kaljouw, M J; Kramer, M; Schmalenberg, C; van Achterberg, T
2014-03-01
Translate the Essentials of Magnetism II© (EOMII; Dutch Nurses' Association, Utrecht, The Netherlands) and assess its psychometric properties in a culture different from its origin. The EOMII, developed in the USA, measures the extent to which organizations/units provide healthy, productive and satisfying work environments. As many healthcare organizations are facing difficulties in attracting and retaining staff nurses, the EOMII provides the opportunity to assess the health and effectiveness of work environments. A three-phased (respectively N = 13, N = 74 and N = 2542) combined descriptive and correlational design was undertaken for translation and evaluation validity and psychometric qualities of the EOMII for Dutch hospitals (December 2009-January 2010). We performed forward-backward translation, face and content validation via cross-sectional survey research, and semi-structured interviews on relevance, clarity, and recognizability of instruments' items. Psychometric testing included principal component analysis using varimax rotation, item-total statistics, and reliability in terms of internal consistency (Cronbach's α) for the total scale and its subscales. Face validity was confirmed. Items were recognizable, relevant and clear. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that five of eight subscales formed clear factors. Three original subscales contained two factors. Item-total correlations ranged from 0.43 to 0.83. One item correlated weakly (0.24) with its subscale. Cronbach's α for the entire scale was 0.92 and ranged from 0.58 to 0.92 for eight subscales. Dutch-translated EOMII (D-EOMII) demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity for assessing hospital staff nurses' work environment. The D-EOMII can be useful and effective in identifying areas in which change is needed for a hospital to pursue an excellent work environment that attracts and retains well-qualified nurses. © 2013 International Council of Nurses.
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Hartini, Nurul; Ariana, Atika Dian; Dewi, Triana Kesuma; Kurniawan, Afif
2017-01-01
Some parts of northern Surabaya are slum areas with dense populations, and the majority of the inhabitants are from low-income families. The condition of these areas is seemingly different from the fact that Surabaya city has won awards for its cleanliness, healthy environment preservation, and maintenance. This study aimed at turning the researched site into a clean and healthy environment. The research was conducted using a quasi-experiment technique with a non-randomized design and pretest-posttest procedures. The research subjects were 121 inhabitants who actively participated in the public commitment and psychoeducation program initiated by the researchers to learn and practice clean and healthy living behaviors. The statistical data showed that there was a substantial increase in the aspects of public commitment ( t -value = 4.008, p = 0.001) and psychoeducation ( t -value = 4.038, p = 0.001) to begin and maintain a clean and healthy living behaviors. A public commitment in the form of a collective declaration to keep learning and practicing a clean and healthy living behaviors were achieved. This commitment followed by psychoeducation aimed at introducing and exercising such behaviors was found to have effectively increased the research subjects' awareness to actively participate in preserving environmental hygiene. Developing communal behaviors toward clean and healthy living in inhabitants residing in an unhealthy slum area was a difficult task. Therefore, public commitment and psychoeducation must be aligned with the formulation of continuous habits demonstrating a clean and healthy living behaviors. These habits include the cessation of littering while putting trash in its place, optimizing the usage of public toilets, planting and maintaining vegetation around the area, joining and contributing to the "garbage bank" program, and participating in the Green and Clean Surabaya competition.
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WWW-based environments for collaborative group work
Collis, Betty
1998-01-01
Since 1994, we have been involved in the design and use of a series of WWW-based environments to support collaborative group work for students in a technical university in The Netherlands. These environments, and the course re-design that accompanies each new environment, began in April 1994 and
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Psychosocial work environment among immigrant and Danish cleaners
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Olesen, Kasper; Carneiro, Isabella G; Jørgensen, Marie B
2012-01-01
Non-Western cleaners have been shown to have poorer health than their Danish colleagues. One reason could be a poorer psychosocial work environment. However, it is unknown if differences in self-reported psychosocial work environment exist between non-Western and Danish workers within the same so...
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Work environments and organizational effectiveness: A call for integration
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Heerwagen, J.H.; Heubach, J.G.; Brown, B.W.; Sanchez, J.A.; Montgomery, J.C.; Weimer, W.C.
1994-07-01
In response to a request from the Pacific Northwest Laboratory`s Analytical Chemistry Upgrades Program, a team was formed to (1) review work environment and productivity research, (2) report the research in a manner usable to organizational decision-makers, (3) identify Hanford Site facilities examples of the work environment principles and research, and (4) publish the review results in a referred journal. This report summarizes the work environment-organizational effectiveness research reviewed, provides the foundation for a publishable article, and outlines the integration of work environment research and organizational effectiveness in continuing improvement programs and strategic planning. The research cited in this review shows that the physical work environment offers a valuable tool that, used wisely, can contribute significantly to the performance of an organization, its bottom-line economics, and the well-being of all of its employees. This finding leads to one central recommendation: to derive the maximum benefit to the corporation, managers and designers must integrate organizational goals and programs with work environment design. While much of the research cited focuses on office environments, the results and design principles and practices are relevant to a full range of settings: laboratories, schools, hospitals, and factories. The major findings of the research reviewed are summarized below in four areas: (1) performance, (2) well-being, (3) image, and (4) turnover and recruitment.
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Wage, Work Environment, and Staffing: Effects on Nurse Outcomes
McHugh, Matthew D.; Ma, Chenjuan
2015-01-01
Research has shown that hospitals with better nurse staffing and work environments have better nurse outcomes—less burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave the job. Many studies, however, have not accounted for wage effects, which may confound findings. By using a secondary analysis with cross-sectional administrative data and a four-state survey of nurses, we investigated how wage, work environment, and staffing were associated with nurse outcomes. Logistic regression models, with and without wage, were used to estimate the effects of work environment and staffing on burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave. We discovered that wage was associated with job dissatisfaction and intent to leave but had little influence on burnout, while work environment and average patient-to-nurse ratio still have considerable effects on nurse outcomes. Wage is important for good nurse outcomes, but it does not diminish the significant influence of work environment and staffing on nurse outcomes. PMID:25121923
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Work environments for employee creativity
Dul, Jan; Ceylan, Canan
2010-01-01
textabstractInnovative organisations need creative employees who generate new ideas for product or process innovation. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the effect of personal, social-organisational and physical factors on employee creativity. Based on this framework an instrument to analyse the extent to which the work environment enhances creativity is developed. We apply this instrument to a sample of 409 employees and find support for the hypothesis that a creative work envir...
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Letellier, Marie-Claude; Duchaine, Caroline S; Aubé, Karine; Talbot, Denis; Mantha-Bélisle, Marie-Michèle; Sultan-Taïeb, Hélène; St-Hilaire, France; Biron, Caroline; Vézina, Michel; Brisson, Chantal
2018-02-28
Adverse psychosocial work factors are recognized as a significant source of psychological distress, resulting in a considerable socioeconomic burden. The impact of occupational health standards that aim to reduce these adverse work factors, such as the Quebec Healthy Enterprise Standard (QHES), is of great interest for public health. The aim of this study was to evaluate, for the first time, the effect of QHES interventions targeting adverse psychosocial work factors on the prevalence of these factors and of psychological distress among ten Quebec organizations. These outcomes were assessed by questionnaire using validated instruments before (T1, n = 2849) and 2-3 years following (T2, n = 2560) QHES implementation. Beneficial effects of interventions were observed for two adverse psychosocial work factors: low rewards (ratio of prevalence ratios (PRs) = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66-0.91) and low social support at work (ratio of PRs = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.77-1.03). Moreover, beneficial effects of interventions were also observed on the prevalence of high psychological distress (ratio of PRs = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75-0.998). Psychosocial interventions implemented in the context of this standard improved the psychosocial work environment and had beneficial effects on workers' mental health.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marie-Claude Letellier
2018-02-01
Full Text Available Adverse psychosocial work factors are recognized as a significant source of psychological distress, resulting in a considerable socioeconomic burden. The impact of occupational health standards that aim to reduce these adverse work factors, such as the Quebec Healthy Enterprise Standard (QHES, is of great interest for public health. The aim of this study was to evaluate, for the first time, the effect of QHES interventions targeting adverse psychosocial work factors on the prevalence of these factors and of psychological distress among ten Quebec organizations. These outcomes were assessed by questionnaire using validated instruments before (T1, n = 2849 and 2–3 years following (T2, n = 2560 QHES implementation. Beneficial effects of interventions were observed for two adverse psychosocial work factors: low rewards (ratio of prevalence ratios (PRs = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66–0.91 and low social support at work (ratio of PRs = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.77–1.03. Moreover, beneficial effects of interventions were also observed on the prevalence of high psychological distress (ratio of PRs = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75–0.998. Psychosocial interventions implemented in the context of this standard improved the psychosocial work environment and had beneficial effects on workers’ mental health.
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Gruskin, Sofia; Pierce, Gretchen Williams; Ferguson, Laura
2014-01-01
The HIV epidemic has shed light on how government regulation of sex work directly affects the health and well-being of sex workers, their families and communities. A review of the public health evidence highlights the need for supportive legal and policy environments, yet criminalisation of sex work remains standard around the world. Emerging evidence, coupled with evolving political ideologies, is increasingly shaping legal environments that promote the rights and health of sex workers but even as new legislation is created, contradictions often exist with standing problematic legislation. As a region, Asia provides a compelling example in that progressive HIV policies often sit side by side with laws that criminalise sex work. Data from the 21 Asian countries reporting under the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV in 2010 were analysed to provide evidence of how countries' approach to sex-work regulation might affect HIV-related outcomes. Attention to the links between law and HIV-related outcomes can aid governments to meet their international obligations and ensure appropriate legal environments that cultivate the safe and healthy development and expression of sexuality, ensure access to HIV and other related services and promote and protect human rights.
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Johansen, Mary L; Cadmus, Edna
2016-03-01
To examine the conflict management style that emergency department (ED) nurses use to resolve conflict and to determine whether their style of managing conflict and a supportive work environment affects their experience of work stress. Conflict is a common stressor that is encountered as nurses strive to achieve patient satisfaction goals while delivering quality care. How a nurse perceives support may impact work stress levels and how they deal with conflict. A correlational design examined the relationship between supportive work environment, and conflict management style and work stress in a sample of 222 ED nurses using the expanded nurse work stress scale; the survey of perceived organisational support; and the Rahim organisational conflict inventory-II. Twenty seven percent of nurses reported elevated levels of work stress. A supportive work environment and avoidant conflict management style were significant predictors of work stress. Findings suggest that ED nurses' perception of a supportive work environment and their approach to resolving conflict may be related to their experience of work stress. Providing opportunities for ED nurses in skills training in constructive conflict resolution may help to reduce work stress and to improve the quality of patient care. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Urban, Ann-Marie; Wagner, Joan I
2013-12-01
Hospitals are situated within historical and socio-political contexts; these influence the provision of patient care and the work of registered nurses (RNs). Since the early 1990s, restructuring and the increasing pressure to save money and improve efficiency have plagued acute care hospitals. These changes have affected both the work environment and the work of nurses. After recognizing this impact, healthcare leaders have dedicated many efforts to improving the work environment in hospitals. Admirable in their intent, these initiatives have made little change for RNs and their work environment, and thus, an opportunity exists for other efforts. Research indicates that spirit at work (SAW) not only improves the work environment but also strengthens the nurse's power to improve patient outcomes and contribute to a high-quality workplace. In this paper, we present findings from our research that suggest SAW be considered an important component in improving the work environment in acute care hospitals.
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Psychosocial work environment and performance
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Edwards, Kasper; Møller, Niels
2010-01-01
and describe the mechanism underlying the observed relationship. It is observed that a specific leadership style is responsible for creating a good working environment which leads to good performance. The leadership style can be described as process oriented, supportive and consistent but also demanding....
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Creating LGBTQ-Inclusive Care and Work Environments.
Jones-Schenk, Jan
2018-04-01
In considering the full depth of inclusion in care and work environments (and developing inclusive engagement skills for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning [LGBTQ] patients and their families), professional development leaders must bring these discussions and shared learnings into the open. Understanding the LGBTQ population's unique needs is essential to providing personalized health care, and inclusive work environments help to foster more inclusive care for this population. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2018;49(4):151-153. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.
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Exploring employee participation and work environment in hotels
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Markey, Raymond; Harris, Candice; Knudsen, Herman
2014-01-01
We explore the relative impact of direct and representative forms of participation on quality of the work environment, based on multi-method case studies of two hotels each in New Zealand and Denmark. The degree of direct participation is higher at the New Zealand hotels, yet, workload and stress...... is higher than in the Danish ones. This confirms literature that questions whether participation is always beneficial to the work environment. On the other hand, representative forms of participation appear to offer greater opportunities for a better quality of work environment (QWE) since Danish employees...... in this study enjoy greater influence through collective bargaining and cooperation committees, and experience less workload stress than the New Zealanders....
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Turning research on the psychosocial working environment into regulatory practice
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Agnete Meldgaard; Nielsen, Klaus Tranetoft; Starheim, Liv
The psychosocial working environment is an expanding field of research. Within the last decades a lot of knowledge has been developed in the field. The question however remains how this knowledge can be, and is being, utilized in the regulation of the psychosocial working environment. This question...... we understand this process as a translation of knowledge into policies, tools and actors dealing with the psychosocial working environment. Drawing on this understanding we develop a model that illustrates the utility of different types of research on the psychosocial working environment...
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Swedish female hairdressers' views on their work environment--a qualitative study.
Diab, Kerstin Kronholm; Nielsen, Jörn; Andersson, Edith
2014-01-01
Hairdressers have several work-related health hazards. Little is known of their strategies for the work environment. The aim of this study was to explore female hairdressers' own views on their physical, social and psychological work environment and possibilities of influencing it, implementation of their knowledge, financial impacts and how work-related symptoms affect their views. Fourteen hairdressers working for four years were subjected to open-ended interviews covering aspects of the physical, social and psychological work environment. Content analysis was applied. An awareness of the impact of the work environment and the possibilities of influencing it emerged, but also an inability to achieve preventive improvements. This included reflections concerning ventilation, health issues, job strain, hair products, financial issues, knowledge from school and concern for having to leave the profession. The organization and acceptance of the work environment were important issues. Making the work environment an active part of their business was not common. Female hairdressers had an awareness of their work environment but lacked the means and strategies to make it an active part of their business. The main focus was on the customers and the work techniques. Having various symptoms did not alter this. Organizational and financial issues could put limitations on the work environment. Teachers were crucial in making the work environment interesting. Hairdressing was seen with advantages and disadvantages, and its future was seen as being insecure in terms of the occupational health risks. The hairdressers expressed a great pride in their profession providing possibilities for development.
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Work environment, job satisfaction, stress and burnout among haemodialysis nurses.
Hayes, Bronwyn; Douglas, Clint; Bonner, Ann
2015-07-01
To examine the relationships among nurse and work characteristics, job satisfaction, stress, burnout and the work environment of haemodialysis nurses. Haemodialysis nursing is characterised by frequent and intense contact with patients in a complex and intense environment. A cross-sectional online survey of 417 haemodialysis nurses that included nurse and work characteristics, the Brisbane Practice Environment Measure, Index of Work Satisfaction, Nursing Stress Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Haemodialysis nurses reported an acceptable level of job satisfaction and perceived their work environment positively, although high levels of burnout were found. Nurses who were older and had worked in haemodialysis the longest had higher satisfaction levels, experienced less stress and lower levels of burnout than younger nurses. The in-centre type of haemodialysis unit had greater levels of stress and burnout than home training units. Greater satisfaction with the work environment was strongly correlated with job satisfaction, lower job stress and emotional exhaustion. Haemodialysis nurses experienced high levels of burnout even though their work environment was favourable and they had acceptable levels of job satisfaction. Targeted strategies are required to retain and avoid burnout in younger and less experienced nurses in this highly specialised field of nursing. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Establishing a Measurement Tool for a Nursing Work Environment in Taiwan.
Lin, Li-Chiu; Lee, Huan-Fang; Yen, Miaofen
2017-02-01
The nursing work environment is a critical global health care problem. Many health care providers are concerned about the associations between the nursing work environment and the outcomes of organizations, nurses, and patients. Nursing work environment instruments have been assessed in the West but have not been considered in Asia. However, different cultures will affect the factorial structure of the tool. Using a stratified nationwide random sample, we created a measurement tool for the nursing work environment in Taiwan. The Nursing Work Environment Index-Revised Scale and the Essentials of Magnetism scale were used to examine the factorial structure. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were used to examine the hypothesis model and generate a new factorial structure. The Taiwan Nursing Work Environment Index (TNWEI) was established to evaluate the nursing work environment in Taiwan. The four factors were labeled "Organizational Support" (7 items), "Nurse Staffing and Resources" (4 items), "Nurse-Physician Collaboration" (4 items), and "Support for Continuing Education" (4 items). The 19 items explained 58.5% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit to the model (x2/df = 5.99; p nurses' work environment in Taiwan.
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Sadatsafavi, Hessam; Walewski, John; Shepley, Mardelle
2015-01-01
The expected increase in healthcare needs resulting from the Affordable Care Act and the growing population of older citizens in the United States is challenging owners and operators of hospitals to improve quality of care and reduce operational costs. Meanwhile, studies have indicated a serious shortage in the healthcare workforce and have highlighted the critical role of employees' job-related attitudes and feelings. The main objective of this study was to test whether employees' evaluations of important environments within hospitals were significantly associated with their job-related attitudes and feelings, and whether this relationship varied across different demographic groups. About 700 healthcare professionals from 10 acute-care hospitals run by three healthcare organizations participated in this cross-sectional study. Structural equation modeling found that employees' evaluations of their physical work environment were significantly associated with lower rates of job-related anxiety, higher levels of job satisfaction, and increased rates of organizational commitment. Perceived organizational support was responsible for mediating part of these relationships, indicating that employees can perceive a healthy work environment as a sign of their organization valuing them and caring about their well-being. When distinguishing between different spaces, analysis found that satisfaction with rest areas and work spaces had the largest effect size, while the influence of patient areas was small. Employees newer to the facility and to the organization were more influenced by the physical work environment. This study provides preliminary evidence that facility design can be used as a managerial tool for improving employees' job-related attitudes and feelings and earning their commitment.
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Association of the nurse work environment with nurse incivility in hospitals.
Smith, Jessica G; Morin, Karen H; Lake, Eileen T
2018-03-01
To determine whether nurse coworker incivility is associated with the nurse work environment, defined as organisational characteristics that promote nurse autonomy. Workplace incivility can negatively affect nurses, hospitals and patients. Plentiful evidence documents that nurses working in better nurse work environments have improved job and health outcomes. There is minimal knowledge about how nurse coworker incivility relates to the United States nurse work environment. Quantitative, cross-sectional. Data were collected through online surveys of registered nurses in a southwestern United States health system. The survey content included the National Quality Forum-endorsed Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index and the Workplace Incivility Scale. Data analyses were descriptive and correlational. Mean levels of incivility were low in this sample of 233 staff nurses. Incivility occurred 'sporadically' (mean = 0.58; range 0.00-5.29). The nurse work environment was rated highly (mean = 3.10; range of 1.00-4.00). The nurse work environment was significantly inversely associated with coworker incivility. The nurse manager qualities were the principal factor of the nurse work environment associated with incivility. Supportive nurse managers reduce coworker incivility. Nurse managers can shape nurse work environments to prevent nurse incivility. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Commitment or Compliance? Institutional Logics of Work Environment Management
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Madsen, Christian Uhrenholdt; Hasle, Peter
2017-01-01
and where it differs from the traditional organizational approach to work environment management. In this paper, we use the ‘institutional logics’ perspective to propose heuristic ideal types of two institutional logics of work environment management: The logic of compliance as the ideal type...... of the ‘traditional’ approach to work environment management and the logic of commitment as the human resource informed approach. Through a side-by-side comparison of key characteristics, we analyze the two ideal types as instantiations of institutional orders on the societal level with the compliance logic being...... rooted in the orders of the state and the corporation, and the commitment logic as based on the orders of the corporation. The paper ends with a discussion on the how the two logics can influence concrete work environment practices and approaches to management in organizations....
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Jordanian Nursing Work Environments, Intent to Stay, and Job Satisfaction.
Al-Hamdan, Zaid; Manojlovich, Milisa; Tanima, Banerjee
2017-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine associations among the nursing work environment, nurse job satisfaction, and intent to stay for nurses who practice in hospitals in Jordan. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used. Data were collected through survey questionnaires distributed to 650 registered nurses (RNs) who worked in three hospitals in Jordan. The self-report questionnaire consisted of three instruments and demographic questions. The instruments were the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), the McCain Intent to Stay scale, and Quinn and Shepard's (1974) Global Job Satisfaction survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated for discrete measures of demographic characteristics of the study participants. Multivariate linear regression models were used to explore relationships among the nursing work environment, job satisfaction, and intent to stay, adjusting for unit type. There was a positive association between nurses' job satisfaction and the nursing work environment (t = 6.42, p job satisfaction increased by 1.3 points, controlling for other factors. Overall, nurses employed in public hospitals were more satisfied than those working in teaching hospitals. The nursing work environment was positively associated with nurses' intent to stay (t = 4.83, p job satisfaction. More attention should be paid to create positive work environments to increase job satisfaction for nurses and increase their intent to stay. Hospital and nurse managers and healthcare policymakers urgently need to create satisfactory work environments supporting nursing practice in order to increase nurses' job satisfaction and intent to stay. © 2016 Sigma Theta Tau International.
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Analysis of the moral habitability of the nursing work environment.
Peter, Elizabeth H; Macfarlane, Amy V; O'Brien-Pallas, Linda L
2004-08-01
Following health reform, nurses have experienced the tremendous stress of heavy workloads, long hours and difficult professional responsibilities. In recognition of these problems, a study was conducted that examined the impact of the working environment on the health of nurses. After conducting focus groups across Canada with nurses and others well acquainted with nursing issues, it became clear that the difficult work environments described had significant ethical implications. The aim of this paper is to report the findings of research that examined the moral habitability of the nursing working environment. A secondary analysis was conducted using the theoretical work of Margaret Urban Walker. Moral practices and responsibilities from Walker's perspective cannot be extricated from other social roles, practices and divisions of labour. Moral-social orders, such as work environments in this research, must be made transparent to examine their moral habitability. Morally habitable environments are those in which differently situated people experience their responsibilities as intelligible and coherent. They also foster recognition, cooperation and shared benefits. Four overarching categories were developed through the analysis of the data: (1) oppressive work environments; (2) incoherent moral understandings; (3) moral suffering and (4) moral influence and resistance. The findings clearly indicate that participants perceived the work environment to be morally uninhabitable. The social and spatial positioning of nurses left them vulnerable to being overburdened by and unsure of their responsibilities. Nevertheless, nurses found meaningful ways to resist and to influence the moral environment. We recommend that nurses develop strong moral identities, make visible the inseparability of their proximity to patients and moral accountability, and further identify what forms of collective action are most effective in improving the moral habitability of their work
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Depressive Symptoms Affect Working Memory in Healthy Older Adult Hispanics.
Salazar-Villanea, Monica; Liebmann, Edward; Garnier-Villarreal, Mauricio; Montenegro-Montenegro, Esteban; Johnson, David K
2015-10-01
Low and middle income nations will experience an unprecedented growth of the elderly population and subsequent increase in age-related neurological disorders. Worldwide prevalence and incidence of all-types of neurological disorders with serious mental health complications will increase with life expectancy across the globe. One-in- ten individuals over 75 has at least moderate cognitive impairment. Prevalence of cognitive impairment doubles every 5 years thereafter. Latin America's population of older adult's 65 years and older is growing rapidly, yet little is known about cognitive aging among healthy older Latinos. Clinically significant depressive symptomatology is common among community-dwelling older adults and is associated with deficits across multiple cognitive domains, however much of the literature has not modeled the unique effects of depression distinct from negative and low positive affect. Our objective was to understand how mental health affects cognitive health in healthy aging Latinos. The present study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relative effects of Negative Affect, Positive Affect and Geriatric Depression on Verbal Memory, Verbal Reasoning, Processing Speed, and Working Memory in healthy aging Latinos. Data was collected from a sample of healthy community dwelling older adults living in San Jose, Costa Rica. Modeling of latent variables attenuated error and improved measurement reliability of cognition, affect, and depression variables. Costa Ricans enjoy a notoriety for being much happier than US citizens and are renowned as one of the happiest nations in the world in global surveys. This was born out in these data. Costa Rican affective profiles differed substantively from US profiles. Levels of negative affect and depression were similar to US samples, but their levels of positive affect were much higher. Cognitive performance of these Costa Rican older adults was similar to US
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The impact of night-shift work on platelet function in healthy medical staff.
Nakao, Tomoko; Yasumoto, Atsushi; Tokuoka, Suzumi; Kita, Yoshihiro; Kawahara, Takuya; Daimon, Masao; Yatomi, Yutaka
2018-04-18
Rotating shift work has been reported to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Vascular endothelial dysfunction and platelet activation are among the leading causes of thrombus formation in patients with myocardial infarction or stroke. Endothelial function has been shown to be impaired immediately after night-shift work; however, it is not known whether platelets are also activated. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute impact of night-shift work on platelet function. This observational study included 11 healthy medical staff members (seven women, median age 32 years). We examined each subject's platelet aggregation rates and the serum concentrations of eicosanoid mediators after night-shift work and on day-shift work without preceding night-shift work (baseline). Platelet aggregation did not differ from baseline levels after night-shift work. However, serum cyclooxygenase (COX)-metabolized eicosanoid mediators, particularly thromboxane (Tx) B 2 (a stable metabolite of TxA 2 and the most important marker of platelet activation), were significantly higher after the night-shift than at baseline (median 65.3 vs 180.4 ng/ml). Although platelet aggregation did not increase, there was an increase in serum COX-metabolized eicosanoid mediators such as TxB 2 in healthy medical staff after night-shift work. This platelet hypersensitivity may be one of the mechanisms underlying the significant association between night-shift work and adverse cardiovascular outcomes.
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Promoting Healthy Work for Employees with Chronic Illness : Analysis of Models of Good Practice
Kristin ten Have; Anja Dijkman; Dr. Rob Gründemann; Cees Wevers
2012-01-01
The ENWHP project and campaign Promoting Healthy Work for Employees with Chronic Illness (PH Work) should contribute towards the implementation of effective workplace health practices within corporate policies of enterprises in Europe. More specific the project should stimulate activities and
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Butter, Maureen E.
1999-01-01
NGO Background document for the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health and parallel Healthy Planet Forum, London 16-18 June 1999. This reader was composed as a background document to the 3rd WHO/ UNECE Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health and parallel NGO Conference in
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Simmons, Leigh Ann; Swanberg, Jennifer E
2009-08-01
The psychosocial work environment has been associated with mental health outcomes; however, little research has examined this relationship for low-wage workers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychosocial job characteristics and depressive symptoms for US workers using an expanded model of job quality. Data were from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, a nationally representative study of wage and salaried workers in the US. Working poor was defined as households earning working poor employees, job insecurity was the single significant correlate of depressive symptoms after controlling for other demographic and work environment variables. For working non-poor employees, high psychological demands and low supervisor and coworker support were associated with depressive symptoms. Findings suggest all jobs do not equally affect employees' depressive symptoms. Implications for research that may improve the mental health of the working poor in the US are presented.
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Making Materials Matter—A Contribution to a Sociomaterial Perspective on Work Environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Johan Simonsen Abildgaard
2013-12-01
Full Text Available This paper aims to discuss the implications of adopting an STS (science and technology studies- based conceptualization of the psychosocial work environment. We problematize how work environment research presently divides elements of working conditions into separate physical and psychosocial dimensions. Based on actor network theory, a currently dominant perspective in the field of STS, we discuss the concept of sociomaterial work environment. An ANT perspective on work environment is relevant and timely, we argue, first and foremost because more entities are embraced in the analyses. We argue that the ANT perspective leads to a more nuanced understanding of the work environment where it is not a set of predefined categories that is the focus of interest, but rather the work environment as multiple locally performed aspects of agency, translation, and collectively constructed reality. This perspective on work environment, we argue, addresses pivotal issues raised in the work environment debate during the last ten years, for instance of how the work environment as a concept saliently belongs to a social democratic Scandinavian agenda in which the singular employee in a work environment context is predominantly seen as a victim. This trope, which was peaking in the 1970s, is increasingly becoming obsolete in a changing economy with still more flexible jobs. The contribution of this paper is to provide a presentation and a discussion of the potentials and pitfalls provided by a shift toward a sociomaterial work environment perspective, as well as an empirical exemplification of a sociomaterial approach to work environment assessment.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1988-01-01
This video looks at the work of the UKAEA which is concerned with environmental protection and covers 4 projects, the routine monitoring which ensures a constant check on the safe operation of nuclear plant, research into the ways radioactivity released routinely into the Irish Sea from Sellafield returns to land. Computer modelling of the large scale behaviour of radioactive releases to the environment and research into the behaviour of released chemicals and heavy metals into the food chain. (author)
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Working Memory Training in Schizophrenia and Healthy Populations
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Linette Lawlor-Savage
2014-09-01
Full Text Available Cognitive deficits are consistently demonstrated in individuals with schizophrenia. Cognitive training involves structured exercises prescribed and undertaken with the intention of enhancing cognitive abilities such as attention, memory, and problem solving. Thus, cognitive training represents a potentially promising intervention for enhancing cognitive abilities in schizophrenia. However, cognitive training programs are numerous and heterogeneous, hence, the generalizability of training related outcomes can be challenging to assess. This article will provide a brief overview of current literature on cognitive training and explore how knowledge of working memory training in healthy populations can potentially be applied to enhance cognitive functioning of individuals with schizophrenia.
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Burnout and nursing work environment in public health institutions.
Nogueira, Lilia de Souza; Sousa, Regina Márcia Cardoso de; Guedes, Erika de Souza; Santos, Mariana Alvina Dos; Turrini, Ruth Natalia Teresa; Cruz, Diná de Almeida Lopes Monteiro da
2018-01-01
to identify associations between the Burnout domains and the characteristics of the work environment. cross-sectional study with 745 nurses from 40 public health institutions in São Paulo. Nursing Work Index-Revised (NWI-R) and Maslach Burnout Inventory were used. Similar institutions according to NWI-R were grouped by clustering and the Anova and Bonferroni tests were used in the comparative analyzes. there was significant and moderate correlation between emotional exhaustion and autonomy, control over the environment and organizational support; between reduced personal accomplishment, autonomy and organizational support; and between depersonalization and autonomy. The group that presented the worst conditions in the work environment differed on emotional exhaustion from the group with most favorable traits. emotional exhaustion was the trait of Burnout that was more consistently related to the group of institutions with more unfavorable working conditions regarding autonomy, organizational support and control over the environment.
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Design of New Food Technology: Social Shaping of Working Environment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Broberg, Ole
2000-01-01
A five-year design process of a continuous process wok has been studied with the aim of elucidating the conditions for integrating working environment aspects. The design process is seen as a network building activity and as a social shaping process of the artefact. A working environment log...... is suggested as a tool designers can use to integrate considerations of future operators' working environment....
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THE PRINCIPALS’ ROLE IN DEVELOPING SOCIAL CAPITAL FORTHE PROMOTION OF HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Siphokazi Kwatubana
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Schoolleaders’ individual and collective efforts are essential in the promotion ofhealthy school environments. In this respect, the building of social capital is veryimportant for a school’s improvement. The aim of this paper was to determine therole principals played in developing social capital to enhance healthy schoolenvironments. The study was conducted in two districts, one in the Gauteng andthe other in the Free State provinces of South Africa. It was undertaken as aqualitative research study that involved seven participants. Data collectionstrategies employed included narratives, individual interviews and field notes. Thestudy was considered important in its application of the social capital theory todetermine the role of principals in solicitingeconomic resources for their schools.From the findings, the main challenge that was common in all the participatingschools was the lack of resources for the Promotion ofHealthySchoolEnvironments. It was found that some principals were able to identify andapproach companies that could assist their schools but were then unable to buildtrusting relationships. In view of the findings, this research recommendstrainingto equip principals with skills to enable them tomobilise resources by takingadvantage ofsocial capitalin their communities.
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Healthy organizational practices against violence at work. Study of incidence
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Miguel Ángel Gimeno Navarro
2012-06-01
Full Text Available Violence at work is a growing problem for organizations. It involves significant costs for the organization, its members and the community. In its various dimensions, organized violence is one of the least investigated. This study provides evidence of the relevance of this dimension has on the development of violent behavior in the workplace. The results indicate that practices an organization implements an impact on levels of violence that occur at work. For the development of healthy organizations, free of violence, the company management must take a holistic approach and look at best practices related to human resource management, with leadership factors or job design
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Hospital nurses' work environment, quality of care provided and career plans.
Hinno, S; Partanen, P; Vehviläinen-Julkunen, K
2011-06-01
In several European countries, the availability of qualified nurses is insufficient to meet current healthcare requirements. Nurses are highly dissatisfied with the rising demands of the healthcare environment and increasingly considering leaving their jobs. The study aims to investigate the relationships between the characteristics of hospital nurses' work environment and the quality of care provided, and furthermore to examine Dutch nurses' career plans. A cross-sectional, questionnaire survey of registered nurses (n = 334) working in the academic and district hospitals was conducted in 2005/2006. Previously validated questionnaires translated into the participants' language were used. Factor and regression analysis were used for data analysis. Overall, nurses rated their work environment rather favourably. Five work environment characteristics were identified: support for professional development, adequate staffing, nursing competence, supportive management and teamwork. Significant relationships were found between nurses' perceptions of their work environment characteristics and quality of care provided and nurses' career plans. When work environment characteristics were evaluated to be better, nurse-assessed quality of care also increased and intentions to leave current job decreased linearly. Study findings suggest that nurses' perceptions of their work environment are important for nurse outcomes in hospital settings. Further research is needed to explore the predictive ability of the work environment for nurse, patient and organizational outcomes in hospitals. © 2011 The Authors. International Nursing Review © 2011 International Council of Nurses.
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How Nurses Experience Their Work as a Learning Environment
Skår, Randi
2010-01-01
This article explores and illuminates the meaning of nurses’ experiences with their work as a learning environment. A qualitative hermeneutic approach guided the research process and the analysis and interpretation of the transcribed interview-texts of eleven graduate nurses. Three core themes emerged from these informants’ descriptions of their work as a learning environment: ‘participation in the work community’, ‘to engage in interpersonal relations’ and ‘accessing important...
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Work, work-life conflict and health in an industrial work environment.
Hämmig, O; Bauer, G F
2014-01-01
Work-life conflict has been poorly studied as a cause of ill-health in occupational medicine. To study associations between physical and psychosocial working conditions, including work-life conflict on the one hand and general, physical and mental health outcomes on the other. Cross-sectional data were used from an employee survey among the workforces of four medium-sized and large companies in Switzerland. Physical work factors included five demands and exposures such as heavy loads, repetitive work and poor posture. Psychosocial factors included 14 demands and limited resources such as time pressure, overtime, monotonous work, job insecurity, low job autonomy, low social support and work-life conflict. Health outcomes studied were self-rated health, sickness absence, musculoskeletal disorders, sleep disorders, stress and burnout. There was a response rate of 49%; 2014 employees participated. All adverse working conditions were positively associated with several poor health outcomes in both men and women. After mutual adjustment for all work factors and additional covariates, only a few, mainly psychosocial work factors remained significant as risk factors for health. Work-life conflict, a largely neglected work-related psychosocial factor in occupational medicine, turned out to be the only factor that was significantly and strongly associated with all studied health outcomes and was consistently found to be the strongest or second strongest of all the studied risk factors. Even in an industrial work environment, psychosocial work factors, and particularly work-life conflict, play a key role and need to be taken into consideration in research and workplace health promotion.
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Work environment and health among Swedish livestock workers
Kolstrup, Christina
2008-01-01
During the last decades, Swedish livestock farming has undergone considerable structural changes and technical development, which have influenced the work environment and health of the workers in several ways. The general aim of the studies was to investigate the work environment and health among Swedish livestock workers on large modern dairy and pig farms. The studies were mainly based on questionnaires. The results showed that the livestock workers reported high frequencies of musculoskele...
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Organizational change, psychosocial work environment, and non-disability early retirement
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Breinegaard, Nina; Jensen, Johan Høy; Bonde, Jens Peter
2017-01-01
Objective: This study examines the impact of organizational change and psychosocial work environment on non-disability early retirement among senior public service employees. Methods: In January and February 2011, Danish senior public service employees aged 58–64 years (N=3254) from the Capital...... psychosocial work environment contribute to non-disability early retirement among senior public service employees, measured at work-unit level....... Region of Denmark responded to a survey assessing psychosocial work environment (ie, social capital, organizational justice, and quality of management). Work-unit organizational changes (ie, change of management, merging, demerging, and relocation) were recorded from January 2009 to March 2011. Weekly...
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Healthy time use in the encore years: do work, resources, relations, and gender matter?
Flood, Sarah M; Moen, Phyllis
2015-03-01
Social engagement is theorized to promote health, with ages 55 to 75-what some call "encore" adulthood-potentially being a time for ongoing engagement or social isolation. We use the American Time Use Survey (N = 11,952) and a life course perspective to examine associations between paid work, resources, relations, and healthy time use for men and women in the first (55-64) and second (65-74) halves of the encore years. Work limits sufficient sleep (full-time working men) and television watching (all workers) but also time spent in physical activity (full-time workers). College-educated and healthy encore adults-across age and gender divides-are more likely to exercise and watch less television. Marriage and caregiving encourage socializing and limit television watching, despite differential effects on physical activity and sleep. These findings fit well with a gendered life course perspective suggesting socially patterned (by work, resources, relationships, gender, age) health behaviors. © American Sociological Association 2015.
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Healthy Time Use in the Encore Years: Do Work, Resources, Relations, and Gender Matter?*
Flood, Sarah M.; Moen, Phyllis
2015-01-01
Social engagement is theorized to promote health, with ages 55 to 75 – what some call “encore” adulthood – potentially a time for ongoing engagement or social isolation. We use the American Time Use Survey (N=11,952) and a life course perspective to examine associations between paid work, resources, relations, and healthy time use for men and women in the first (55–64) and second (65–74) halves of the encore years. Work limits sufficient sleep (full-time working men) and television watching (all workers) but also time spent in physical activity (full-time workers). College-educated and healthy encore adults – across age and gender divides – are more likely to exercise and watch less television. Marriage and caregiving encourage socializing and limit television watching, despite differential effects on physical activity and sleep. These findings fit well with a gendered life course perspective suggesting socially patterned (by work, resources, relationships, gender, age) health behaviors. PMID:25722126
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Jarman, Lisa; Martin, Angela; Venn, Alison; Otahal, Petr; Sanderson, Kristy
2015-12-24
Workplace health promotion (WHP) has been proposed as a preventive intervention for job stress, possibly operating by promoting positive organizational culture or via programs promoting healthy lifestyles. The aim of this study was to investigate whether job stress changed over time in association with the availability of, and/or participation in a comprehensive WHP program (Healthy@Work). This observational study was conducted in a diverse public sector organization (~28,000 employees). Using a repeated cross-sectional design with models corroborated using a cohort of repeat responders, self-report survey data were collected via a 40 % employee population random sample in 2010 (N = 3406) and 2013 (N = 3228). Outcomes assessed were effort and reward (self-esteem) components of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) measure of job stress. Exposures were availability of, and participation in, comprehensive WHP. Linear mixed models and Poisson regression were used, with analyses stratified by sex and weighted for non-response. Higher WHP availability was positively associated with higher perceived self-esteem among women. Women's mean reward scores increased over time but were not statistically different (p > 0.05) after 3 years. For men, higher WHP participation was associated with lower perceived effort. Men's mean ERI increased over time. Results were supported in the cohort group. For women, comprehensive WHP availability contributed to a sense of organizational support, potentially impacting the esteem component of reward. Men with higher WHP participation also benefitted but gains were modest over time and may have been hindered by other work environment factors.
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Protection of the disabled in the work environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jovanović Predrag P.
2015-01-01
Full Text Available The disabled enjoy special protection at work (in the work environment. The importance of this protection essentially determines the status of the disabled in the society, because it is connected with the work of the disabled with which get the means of life, but they are also brought into an equal position with other persons that do not have disability and whose working abilities are not reduced. There is a lot of vagueness in terms of terminological and meaning determination of the concept of disability, both in the international and the domestic law. We tried to elaborate the issue of disability in the paper firstly in the terminological and meaning sense and then to present international legal and domestic platform of their protection at work connected with the work, too (the work environment. Special emphasis was put on the concept of the disabled worker and their equal protection, with a critic review on the existing solutions in the effective law.
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A review of the knowledge base on healthy worksite culture.
Aldana, Steven G; Anderson, David R; Adams, Troy B; Whitmer, R William; Merrill, Ray M; George, Victoria; Noyce, Jerry
2012-04-01
To identify the need for worksite cultures of health, the organizational factors that support worksite cultures of health, the tools that have been used to measure worksite cultures of health, and the research needs related to healthy worksite culture. A cross-sectional survey involving a sample of 500 companies representing a broad spectrum of industries and business sectors. A literature review was conducted. Similar to a culture of safety that encourages safer behaviors and enables a safer workplace, a culture of health provides a supportive work leadership with a favorable work environment and health-related policies that promote employee health and result in substantial decrease in employee health risks and medical costs. Worksite policies and environments supporting a culture of health are important to helping employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviors.
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Watts, Allison W; Laska, Melissa N; Larson, Nicole I; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne R
2016-01-01
The purpose of this study was to describe the workplace environments of young adults and examine associations with diet, physical activity (PA) and body mass index (BMI). Cross-sectional data were collected (2008-2009) from 1538 employed young adult participants in Project EAT (Eating and Activity among Teens and Young Adults), a diverse population-based sample. Survey measures assessed height, weight, diet, moderate-to-vigorous PA, transportation-related PA and perceptions of the workplace food and PA environments (eg, soda availability, coworker support). Healthful characteristics were summed to reflect overall workplace healthfulness. Modified Poisson regression analyses conducted in 2015 identified associations between workplace food and PA environments and diet, PA and BMI. The healthfulness of workplace environments was suboptimal. Greater exposure to healthful workplace characteristics was related to more young adults engaged in favourable diet and PA behaviours and a lower prevalence obesity. For example, adjusted rates of obesity were 24% and 17% among those reporting low (≤1 characteristic) versus high (≥3 characteristics) exposure to healthful food environments, respectively (pwork and perceived ease of eating a healthy diet or being active at work. A more healthful workplace environment overall, including physical attributes and perceived social norms, may contribute to more favourable weight-related behaviours and lower prevalence of obesity among young adults. Employer-initiated and community-initiated policies may represent one way to create healthier workplace environments for young adults. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/
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Di Fabio, Annamaria
2017-01-01
This contribution deals with the concept of healthy organizations and starts with a definition of healthy organizations and healthy business. In healthy organizations, culture, climate, and practices create an environment conducive to employee health and safety as well as organizational effectiveness (Lowe, 2010). A healthy organization thus leads to a healthy and successful business (De Smet et al., 2007; Grawitch and Ballard, 2016), underlining the strong link between organizational profitability and workers' well-being. Starting from a positive perspective focused on success and excellence, the contribution describes how positive organizational health psychology evolved from occupational health psychology to positive occupational health psychology stressing the importance of a primary preventive approach. The focus is not on deficiency and failure but on a positive organizational attitude that proposes interventions at different levels: individual, group, organization, and inter-organization. Healthy organizations need to find the right balance between their particular situation, sector, and culture, highlighting the importance of well-being and sustainability. This contribution discusses also the sustainability of work-life projects and the meaning of work in healthy organizations, stressing the importance of recognizing, respecting, and using the meaning of work as a key for growth and success. Finally, the contribution discusses new research and intervention opportunities for healthy organizations.
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Dixon, Shane M; Nordvall, Anna-Carin; Cukier, Wendy; Neumann, W Patrick
2017-05-01
Research has suggested that products manufactured under healthy work conditions (HWC) may provide a marketing advantage to companies. This paper explores young consumers' considerations of HWC in purchasing decisions using data from qualitative interviews with a sample of 21 university students. The results suggest that interviewees frequently considered the working conditions of those who produced the products they purchased. Participants reported a willingness to pay 17.5% more on a $100 product if it were produced under HWC compared to not. Their ability and willingness to act on this issue was, however, hampered by a lack of credible information about working conditions in production, the limited availability of HWC goods and a presumed higher price of HWC goods. While caution should be applied when generalising from this targetable market segment to a general population, these results provide actionable direction for companies interested in using a HWC brand image to gain a strategic sales advantage. Practitioner Summary: This interview study shows that young consumers are interested in, and willing to pay a premium for, goods made under healthy working conditions (HWC). Reported barriers to acting on this impulse include a lack of credible information on working conditions. Ergonomics can help provide a strategic marketing advantage for companies.
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Individual differences in satisfaction with activity-based work environments
Hoendervanger, Jan; Ernst, Anja F.; Albers, Casper; Mobach, Mark; Van Yperen, Nico W.
2018-01-01
Satisfaction with activity-based work environments (ABW environments) often falls short of expectations, with striking differences among individual workers. A better understanding of these differences may provide clues for optimising satisfaction with ABW environments and associated organisational
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Association of the Nurse Work Environment, Collective Efficacy, and Missed Care.
Smith, Jessica G; Morin, Karen H; Wallace, Leigh E; Lake, Eileen T
2018-06-01
Missed nursing care is a significant threat to quality patient care. Promoting collective efficacy within nurse work environments could decrease missed care. The purpose was to understand how missed care is associated with nurse work environments and collective efficacy of hospital staff nurses. A cross-sectional, convenience sample was obtained through online surveys from registered nurses working at five southwestern U.S. hospitals. Descriptive, correlational, regression, and path analyses were conducted ( N = 233). The percentage of nurses who reported that at least one care activity was missed frequently or always was 94%. Mouth care (36.0% of nurses) and ambulation (35.3%) were missed frequently or always. Nurse work environments and collective efficacy were moderately, positively correlated. Nurse work environments and collective efficacy were associated with less missed care (χ 2 = 10.714, p = .0054). Fostering collective efficacy in the nurse work environment could reduce missed care and improve patient outcomes.
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Relationship Between Healthy Life Style and Work-Related Factors Among Call Center Workers
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Loreta Gustainienė
2012-11-01
Full Text Available Health-related issues are becoming very popular both in the broad spheres of the society and in organizations. Taking care of employee health helps the employer with maintaining and improving organizational effectiveness. The aim of the study was to identify and assess the relationship between the Five-Factor Wellness Model and work-related factors such as interpersonal conflicts, organizational constraints, workload, work-family conflict, decision latitude, transformational leadership, psychological job characteristics and perceived organizational support. The subjects of the study were 177 employees of a call center. Healthy lifestyle was measured applying a Five-Factor Wellness questionnaire (Myers, Sweeney 2005b. Physical symptoms, interpersonal conflicts, organizational constraints and workload were measured using respective scales designed by Spector and Jex (2007. Decision latitude was measured employing Karasek (1985 questionnaire. Work-family conflict was measured referring to a subscale of negative work-home interaction (Geurts et al. 2005. A transformational leadership style was measured using General Scale of transformational leadership (Carless et al. 2000. Perceived organizational support was measured using a short version of Perceived Organizational Support scale (Eisenberger et al. 1986. Research findings show that healthy lifestyle as measured by the Five-Factor Wellness Model was predicted by lower work-family conflict, whereas physical symptoms - by marked work-family conflict, decision latitude and gender (female.
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Assessment of Combustor Working Environments
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Leiyong Jiang
2012-01-01
Full Text Available In order to assess the remaining life of gas turbine critical components, it is vital to accurately define the aerothermodynamic working environments and service histories. As a part of a major multidisciplinary collaboration program, a benchmark modeling on a practical gas turbine combustor is successfully carried out, and the two-phase, steady, turbulent, compressible, reacting flow fields at both cruise and takeoff are obtained. The results show the complicated flow features inside the combustor. The airflow over each flow element of the combustor can or liner is not evenly distributed, and considerable variations, ±25%, around the average values, are observed. It is more important to note that the temperatures at the combustor can and cooling wiggle strips vary significantly, which can significantly affect fatigue life of engine critical components. The present study suggests that to develop an adequate aerothermodynamics tool, it is necessary to carry out a further systematic study, including validation of numerical results, simulations at typical engine operating conditions, and development of simple correlations between engine operating conditions and component working environments. As an ultimate goal, the cost and time of gas turbine engine fleet management must be significantly reduced.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Rasmussen, Kurt; Hansen, Claus D; Nielsen, Kent Jacob
2011-01-01
psychological demands and low social support increased the risk of experiencing work injuries after adjustment for a number of factors. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of work injuries among adolescents appears to be higher than the incidence among their older colleagues. Lack of social support from management......BACKGROUND: The objective was to examine the incidence of work accidents that required medical attention among Danish adolescents and to identify possible work environment factors associated with such accidents. METHODS: We collected information in two questionnaire rounds (2004 and 2007) from...... a birth cohort comprising all adolescents born in 1989 (n = 3,687) living in Ringkjobing County, Denmark. The questionnaire contained items on self-reported number of accidents and number of working hours in both rounds and on work environment factors in the second round. RESULTS: Approximately 5...
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Learning activities in a political context - development of the working environment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Ledskov, Annette
2002-01-01
are identified – ‘the politically actors’ and ‘the translator’. When facilitating learning activities in the management of work environment it is necessary to be aware of this political nature of the actions .In understanding learning in the management of work environment it is beneficial to look at the concept......This paper addresses a learning approach as a method for developing new strategies for managing work environment. On the basis of interviews in two companies an analysis of how actors involved in the management of work environment act concerning their task and role is conducted. Two roles...
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Nationwide survey of work environment, work-life balance and burnout among psychiatrists in Japan.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Wakako Umene-Nakano
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Psychiatry has been consistently shown to be a profession characterised by 'high-burnout'; however, no nationwide surveys on this topic have been conducted in Japan. AIMS: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of burnout and to ascertain the relationship between work environment satisfaction, work-life balance satisfaction and burnout among psychiatrists working in medical schools in Japan. METHOD: We mailed anonymous questionnaires to all 80 psychiatry departments in medical schools throughout Japan. Work-life satisfaction, work-environment satisfaction and social support assessments, as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI, were used. RESULTS: Sixty psychiatric departments (75.0% responded, and 704 psychiatrists provided answers to the assessments and MBI. Half of the respondents (n = 311, 46.0% experienced difficulty with their work-life balance. Based on the responses to the MBI, 21.0% of the respondents had a high level of emotional exhaustion, 12.0% had a high level of depersonalisation, and 72.0% had a low level of personal accomplishment. Receiving little support, experiencing difficulty with work-life balance, and having less work-environment satisfaction were significantly associated with higher emotional exhaustion. A higher number of nights worked per month was significantly associated with higher depersonalisation. CONCLUSIONS: A low level of personal accomplishment was quite prevalent among Japanese psychiatrists compared with the results of previous studies. Poor work-life balance was related to burnout, and social support was noted to mitigate the impact of burnout.
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Nationwide Survey of Work Environment, Work-Life Balance and Burnout among Psychiatrists in Japan
Umene-Nakano, Wakako; Kato, Takahiro A.; Kikuchi, Saya; Tateno, Masaru; Fujisawa, Daisuke; Hoshuyama, Tsutomu; Nakamura, Jun
2013-01-01
Background Psychiatry has been consistently shown to be a profession characterised by ‘high-burnout’; however, no nationwide surveys on this topic have been conducted in Japan. Aims The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of burnout and to ascertain the relationship between work environment satisfaction, work-life balance satisfaction and burnout among psychiatrists working in medical schools in Japan. Method We mailed anonymous questionnaires to all 80 psychiatry departments in medical schools throughout Japan. Work-life satisfaction, work-environment satisfaction and social support assessments, as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), were used. Results Sixty psychiatric departments (75.0%) responded, and 704 psychiatrists provided answers to the assessments and MBI. Half of the respondents (n = 311, 46.0%) experienced difficulty with their work-life balance. Based on the responses to the MBI, 21.0% of the respondents had a high level of emotional exhaustion, 12.0% had a high level of depersonalisation, and 72.0% had a low level of personal accomplishment. Receiving little support, experiencing difficulty with work-life balance, and having less work-environment satisfaction were significantly associated with higher emotional exhaustion. A higher number of nights worked per month was significantly associated with higher depersonalisation. Conclusions A low level of personal accomplishment was quite prevalent among Japanese psychiatrists compared with the results of previous studies. Poor work-life balance was related to burnout, and social support was noted to mitigate the impact of burnout. PMID:23418435
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Nationwide survey of work environment, work-life balance and burnout among psychiatrists in Japan.
Umene-Nakano, Wakako; Kato, Takahiro A; Kikuchi, Saya; Tateno, Masaru; Fujisawa, Daisuke; Hoshuyama, Tsutomu; Nakamura, Jun
2013-01-01
Psychiatry has been consistently shown to be a profession characterised by 'high-burnout'; however, no nationwide surveys on this topic have been conducted in Japan. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of burnout and to ascertain the relationship between work environment satisfaction, work-life balance satisfaction and burnout among psychiatrists working in medical schools in Japan. We mailed anonymous questionnaires to all 80 psychiatry departments in medical schools throughout Japan. Work-life satisfaction, work-environment satisfaction and social support assessments, as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), were used. Sixty psychiatric departments (75.0%) responded, and 704 psychiatrists provided answers to the assessments and MBI. Half of the respondents (n = 311, 46.0%) experienced difficulty with their work-life balance. Based on the responses to the MBI, 21.0% of the respondents had a high level of emotional exhaustion, 12.0% had a high level of depersonalisation, and 72.0% had a low level of personal accomplishment. Receiving little support, experiencing difficulty with work-life balance, and having less work-environment satisfaction were significantly associated with higher emotional exhaustion. A higher number of nights worked per month was significantly associated with higher depersonalisation. A low level of personal accomplishment was quite prevalent among Japanese psychiatrists compared with the results of previous studies. Poor work-life balance was related to burnout, and social support was noted to mitigate the impact of burnout.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hasle, Peter; Møller, Niels
2001-01-01
The Danish Action Plan against Repetitive Work is presented and discussed as a possible new strategy for regulating repetitive work as well as other complicated working environment problems. The article is based on an empirical evaluation ot the Action Plan. The asseessment of the Action Plan...... indicates that a measurable reduction of repetitive work has been achieved, while recognizing the the new management strategies focusing on human resources development have also played an important role. These results are used to suggest that - under certain conditions - a combination of state regulation...... and industrial relation agreements can be used to regulate other working environment problems....
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Functional work breaks in a high-demanding work environment: an experimental field study.
Scholz, André; Ghadiri, Argang; Singh, Usha; Wendsche, Johannes; Peters, Theo; Schneider, Stefan
2018-02-01
Work breaks are known to have positive effects on employees' health, performance and safety. Using a sample of twelve employees working in a stressful and cognitively demanding working environment, this experimental field study examined how different types of work breaks (boxing, deep relaxation and usual breaks) affect participants' mood, cognitive performance and neurophysiological state compared to a control condition without any break. In a repeated measures experimental design, cognitive performance was assessed using an auditory oddball test and a Movement Detection Test. Brain cortical activity was recorded using electroencephalography. Individual's mood was analysed using a profile of mood state. Although neurophysiological data showed improved relaxation of cortical state after boxing (vs. 'no break' and 'deep relaxation'), neither performance nor mood assessment showed similar results. It remains questionable whether there is a universal work break type that has beneficial effects for all individuals. Practitioner Summary: Research on work breaks and their positive effects on employees' health and performance often disregards break activities. This experimental field study in a stressful working environment investigated the effect of different work break activities. A universal work break type that is beneficial for this workplace could not be identified.
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Commitment or Compliance?—Institutional logics of work environment management
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Madsen, Christian Uhrenholdt; Hasle, Peter
2017-01-01
and where it differs from the traditional organizational approach to work environment management. In this paper, we use the ‘institutional logics’ perspective to propose heuristic ideal types of two institutional logics of work environment management: The logic of compliance as the ideal type...... of the ‘traditional’ approach to work environment management and the logic of commitment as the human resource informed approach. Through a side-by-side comparison of key characteristics, we analyze the two ideal types as instantiations of institutional orders on the societal level with the compliance logic being...... rooted in the orders of the state and the corporation, and the commitment logic as based on the orders of the corporation. The paper ends with a discussion on the how the two logics can influence concrete work environment practices and approaches to management in organizations....
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Work Environment Satisfaction and Employee Health:
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Gupta, Nabanita Datta; Kristensen, Nicolai
2008-01-01
This paper investigates whether a satisfactory work environment can promote employee health even after controlling for socioeconomic status and life style factors. A dynamic panel model of health is estimated on worker samples from Denmark, France and Spain, employing both self-assessed general...
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Organizational structures in Collaborative Work Environments: the return of the matrix?
Guldemond, E.; Have, K. ten; Knoppe, R.
2010-01-01
After major petroleum companies successfully implemented the hardware, tools and applications in Collaborative Work Environments (CWE), human factor issues remain unsolved. Working in these Collaborative Work Environments cuts across traditional disciplinary and geographically dispersed boundaries.
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Deyer, T W; Ashton-Miller, J A
1999-09-01
To test the (null) hypotheses that the reliability of unipedal balance is unaffected by the attenuation of visual velocity feedback and that, relative to baseline performance, deterioration of balance success rates from attenuated visual velocity feedback will not differ between groups of young men and older women, and the presence (or absence) of a vertical foreground object will not affect balance success rates. Single blind, single case study. University research laboratory. Two volunteer samples: 26 healthy young men (mean age, 20.0yrs; SD, 1.6); 23 healthy older women (mean age, 64.9 yrs; SD, 7.8). Normalized success rates in unipedal balance task. Subjects were asked to transfer to and maintain unipedal stance for 5 seconds in a task near the limit of their balance capabilities. Subjects completed 64 trials: 54 trials of three experimental visual scenes in blocked randomized sequences of 18 trials and 10 trials in a normal visual environment. The experimental scenes included two that provided strong velocity/weak position feedback, one of which had a vertical foreground object (SVWP+) and one without (SVWP-), and one scene providing weak velocity/strong position (WVSP) feedback. Subjects' success rates in the experimental environments were normalized by the success rate in the normal environment in order to allow comparisons between subjects using a mixed model repeated measures analysis of variance. The normalized success rate was significantly greater in SVWP+ than in WVSP (p = .0001) and SVWP- (p = .013). Visual feedback significantly affected the normalized unipedal balance success rates (p = .001); neither the group effect nor the group X visual environment interaction was significant (p = .9362 and p = .5634, respectively). Normalized success rates did not differ significantly between the young men and older women in any visual environment. Near the limit of the young men's or older women's balance capability, the reliability of transfer to unipedal
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The psychosocial work environment is associated with risk of stroke at working age.
Jood, Katarina; Karlsson, Nadine; Medin, Jennie; Pessah-Rasmussen, Hélène; Wester, Per; Ekberg, Kerstin
2017-07-01
Objective The aim of this study was to explore the relation between the risk of first-ever stroke at working age and psychological work environmental factors. Methods A consecutive multicenter matched 1:2 case-control study of acute stroke cases (N=198, age 30-65 years) who had been working full-time at the time of their stroke and 396 sex- and age-matched controls. Stroke cases and controls answered questionnaires on their psychosocial situation during the previous 12 months. The psychosocial work environment was assessed using three different measures: the job-control-demand model, the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) score, and exposures to conflict at work. Results Among 198 stroke cases and 396 controls, job strain [odds ratio (OR) 1.30, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.05-1.62], ERI (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.01-1.62), and conflict at work (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.07-2.88) were independent risk factors of stroke in multivariable regression models. Conclusions Adverse psychosocial working conditions during the past 12 months were more frequently observed among stroke cases. Since these factors are presumably modifiable, interventional studies targeting job strain and emotional work environment are warranted.
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Healthy indoors : achieving healthy indoor environments in Canada : Final report
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Anon
2002-01-01
A large proportion of the lives of Canadians is spent indoors, whether in vehicles, restaurants, shopping malls, offices or houses. The health of people working and living in those indoor settings might be damaged a a result, despite best efforts. Indoor pollution has been identified as one of the most serious risks to human health, according to numerous leading authorities, among them the American Lung Association, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). A large number of cancer deaths are attributed to indoor pollution each year in the United States, as well as respiratory health problems. A causal link between certain indoor exposures and the development and provocation of asthma was established recently in a report on asthma and indoor air quality published by the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine. Exposure to indoor pollutants has also resulted in thousands of children experiencing elevated blood lead levels. Not enough attention is paid in Canada to pollution in buildings by government agencies, corporations and other non-governmental organizations and citizens. Not much seems to have changed in the past thirty years. An ambitious strategy by Pollution Probe was described in this document, listing the initial goals and measures required to achieve those goals. The creation of Healthy Indoors Partnership (HIP) was proposed to regroup all the stakeholders under the same umbrella. refs., tabs
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Nurses' Work Environment and Spirituality: A Descriptive Study
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zastrow Patricia
2009-01-01
Full Text Available Quality of care is a major health concern in the hospital setting. A work environment thatsupports professional nursing as well as the spirituality of nurses, or the meaning/purpose nurses find intheir work may contribute to quality of patient care. Yet, little is known about the nursing workenvironment and even less about the spirituality of nurses. Thus, the aims of this study were to measuremedical-surgical nurses’ perceived professional work environment score and perceived spiritual well-beingscore and determine if the two instruments are related. This cross-sectional survey consisted of aconvenience sample of 68 nurses who completed the Professional Practice Environment Scale (PPE andSpiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB on the hospital website during working hours. Several PPE subscalescores differed significantly among the various clinical units. As the nurse’s age, and years of clinicalexperience increased, specific PPE subscale scores also increased. The nurses’ mean SWB scores were allwithin the moderate range and did not differ significantly among the clinical units. The overall PPE andSWB scores were not significantly correlated. Nursing administrators can use the PPE scores from thisstudy to address the specific needs of individual clinical units. Older and more experienced nurses mayserve as resources for younger, less experienced nurses. Both instruments can be administered repeatedlyover time to monitor trends. Based on the SWB data, nurses in this study reported average levels ofspiritual well-being. However, there is a need to learn more about the specific spiritual needs of nurses.Spirituality of nurses as well as the nurse’s work environment are separate concepts that each merit furtherinvestigation and may add to the knowledge base for increased quality patient care.
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Improving work environments in health care: test of a theoretical framework.
Rathert, Cheryl; Ishqaidef, Ghadir; May, Douglas R
2009-01-01
In light of high levels of staff turnover and variability in the quality of health care, much attention is currently being paid to the health care work environment and how it potentially relates to staff, patient, and organizational outcomes. Although some attention has been paid to staffing variables, more attention must be paid to improving the work environment for patient care. The purpose of this study was to empirically explore a theoretical model linking the work environment in the health care setting and how it might relate to work engagement, organizational commitment, and patient safety. This study also explored how the work environment influences staff psychological safety, which has been show to influence several variables important in health care. Clinical care providers at a large metropolitan hospital were surveyed using a mail methodology. The overall response rate was 42%. This study analyzed perceptions of staff who provided direct care to patients. Using structural equation modeling, we found that different dimensions of the work environment were related to different outcome variables. For example, a climate for continuous quality improvement was positively related to organizational commitment and patient safety, and psychological safety partially mediated these relationships. Patient-centered care was positively related to commitment but negatively related to engagement. Health care managers need to examine how organizational policies and practices are translated into the work environment and how these influence practices on the front lines of care. It appears that care provider perceptions of their work environments may be useful to consider for improvement efforts.
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Psychosocial work environment and antidepressant medication: a prospective cohort study
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bonde, Jens Peter; Munch-Hansen, T.; Wieclaw, J.
2009-01-01
BACKGROUND: Adverse psychosocial work environments may lead to impaired mental health, but it is still a matter of conjecture if demonstrated associations are causal or biased. We aimed at verifying whether poor psychosocial working climate is related to increase of redeemed subscription...... alone. None of the measured psychosocial work environment factors were consistently related to prescription of antidepressant drugs during the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: The study does not indicate that a poor psychosocial work environment among public service employees is related to prescription...... of antidepressant medication. METHODS: Information on all antidepressant drugs (AD) purchased at pharmacies from 1995 through 2006 was obtained for a cohort of 21,129 Danish public service workers that participated in work climate surveys carried out during the period 2002-2005. Individual self...
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Legal Regulation for Risk in the Work Environment and Bullying at work
大和田, 敢太
2009-01-01
In Belgium, protection for workers from bullying, violence and moral or sexual harassment at work is regulated by the law of June 16, 2007 in the more general framework of prevention of the psychosocial load caused by work. At the same time, it is treated from the point of view of a risk in the work environment. With regard to definitions, violence at work is defined as all situations in which a person is threatened or attacked psychologically or hysically during performance of their duties. ...
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Mathis, Justin C; Campbell, Vicki L
2015-07-01
To compare axillary and rectal temperature measurements obtained with a digital thermometer for Beagles in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. 26 healthy Beagles (17 sexually intact males and 9 sexually intact females). Dogs were maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment for 56 days before rectal and axillary temperatures were measured. Axillary and rectal temperatures were obtained in triplicate for each dog by use of a single commercially available manufacturer-calibrated digital thermometer. Mean rectal and axillary temperatures of Beagles maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment were significantly different, with a median ± SD difference of 1.4° ± 0.15°C (range, 0.7° to 2.1°C). Mean rectal and axillary temperatures were 38.7°C (range, 37.6° to 39.5°C) and 37.2°C (range, 36.6° to 38.3°C), respectively. Results of this study indicated that the historical reference of a 0.55°C gradient between rectal and axillary temperatures that has been clinically used for veterinary patients was inaccurate for healthy Beagles in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. Rectal and axillary temperatures can be measured in veterinary patients. Reliable interpretation of axillary temperatures may accommodate patient comfort and reduce patient anxiety when serial measurement of temperatures is necessary. Further clinical studies will be needed.
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Effects of nurse work environment on job dissatisfaction, burnout, intention to leave.
Nantsupawat, A; Kunaviktikul, W; Nantsupawat, R; Wichaikhum, O-A; Thienthong, H; Poghosyan, L
2017-03-01
The nursing shortage is a critical issue in many countries. High turnover rates among nurses is contributing to the shortage, and job dissatisfaction, intention to leave, and burnout have been identified as some of the predictors of nurse turnover. A well-established body of evidence demonstrates that the work environment for nurses influences nurse job dissatisfaction, intention to leave, and burnout, but there never has been a study undertaken in Thailand to investigate this relationship. To investigate how work environment affects job dissatisfaction, burnout, and intention to leave among nurses in Thailand. The study used a cross-sectional survey to collect data from 1351 nurses working in 43 inpatient units in five university hospitals across Thailand. The participants completed the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and measures of job dissatisfaction and intention to leave. Logistical regression models assessed the association between work environment and nurse-reported job dissatisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave. Nurses working in university hospitals with better work environments had significantly less job dissatisfaction, intention to leave, and burnout. The nurse work environment is a significant feature contributing to nurse retention in Thai university hospitals. Improving the work environment for nurses may lead to lower levels of job dissatisfaction, intention to leave, and burnout. Focusing on these nurse outcomes can be used as a strategy to retain nurses in the healthcare system. Addressing the challenges of poor work environments requires coordinated action from policymakers and health managers. © 2016 International Council of Nurses.
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Carhart-Harris, Robin L; Williams, Tim M; Sessa, Ben; Tyacke, Robin J; Rich, Ann S; Feilding, Amanda; Nutt, David J
2011-11-01
This study sought to assess the tolerability of intravenously administered psilocybin in healthy, hallucinogen-experienced volunteers in a mock-magnetic resonance imaging environment as a preliminary stage to a controlled investigation using functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the effects of psilocybin on cerebral blood flow and activity. The present pilot study demonstrated that up to 2 mg of psilocybin delivered as a slow intravenous injection produces short-lived but typical drug effects that are psychologically and physiologically well tolerated. With appropriate care, this study supports the viability of functional magnetic resonance imaging work with psilocybin.
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Lean and the working environment: a review of the literature
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hasle, Peter; Bojesen, Anders; Jensen, Per Langaa
2012-01-01
for the negative impact of lean on both the working environment and employee health and well-being in cases of manual work with low complexity. However, since examples of positive effects were also found in the literature, it is important to move from a simple cause-and-effect model to a more comprehensive model...... of manufacturing industry. The literature reflects, only to a limited extent, on the significance of implementation strategy and production context. Practical implications - Organizations working with lean should make efforts to avoid an impaired working environment for manual employees. Involvement of employees......Purpose - The effects of lean on employees have been debated ever since the concept was introduced. The purpose of this paper is to review the scientific literature on the effects of lean on the working environment and employee health and well-being. Design/methodology/approach - Relevant databases...
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Healthy Buildings, Healthy People - A Vision for the 21st Century
Healthy Buildings, Healthy People lays out a blueprint by which agencies and individuals across the country, and around the world, can focus their efforts towards improvements in the indoor environment and health.
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Assessment of additional impacts to environment during Ukryttya object stabilization works
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Klyuchnikov, A.A.; Shcherbin, V.N.; Rud'ko, V.M.; Batij, V.G.; Sizov, A.A.; Khavrus', V.G.
2004-01-01
Estimates of impact levels onto environment were made when implementing stabilization works of unstable building structures of Ukryttya object. The impact were evaluated to air water medium, as well to ground cover, social and technogenic environments. It was demonstrated, that impact levels to above environmental components under normal conditions of work implementation are negligible, and radioactive substance amount, which will penetrate into the environment, will make parts of percents to existing contamination of exclusion zone area. Estimates are also made of accident impacts onto environment, whose origination is probable during the stabilization works of Ukryttya object
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Developing and testing a model of psychosocial work environment and performance
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Edwards, Kasper; Pejtersen, Jan Hyld; Møller, Niels
2011-01-01
Good psychosocial work environment has been assumed to result in good work performance. However, little documentation exists which support the claim and the same goes for the opposite claim. This paper reports findings from a combined quantitative and qualitative study of the relationship between...... psychosocial work environment and performance in a large Danish firm. The objects of the study were more than 45 customer centers’ with 9-20 employees each. A substantial database covering the 45 customer centers over a period of 5 years has been gathered. In this period the Copenhagen psychosocial...... questionnaire (COPSOQ) has been used two times with two years in between. This allows us to build a model of the relationship between psychosocial work environment, selected context variables and performance data. The model proposes that good psychosocial work environment is a function of leadership which...
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Developing and testing a model of psychosocial work environment and performance
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Edwards, Kasper; Pejtersen, Jan Hyld; Møller, Niels
Good psychosocial work environment has been assumed to result in good work performance. However, little documentation exists which support the claim and the same goes for the opposite claim. This paper reports findings from a combined quantitative and qualitative study of the relationship between...... psychosocial work environment and performance in a large Danish firm. The objects of the study were more than 45 customer centers’ with 9-20 employees each. A substantial database covering the 45 customer centers over a period of 5 years has been gathered. In this period the Copenhagen psychosocial...... questionnaire (COPSOQ) has been used two times with two years in between. This allows us to build a model of the relationship between psychosocial work environment, selected context variables and performance data. The model proposes that good psychosocial work environment is a function of leadership which...
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Pieper, Joy Rickman; Whaley, Shannon E
2011-08-01
The purpose of this research was to examine relationships between eating behaviors and the cognitive environment in primarily Hispanic low-income households with young children receiving WIC benefits in Los Angeles County. Survey data were collected from 3645 low-income families with children age 12-65 mo in Los Angeles County. Eating behaviors were measured through questions about fruit, vegetable, milk, soft drink, and fast food intake. The cognitive environment was evaluated through questions on the home literacy environment (HLE), reading frequency, and preschool enrollment. All healthy eating behaviors measured were significantly and positively associated with reading frequency and HLE scores after adjustment for confounders. HLE and reading frequency scores were 18% and 14% higher, respectively, in children eating two or more servings of fruit per day and 12% and 9% higher, respectively, in children eating three or more servings of vegetables per day. Preschool enrollment was not significantly associated with any eating behavior. Outcomes varied by language-ethnic groups and child sex. Results suggest that healthy eating behaviors are positively associated with stronger cognitive environments in low-income Hispanic families with young children. Interventions to prevent childhood obesity in this group may therefore benefit from including a home literacy component. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Professional nursing practice in critical units: assessment of work environment characteristics
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Luiz Felipe Sales Maurício
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: assess the autonomy, control over environment, and organizational support of nurses' work process and the relationships between physicians and nurses in critical care units. Method: cross-sectional study conducted with 162 nurses working in the intensive care units and emergency service of a university hospital. The workers' satisfaction with their work environment was assessed using Brazilian Nursing Work Index - Revised, translated and adapted for the Brazilian culture. Results: average age was 31.6 ± 3.9 years; 80.2% were women; 68.5% Caucasians and 71.6% worked in intensive care units. The nurses considered autonomy (2.38 ± 0.64 and their relationship with physicians (2.24 ± 0.62 to be characteristics of the work environment that favored professional practice. Control over environment (2.78 ± 0.62 and organizational support (2.51 ± 0.54, however, were considered to be unfavorable. No statistically significant differences were found between the units based on the scores obtained by the professionals on the Brazilian Nursing Work Index - Revised. Conclusion: autonomy, relationship between physicians and nurses, and organizational support were considered by the units to be characteristics that favored nurses' professional practices. On the other hand, control over environment and organizational support were considered unfavorable.
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Working memory in healthy aging and in Parkinson's disease: evidence of interference effects.
Di Rosa, Elisa; Pischedda, Doris; Cherubini, Paolo; Mapelli, Daniela; Tamburin, Stefano; Burigo, Michele
2017-05-01
Focusing on relevant information while suppressing the irrelevant one are critical abilities for different cognitive processes. However, their functioning has been scarcely investigated in the working memory (WM) domain, in both healthy and pathological conditions. The present research aimed to study these abilities in aging and Parkinson's disease (PD), testing three groups of healthy participants (young, older and elderly) and one of PD patients, employing a new experimental paradigm. Results showed that the transient storing of irrelevant information in WM causes substantial interference effects, which were remarkable in elderly individuals on both response latency and accuracy. Interestingly, PD patients responded faster and were equally accurate compared to a matched control group. Taken together, findings confirm the existence of similar mechanisms for orienting attention inwards to WM contents or outwards to perceptual stimuli, and suggest the suitability of our task to assess WM functioning in both healthy aging and PD.
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Using a strengths-based approach to build caring work environments.
Henry, Linda S; Henry, James D
2007-12-01
The current health care environment has a growing shortage of nurses and other health care professionals. Health care organizations face the twofold task of retaining employees and preventing "brain drain". A caring work environment can be instrumental in attracting and retaining productive and loyal employees, leading to increased employee and patient satisfaction and a positively impacted bottom line. A strengths-based approach powerfully and effectively promotes and nurtures a caring work environment in all health care specialties and organizations.
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[Working environment and educational environment are two sides of the same coin].
Kannegaard, Pia Nimann; Holm, Ellen Astrid
2014-01-20
Educational environment is of major importance for job satisfaction and it consists of several components including curriculum and values of the organization. Educational climate is the environment, as the individual physicians perceive it. Motivation is important for job satisfaction as well as for learning. Autonomy, responsibility, supervision, feedback are all important factors influencing motivation and learning. These factors must be supported through appropriate organization of work in hospital departments and in general practice.
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Lilley, Rebbecca; Feyer, Anne-Marie; Firth, Hilda; Cunningham, Chris; Paul, Charlotte
2010-02-01
Changes to work and the impact of these changes on worker health and safety have been significant. A core surveillance data set is needed to understand the impact of working conditions and work environments. Yet, there is little harmony amongst international surveys and a critical lack of guidance identifying the best directions for surveillance efforts. This paper describes the establishment of an instrument suitable for use as a hazard surveillance tool for New Zealand workers. An iterative process of critical review was undertaken to create a dimensional framework and select specific measures from existing instruments. Pilot testing to ascertain participant acceptability of the questions was undertaken. The final questionnaire includes measures of socio-demographic characteristics, occupational history, work organisation, physicochemical, ergonomic and psychosocial hazards. Outcome measures were also included. A robust New Zealand hazard surveillance questionnaire comprehensively covering the key measures of work organisation and work environments that impact upon worker health and safety outcomes was developed. Recommended measures of work organisation, work environment and health outcomes that should be captured in work environment surveillance are made.
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Communities of Color Creating Healthy Environments to Combat Childhood Obesity
Subica, Andrew M.; Douglas, Jason A.; Villanueva, Sandra
2016-01-01
Ethnic and racial health disparities present an enduring challenge to community-based health promotion, which rarely targets their underlying population-level determinants (e.g., poverty, food insecurity, health care inequity). We present a novel 3-lens prescription for using community organizing to treat these determinants in communities of color based on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Communities Creating Healthy Environments initiative, the first national project to combat childhood obesity in communities of color using community organizing strategies. The lenses—Social Justice, Culture–Place, and Organizational Capacity–Organizing Approach—assist health professional–community partnerships in planning and evaluating community organizing–based health promotion programs. These programs activate community stakeholders to alter their community’s disease-causing, population-level determinants through grassroots policy advocacy, potentially reducing health disparities affecting communities of color. PMID:26562108
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Gendered Learning Environments in Managerial Work
Gustavsson, Maria; Eriksson, Anna Fogelberg
2010-01-01
The aim is to investigate female and male managers' learning environments with particular focus on their opportunities for and barriers to learning and career development in the managerial work of a male-dominated industrial company. In the case study 42 managers, 15 women and 27 men in the company were interviewed. The findings demonstrate that…
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Rasmussen, Kurt; Hansen, Claus D; Nielsen, Kent J; Andersen, Johan H
2011-02-01
The objective was to examine the incidence of work accidents that required medical attention among Danish adolescents and to identify possible work environment factors associated with such accidents. We collected information in two questionnaire rounds (2004 and 2007) from a birth cohort comprising all adolescents born in 1989 (n = 3,687) living in Ringkjøbing County, Denmark. The questionnaire contained items on self-reported number of accidents and number of working hours in both rounds and on work environment factors in the second round. Approximately 5% of the adolescents who held a job, experienced a work injury at the age of 17. This equals an incidence of 65 accidents per million working hours. Most adolescents had decent working conditions, although nearly half reported that their work was heavy, monotonous or psychologically demanding. Heavy work, high psychological demands and low social support increased the risk of experiencing work injuries after adjustment for a number of factors. The incidence of work injuries among adolescents appears to be higher than the incidence among their older colleagues. Lack of social support from management significantly raised adolescents' risk of experiencing a work injury. This suggests that more direct supervision may be a good way of preventing accidents in this age group. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Quality of the working environment and productivity : research findings and case studies
Greef, M. de; Broek, K. van den; Jongkind, R.; Kenny, L.; Shechtman, O.; Kuhn, K.
2004-01-01
The purpose of this working paper, prepared by the Topic Centre on Research - Work and Health of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, is to look at the link between a good working environment and productivity. A better understanding of positive effects of a good working environment
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Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M.
2016-01-01
Enhancing cognitive ability is an attractive concept, particularly for middle-aged adults interested in maintaining cognitive functioning and preventing age-related declines. Computerized working memory training has been investigated as a safe method of cognitive enhancement in younger and older adults, although few studies have considered the potential impact of working memory training on middle-aged adults. This study investigated dual n-back working memory training in healthy adults aged 30–60. Fifty-seven adults completed measures of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence before and after a 5-week web-based dual n-back or active control (processing speed) training program. Results: Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance failed to identify improvements across the three cognitive composites, working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, after training. Follow-up Bayesian analyses supported null findings for training effects for each individual composite. Findings suggest that dual n-back working memory training may not benefit working memory or fluid intelligence in healthy adults. Further investigation is necessary to clarify if other forms of working memory training may be beneficial, and what factors impact training-related benefits, should they occur, in this population. PMID:27043141
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Linette Lawlor-Savage
Full Text Available Enhancing cognitive ability is an attractive concept, particularly for middle-aged adults interested in maintaining cognitive functioning and preventing age-related declines. Computerized working memory training has been investigated as a safe method of cognitive enhancement in younger and older adults, although few studies have considered the potential impact of working memory training on middle-aged adults. This study investigated dual n-back working memory training in healthy adults aged 30-60. Fifty-seven adults completed measures of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence before and after a 5-week web-based dual n-back or active control (processing speed training program.Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance failed to identify improvements across the three cognitive composites, working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, after training. Follow-up Bayesian analyses supported null findings for training effects for each individual composite. Findings suggest that dual n-back working memory training may not benefit working memory or fluid intelligence in healthy adults. Further investigation is necessary to clarify if other forms of working memory training may be beneficial, and what factors impact training-related benefits, should they occur, in this population.
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Microbial ecology of artisanal Italian Cheese: environment and working conditions
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dioguardi, L.; Colombo, E.; Franzetti, L.
2009-01-01
In agro-food sector the structural features of working environments and consequently their hygienic conditions are of primary importance for a safe and quality food production and to ensure comfortable and ergonomic working conditions. In particular, as regards high-mountain dairy production, the environment is important because it can affect the development of typical microbial ecosystem. (Author)
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Microbial ecology of artisanal Italian Cheese: environment and working conditions
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Dioguardi, L.; Colombo, E.; Franzetti, L.
2009-07-01
In agro-food sector the structural features of working environments and consequently their hygienic conditions are of primary importance for a safe and quality food production and to ensure comfortable and ergonomic working conditions. In particular, as regards high-mountain dairy production, the environment is important because it can affect the development of typical microbial ecosystem. (Author)
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Aust, Birgit; Flyvholm, Mari-Ann
2015-01-01
Targeting occupational health and safety interventions to different groups of employees and sectors is important. The aim of this study was to explore the environment-intervention fit of a Danish psychosocial work environment intervention program for the residential and home care sector. Focus group interviews with employees and interviews with mangers were conducted at 12 selected workplaces and a questionnaire survey was conducted with managers at all 115 workplaces. The interventions enhanced the probability of employees experiencing more “good” work days, where they could make a difference to the lives of clients. The interventions may therefore be characterized as culturally compelling and having a good fit with the immediate work environment of employees. The interventions furthermore seemed to fit well with the wider organizational environment and with recent changes in the societal and economic context of workplaces. However, some workplaces had difficulties with involving all employees and adapting the interventions to the organization of work. The findings suggest that flexibility and a variety of strategies to involve all employees are important aspects, if interventions are to fit well with the care sector. The focus on employees' conceptualization of a “good” work day may be useful for intervention research in other sectors. PMID:26380356
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Louise Hardman Smith
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Targeting occupational health and safety interventions to different groups of employees and sectors is important. The aim of this study was to explore the environment-intervention fit of a Danish psychosocial work environment intervention program for the residential and home care sector. Focus group interviews with employees and interviews with mangers were conducted at 12 selected workplaces and a questionnaire survey was conducted with managers at all 115 workplaces. The interventions enhanced the probability of employees experiencing more “good” work days, where they could make a difference to the lives of clients. The interventions may therefore be characterized as culturally compelling and having a good fit with the immediate work environment of employees. The interventions furthermore seemed to fit well with the wider organizational environment and with recent changes in the societal and economic context of workplaces. However, some workplaces had difficulties with involving all employees and adapting the interventions to the organization of work. The findings suggest that flexibility and a variety of strategies to involve all employees are important aspects, if interventions are to fit well with the care sector. The focus on employees’ conceptualization of a “good” work day may be useful for intervention research in other sectors.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Usama Bilal
2016-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Our aim is to conduct an exploratory study to provide an in-depth characterization of a neighborhood’s social and physical environment in relation to cardiovascular health. A mixed-methods approach was used to better understand the food, alcohol, tobacco and physical activity domains of the urban environment. Methods We conducted this study in an area of 16,000 residents in Madrid (Spain. We obtained cardiovascular health and risk factors data from all residents aged 45 and above using Electronic Health Records from the Madrid Primary Health Care System. We used several quantitative audit tools to assess: the type and location of food outlets and healthy food availability; tobacco and alcohol points of sale; walkability of all streets and use of parks and public spaces. We also conducted 11 qualitative interviews with key informants to help understanding the relationships between urban environment and cardiovascular behaviors. We integrated quantitative and qualitative data following a mixed-methods merging approach. Results Electronic Health Records of the entire population of the area showed similar prevalence of risk factors compared to the rest of Madrid/Spain (prevalence of diabetes: 12 %, hypertension: 34 %, dyslipidemia: 32 %, smoking: 10 %, obesity: 20 %. The food environment was very dense, with many small stores (n = 44 and a large food market with 112 stalls. Residents highlighted the importance of these small stores for buying healthy foods. Alcohol and tobacco environments were also very dense (n = 91 and 64, respectively, dominated by bars and restaurants (n = 53 that also acted as food services. Neighbors emphasized the importance of drinking as a socialization mechanism. Public open spaces were mostly used by seniors that remarked the importance of accessibility to these spaces and the availability of destinations to walk to. Conclusion This experience allowed testing and refining
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Differences in the Psychosocial Work Environment of Different Types of Schools.
Docker, John G.; And Others
1989-01-01
Discusses the use of the Work Environment Scale (WES) to measure teachers' perceptions of psychosocial dimensions of their school environment. Describes an application of WES in which work climates of different school types were compared and contrasted. (RJC)
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Presenteeism according to healthy behaviors, physical health, and work environment.
Merrill, Ray M; Aldana, Steven G; Pope, James E; Anderson, David R; Coberley, Carter R; Whitmer, R William
2012-10-01
The objective of this study is to identify the contribution that selected demographic characteristics, health behaviors, physical health outcomes, and workplace environmental factors have on presenteeism (on-the-job productivity loss attributed to poor health and other personal issues). Analyses are based on a cross-sectional survey administered to 3 geographically diverse US companies in 2010. Work-related factors had the greatest influence on presenteeism (eg, too much to do but not enough time to do it, insufficient technological support/resources). Personal problems and financial stress/concerns also contributed substantially to presenteeism. Factors with less contribution to presenteeism included physical limitations, depression or anxiety, inadequate job training, and problems with supervisors and coworkers. Presenteeism was greatest for those ages 30-49, women, separated/divorced/widowed employees, and those with a high school degree or some college. Clerical/office workers and service workers had higher presenteeism. Managers and professionals had the highest level of presenteeism related to having too much to do but too little time to do it, and transportation workers had the greatest presenteeism because of physical health limitations. Lowering presenteeism will require that employers have realistic expectations of workers, help workers prioritize, and provide sufficient technological support. Financial stress and concerns may warrant financial planning services. Health promotion interventions aimed at improving nutrition and physical and mental health also may contribute to reducing presenteeism.
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Phulkerd, Sirinya; Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Lawrence, Mark; Tangcharoensathien, Viroj; Sacks, Gary
2017-02-01
To determine and compare the level of implementation of policies for healthy food environments in Thailand with reference to international best practice by state and non-state actors. Data on the current level of implementation of food environment policies were assessed independently using the adapted Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI) by two groups of actors. Concrete actions were proposed for Thai Government. A joint meeting between both groups was subsequently held to reach consensus on priority actions. Thailand. Thirty state actors and twenty-seven non-state actors. Level of policy implementation varied across different domains and actor groups. State actors rated implementation levels higher than non-state actors. Both state and non-state actors rated level of implementation of monitoring of BMI highest. Level of implementation of policies promoting in-store availability of healthy foods and policies increasing tax on unhealthy foods were rated lowest by state and non-state actors, respectively. Both groups reached consensus on eleven priority actions for implementation, focusing on food provision in public-sector settings, food composition, food promotion, leadership, monitoring and intelligence, and food trade. Although the implementation gaps identified and priority actions proposed varied between state and non-state actors, both groups achieved consensus on a comprehensive food policy package to be implemented by the Thai Government to improve the healthiness of food environments. This consensus is a platform for continued policy dialogue towards cross-sectoral policy coherence and effective actions to address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and obesity in Thailand.
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75 FR 73946 - Worker Safety and Health Program: Safety Conscious Work Environment
2010-11-30
... Environment AGENCY: Office of the General Counsel, Department of Energy (DOE). ACTION: Notice of denial of... Nuclear Regulatory Commission's ``Safety-Conscious Work Environment'' guidelines as a model. DOE published.... Second, not only would instituting a ``Safety-Conscious Work Environment'' by regulation be redundant...
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The healthy organization construct: A review and research agenda.
Raya, Rampalli Prabhakara; Panneerselvam, Sivapragasam
2013-09-01
Work plays an important role in one's life for many reasons. It provides us with economic, social, and personal satisfaction and accounts for a substantial percentage of our waking hours. But in today's knowledge-driven economy, organization of work has been changing at a warp speed as a consequence of economic, social and technological aspects of changes brought down by globalization and liberalization worldwide. While this situation has eliminated some risks of the earlier industrial era, it is introducing others. In such a dynamic business environment, where can business leaders and managers find competitive advantage? It lies in balancing people and performance goals. This is the line of approach for healthy organization research that examines organizational context with regard to: People, work organization, management practices, employee wellbeing and performance. The healthy organization concept proposes that along with the profits, employee's well being should also be an important goal for organizations. In this paper, the researcher undertakes an extensive review of literature in the mainstream business literature and establishes the agenda for healthy organization research among other research paradigms.
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Psychosocial work environment and building related symptoms
Roda, C.; Bluyssen, P.M.; Mandin, C.; Fossati, S.; Carrer, P.; Kluizenaar, Y. de; Mihucz, V.G.; Oliveira Fernandes, E. de; Bartzis, J.
2015-01-01
There is growing evidence that the psychosocial work environment may affect health (Marmot et al. 2006). Nevertheless, these factors are still not commonly taken into account in the studies examining the relations between indoor environmental quality and employee’s health and wellbeing. Several
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Challenges of Working in a Multicultural Environment.
Howland, Joan S.
2001-01-01
Addresses challenges faced when working in a multicultural library setting and discusses the need for library administration to create supportive environments. Highlights include fluctuating power dynamics; merging diverse opinions and approaches; overcoming perceived lack of empathy; tokenism; accountability; and transforming challenges into…
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LANL Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE) Self-Assessment
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Hargis, Barbara C. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2014-01-29
On December 21, 2012 Secretary of Energy Chu transmitted to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) revised commitments on the implementation plan for Safety Culture at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. Action 2-5 was revised to require contractors and federal organizations to complete Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE) selfassessments and provide reports to the appropriate U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) - Headquarters Program Office by September 2013. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) planned and conducted a Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE) Self-Assessment over the time period July through August, 2013 in accordance with the SCWE Self-Assessment Guidance provided by DOE. Significant field work was conducted over the 2-week period August 5-16, 2013. The purpose of the self-assessment was to evaluate whether programs and processes associated with a SCWE are in place and whether they are effective in supporting and promoting a SCWE.
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Wästberg, Birgitta A; Erlandsson, Lena-Karin; Eklund, Mona
2016-01-01
The study aimed to investigate (a) if women's perceptions of their work environment changed during a 16-week rehabilitation period and at a 12-month follow-up; (b) whether such changes were related to outcomes in terms of return to work, well-being and valued occupations. Eighty-four gainfully employed women on sick-leave due to stress-related disorders responded to instruments assessing perceptions of the work environment, well-being (self-esteem, self-mastery, quality of life, perceived stress, self-rated health) and perceived occupational value. Data about return to work were collected from registers. Non-parametric statistics were used. The increase in the women's ratings of their work environment was non-significant between baseline and completed rehabilitation but was statistically significant between baseline and the 12-month follow-up. No relationships were found between changes in perceptions of the work environment and outcomes after the rehabilitation. At the follow-up, however, there were associations between perceived work environment changes in a positive direction and return to work; improved self-esteem, self-mastery, quality of life, perceived occupational value and self-rated health; and reduced stress. It seems important to consider the work environment in rehabilitation for stress-related problems, and a follow-up appears warranted to detect changes and associations not visible immediately after rehabilitation. Work environment Perceptions of the work environment seem important for return to work, although other factors are likely to contribute as well. Perceptions of the work environment are associated with several aspects of well-being. When developing rehabilitation interventions a focus on the clients' perceptions of their work environment seems vital.
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Berta, Whitney; Laporte, Audrey; Perreira, Tyrone; Ginsburg, Liane; Dass, Adrian Rohit; Deber, Raisa; Baumann, Andrea; Cranley, Lisa; Bourgeault, Ivy; Lum, Janet; Gamble, Brenda; Pilkington, Kathryn; Haroun, Vinita; Neves, Paula
2018-03-22
Our overarching study objective is to further our understanding of the work psychology of Health Support Workers (HSWs) in long-term care and home and community care settings in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, we seek novel insights about the relationships among aspects of these workers' work environments, their work attitudes, and work outcomes in the interests of informing the development of human resource programs to enhance elder care. We conducted a path analysis of data collected via a survey administered to a convenience sample of Ontario HSWs engaged in the delivery of elder care over July-August 2015. HSWs' work outcomes, including intent to stay, organizational citizenship behaviors, and performance, are directly and significantly related to their work attitudes, including job satisfaction, work engagement, and affective organizational commitment. These in turn are related to how HSWs perceive their work environments including their quality of work life (QWL), their perceptions of supervisor support, and their perceptions of workplace safety. HSWs' work environments are within the power of managers to modify. Our analysis suggests that QWL, perceptions of supervisor support, and perceptions of workplace safety present particularly promising means by which to influence HSWs' work attitudes and work outcomes. Furthermore, even modest changes to some aspects of the work environment stand to precipitate a cascade of positive effects on work outcomes through work attitudes.
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Evaluation of partnership working in cities in phase IV of the WHO Healthy Cities Network.
Lipp, Alistair; Winters, Tim; de Leeuw, Evelyne
2013-10-01
An intersectoral partnership for health improvement is a requirement of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network of municipalities. A review was undertaken in 59 cities based on responses to a structured questionnaire covering phase IV of the network (2003-2008). Cities usually combined formal and informal working partnerships in a pattern seen in previous phases. However, these encompassed more sectors than previously and achieved greater degrees of collaborative planning and implementation. Additional WHO technical support and networking in phase IV significantly enhanced collaboration with the urban planning sector. Critical success factors were high-level political commitment and a well-organized Healthy City office. Partnerships remain a successful component of Healthy City working. The core principles, purpose and intellectual rationale for intersectoral partnerships remain valid and fit for purpose. This applied to long-established phase III cities as well as newcomers to phase IV. The network, and in particular the WHO brand, is well regarded and encourages political and organizational engagement and is a source of support and technical expertise. A key challenge is to apply a more rigorous analytical framework and theory-informed approach to reviewing partnership and collaboration parameters.
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Psychosocial work environment and mental health among construction workers
Boschman, J. S.; van der Molen, H. F.; Sluiter, J. K.; Frings-Dresen, M. H. W.
2013-01-01
We assessed psychosocial work environment, the prevalence of mental health complaints and the association between these two among bricklayers and construction supervisors. For this cross-sectional study a total of 1500 bricklayers and supervisors were selected. Psychosocial work characteristics were
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Analysis of hazardous work environment factors at a train conductor workplace
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
M.F. Vil'k
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The paper dwells on generalized analysis of morbidity which is characteristic for conductors working in passenger carriages of locomotive-driven trains. Working conditions train conductors had to work in were examined as per results of sanitary-hygienic research on intra-carriage environment, specific working conditions assessment, and questioning. Hazards caused by working environment factors for train conductors to a certain extent depend on a carriage type, its technical and hygienic state, as well as on a route a train goes by. Our research revealed that impacts exerted by various working environment factors, namely physical, chemical, biological, and psychophysical ones, caused respiratory diseases, increased allergic reactivity, changes in hearing sensitivity, and overall morbidity growth among people from this occupational group. Unordered regime resulting from constant trips and unfavorable living conditions in a carriage lead to the following diseases: varix dilatation in legs, ischemic heart disease together with primary hypertension, and chronic rheumatic heart diseases. More precise classification of conductors' working conditions can be obtained via a mathematical model creation as it enables precise estimation of occupational diseases probability. Such models should be based on a relationship between diseases frequency (or probability and working conditions as per specific hygienic factors. We worked out methodical guidelines on providing safe working conditions at conductors' working places which include efficient activities aimed at prevention of hazardous impacts exerted by working environment factors. It will help to improve working conditions substantially, to preserve workers' health, and to ensure safe passengers traffic. Safe working conditions for conductors can be secured due to a set of activities aimed at equipping new carriages and those after capital repair with air-conditioning, disinfection systems, heating
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New Perspectives on Regulation of the Working Environment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hasle, Peter
2003-01-01
The Scandinavian countries adopted new legislation on the working environment in the 1970s which moved away from detailed technical rules and towards a reflexive legisla-tion. In the following period the working environment got received higher political pri-ority in the society. Evaluating...... the development during the last 25-30 years, a number of successful improvements can be identified. However, the general development has not been as positive as expected. It seems that new problems are emerging while the traditionally physical and chemical problems are becoming under better control....... It is therefore necessary to develop new strategies for prevention and regulation. But that is also a difficult exercise due to the fairly different political interests of all the involved parties....
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Transplant Nurses' Work Environment: A Cross-Sectional Multi-Center Study.
Kugler, Christiane; Akca, Selda; Einhorn, Ina; Rebafka, Anne; Russell, Cynthia L
2016-09-01
BACKGROUND Numerically, nurses represent the largest healthcare profession, thus setting norms for the quality and safety of direct patient care. Evidence of a global shortage of nurses in all clinical practice settings across different healthcare systems and countries has been documented. The aims of the present study were: (1) to assess work environments in a sample of German transplant nurses, and (2) to compare their statements with a US-based sample. MATERIAL AND METHODS In a cross-sectional study, 181 transplant nurses from 16 German transplant centers provided information on their work environments. The translated version of the Job Design (JD) and Job Satisfaction (JS) survey showed satisfactory internal consistency for the JD (0.78) and JS (0.93) subscales. German nurses' work environments were compared with 331 transplant nurses from the US. RESULTS The majority of transplant nurses were female (81.8%), 55.4% were age 21-40 years, and 78.1% were employed full-time. German (versus US) transplant nurses reported their job design to be best for 'skill varieties' (p≤0.0002), and worst for 'autonomy' (p≤0.01). Job satisfaction was best with 'opportunities for autonomy and growth' (p≤0.0001), and 'pay and benefits' (p≤0.0001) was lowest. A higher professional degree (OR 1.57; p≤0.03; 95% CI 1.19-2.86), and longer time in transplant (OR 1.24; p≤0.001; 95% CI 1.11-1.38) showed a positive impact on German transplant nurses' perceptions of 'job satisfaction'. Nurses with time-dependent working contracts perceived more stress negatively affecting job satisfaction (OR 1.13; p≤0.009; 95% CI 1.02-12.82). CONCLUSIONS German specialty nurses working in the field of solid organ transplantation rate their work environments with respect to job design and job satisfaction as satisfactory. Institutions' investment into satisfactory nurse work environments and specializing nurses might increase the quality of care, thus improving patient outcomes.
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An introduction to the healthy corner store intervention model in Canada.
Mah, Catherine L; Minaker, Leia M; Jameson, Kristie; Rappaport, Lissie; Taylor, Krystal; Graham, Marketa; Moody, Natalie; Cook, Brian
2017-09-14
The majority of Canadians' food acquisition occurs in retail stores. Retail science has become increasingly sophisticated in demonstrating how consumer environments influence population-level diet quality and health status. The retail food environment literature is new but growing rapidly in Canada, and there is a relative paucity of evidence from intervention research implemented in Canada. The healthy corner store model is a comprehensive complex population health intervention in small retail stores, intended to transform an existing business model to a health-promoting one through intersectoral collaboration. Healthy corner store interventions typically involve conversions of existing stores with the participation of health, community, and business sector partners, addressing business fundamentals, merchandising, and consumer demand. This article introduces pioneering experiences with the healthy corner store intervention in Canada. First, we offer a brief overview of the state of evidence within and outside Canada. Second, we discuss three urban and one rural healthy corner store initiatives, led through partnerships among community food security organizations, public health units, academics, and business partners, in Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Third, we synthesize the promising practices from these local examples, including aspects of both intervention science (e.g., refinements in measuring the food environment) and community-based practice (e.g., dealing with unhealthy food items and economic impact for the retailer). This article will synthesize practical experiences with healthy corner stores in Canada. It offers a baseline assessment of promising aspects of this intervention for health and health equity, and identifies opportunities to strengthen both science and practice in this area of retail food environment work.
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Wurster, Sebastian; Weis, Philipp; Page, Lukas; Helm, Johanna; Lazariotou, Maria; Einsele, Hermann; Ullmann, Andrew J
2017-10-01
Invasive aspergillosis remains a deadly disease in immunocompromised patients, whereas the combination of an exaggerated immune response and continuous exposure lead to various hyperinflammatory diseases. This pilot study aimed to gain an overview of the intra- and inter-individual variability in Aspergillus fumigatus reactive T-helper cells in healthy adults and the correlation with environmental mould exposure. In this flow cytometric study, the frequencies of CD154 + A. fumigatus reactive T cells were evaluated in 70 healthy volunteers. All subjects completed a standardised questionnaire addressing their mould exposure. Subjects with intensive mould exposure in their professional or residential surrounding demonstrated considerably higher mean frequencies of A. fumigatus reactive T-helper and T-memory cells. Comparative evaluation of multiple measurements over time demonstrated relatively conserved reactive T-cell frequencies in the absence of major changes to the exposure profile, whereas those frequently exposed in professional environment or with changes to their risk score demonstrated a marked dependency of antigen reactive T-cell frequencies on recent mould exposure. This pilot study was the first to provide data on the intra-individual variability in A. fumigatus reactive T-cell frequencies and its linkage to mould encounter. Fungus reactive T cells are to be considered a valued tool for the assessment of environmental mould exposure. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.
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Using a social capital framework to enhance measurement of the nursing work environment.
Sheingold, Brenda Helen; Sheingold, Steven H
2013-07-01
To develop, field test and analyse a social capital survey instrument for measuring the nursing work environment. The concept of social capital, which focuses on improving productive capacity by examining relationships and networks, may provide a promising framework to measure and evaluate the nurse work environment in a variety of settings. A survey instrument for measuring social capital in the nurse work environment was developed by adapting the World Bank's Social Capital - Integrated Questionnaire (SC-IQ). Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were applied to assess the properties of the instrument. The exploratory factor analysis yielded five factors that align well with the social capital framework, while reflecting unique aspects of the nurse work environment. The results suggest that the social capital framework provides a promising context to assess the nurse work environment. Further work is needed to refine the instrument for a diverse range of health-care providers and to correlate social capital measures with quality of patient care. Social capital measurement of the nurse work environment has the potential to provide managers with an enhanced set of tools for building productive capacity in health-care organisations and achieving desired outcomes. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Karlsson, Malin Lohela; Bergström, Gunnar; Björklund, Christina; Hagberg, Jan; Jensen, Irene
2013-12-01
The aim was to validate two measures of production loss, health-related and work environment-related production loss, concerning their associations with health status and work environment factors. Validity was assessed by evaluating the construct validity. Health problems related and work environment-related problems (or factors) were included in separate analyses and evaluated regarding the significant difference in proportion of explained variation (R) of production loss. health problems production loss was not found to fulfill the criteria for convergent validity in this study; however, the measure of work environment-related production loss did fulfill the criteria that were set up. The measure of work environment-related production loss can be used to screen for production loss due to work environment problems as well as an outcome measure when evaluating the effect of organizational interventions.
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Work Environment and Productivity among Primary School Teachers ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
User
International Multidisciplinary Journal, Ethiopia. Vol. 5 (5), Serial No. ... work environment of Nigeria primary school teachers to greater productivity ... changes on the structure and curriculum, recommend and prescribed teaching methods and ...
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Work environment stressors and personnel efficacy in Nigeria's ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Work environment stressors and personnel efficacy in Nigeria's maritime industry. ... Journal Home > Vol 15, No 1 (2017) > ... employees and corporate organizations need to manage stress by identifying the stressors and stress levels.
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Projects for increasing job satisfaction and creating a healthy work environment.
Brunges, Michele; Foley-Brinza, Christine
2014-12-01
Workplace culture is one of the biggest factors driving employee commitment and engagement. Multiple studies have shown that hospitals will perform better over time if employees are committed to their jobs and engaged in what they do. By creating and implementing multiple projects during a three-year period, a team at the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville, increased job satisfaction. Projects included ensuring meal breaks were offered, creating a serenity area, developing the patient ambassador role, actively addressing bullying and unprofessional behavior, assigning a student mentee to work with staff members on culture change, offering regular fun activities, redesigning the unit, reorganizing schedules to reduce stress, implementing education and training initiatives, establishing a Unit Practice Council, and implementing reward and recognition programs. Survey results and anecdotal evidence suggest that these projects combined to increase employee satisfaction and employee retention rates. Copyright © 2014 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Scanlon, Kelly A; Gray, George M; Francis, Royce A; Lloyd, Shannon M; LaPuma, Peter
2013-03-06
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systems-based method used to determine potential impacts to the environment associated with a product throughout its life cycle. Conclusions from LCA studies can be applied to support decisions regarding product design or public policy, therefore, all relevant inputs (e.g., raw materials, energy) and outputs (e.g., emissions, waste) to the product system should be evaluated to estimate impacts. Currently, work-related impacts are not routinely considered in LCA. The objectives of this paper are: 1) introduce the work environment disability-adjusted life year (WE-DALY), one portion of a characterization factor used to express the magnitude of impacts to human health attributable to work-related exposures to workplace hazards; 2) outline the methods for calculating the WE-DALY; 3) demonstrate the calculation; and 4) highlight strengths and weaknesses of the methodological approach. The concept of the WE-DALY and the methodological approach to its calculation is grounded in the World Health Organization's disability-adjusted life year (DALY). Like the DALY, the WE-DALY equation considers the years of life lost due to premature mortality and the years of life lived with disability outcomes to estimate the total number of years of healthy life lost in a population. The equation requires input in the form of the number of fatal and nonfatal injuries and illnesses that occur in the industries relevant to the product system evaluated in the LCA study, the age of the worker at the time of the fatal or nonfatal injury or illness, the severity of the injury or illness, and the duration of time lived with the outcomes of the injury or illness. The methodological approach for the WE-DALY requires data from various sources, multi-step instructions to determine each variable used in the WE-DALY equation, and assumptions based on professional opinion. Results support the use of the WE-DALY in a characterization factor in LCA. Integrating
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The effect of the home environment on physical activity and dietary intake in preschool children.
Østbye, T; Malhotra, R; Stroo, M; Lovelady, C; Brouwer, R; Zucker, N; Fuemmeler, B
2013-10-01
The effects of the home environment on child health behaviors related to obesity are unclear. To examine the role of the home physical activity (PA) and food environment on corresponding outcomes in young children, and assess maternal education/work status as a moderator. Overweight or obese mothers reported on the home PA and food environment (accessibility, role modeling and parental policies). Outcomes included child moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) and sedentary time derived from accelerometer data and two dietary factors ('junk' and healthy food intake scores) based on factor analysis of mother-reported food intake. Linear regression models assessed the net effect (controlling for child demographics, study arm, supplemental time point, maternal education/work status, child body mass index and accelerometer wear time (for PA outcomes)) of the home environment on the outcomes and moderation by maternal education/work status. Data were collected in North Carolina from 2007 to 2011. Parental policies supporting PA increased MVPA time, and limiting access to unhealthy foods increased the healthy food intake score. Role modeling of healthy eating behaviors increased the healthy food intake score among children of mothers with no college education. Among children of mothers with no college education and not working, limiting access to unhealthy foods and role modeling reduced 'junk' food intake scores whereas parental policies supporting family meals increased 'junk' food intake scores. To promote MVPA, parental policies supporting child PA are warranted. Limited access to unhealthy foods and role modeling of healthy eating may improve the quality of the child's food intake.
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Halkett, G K B; McKay, J; Hegney, D G; Breen, Lauren J; Berg, M; Ebert, M A; Davis, M; Kearvell, R
2017-09-01
Workforce recruitment and retention are issues in radiation oncology. The working environment is likely to have an impact on retention; however, there is a lack of research in this area. The objectives of this study were to: investigate radiation therapists' (RTs) and radiation oncology medical physicists' (ROMPs) perceptions of work and the working environment; and determine the factors that influence the ability of RTs and ROMPs to undertake their work and how these factors affect recruitment and retention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematic analysis was used. Twenty-eight RTs and 21 ROMPs participated. The overarching themes were delivering care, support in work, working conditions and lifestyle. The overarching themes were mostly consistent across both groups; however, the exemplars reflected the different roles and perspectives of RTs and ROMPs. Participants described the importance they placed on treating patients and improving their lives. Working conditions were sometimes difficult with participants reporting pressure at work, large workloads and longer hours and overtime. Insufficient staff numbers impacted on the effectiveness of staff, the working environment and intentions to stay. Staff satisfaction is likely to be improved if changes are made to the working environment. We make recommendations that may assist departments to support RTs and ROMPs. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Starheim, Liv
2014-01-01
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how organisational activities correspond with the Working Environment Authority’s description of psychosocial working environment problems at the workplaces. Through the case study of twelve workplaces the activities are analysed focusing on the relationship...... between the Working Environment Authority’s problem descriptions after an inspection visit, and the solutions implemented by the workplace to solve the pinpointed problems. The Garbage Can mode l of decision making frames the understanding of how the workplaces decides, which activities they initiate...... as a result of the Working Environment Authority inspection. Displacement of the problem solving is suggested as a category of decision-making. The analysis shows, how the organisations choose relevant or displaced activities depended upon their agreement in the problem description, their acceptance...
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Psychosocial work environment factors and weight change
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Gram Quist, Helle; Christensen, Ulla; Christensen, Karl Bang
2013-01-01
BACKGROUND: Lifestyle variables may serve as important intermediate factors between psychosocial work environment and health outcomes. Previous studies, focussing on work stress models have shown mixed and weak results in relation to weight change. This study aims to investigate psychosocial...... factors outside the classical work stress models as potential predictors of change in body mass index (BMI) in a population of health care workers. METHODS: A cohort study, with three years follow-up, was conducted among Danish health care workers (3982 women and 152 men). Logistic regression analyses...... predicted weight loss among men. Associations were generally weak, with the exception of quality of leadership, age, and cohabitation. CONCLUSION: This study of a single occupational group suggested a few new risk factors for weight change outside the traditional work stress models....
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Work-Life Balance in an Outsourcing Environment
Wiltshire, Dervent
2013-01-01
Empirical evidence has found an increase in work-life conflicts within outsourced environments. It is important to address the increase in conflict to reduce negative effects on businesses. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of the spillover, conflict management, and resource dependency theories, the purpose of the study was to examine how…
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Leadership and the psychosocial work environment in old age care.
Lundgren, Dan; Ernsth-Bravell, Marie; Kåreholt, Ingemar
2016-03-01
To study leadership factors and their associations with psychosocial work environmental among nursing assistants who are engaged in old age care and to analyse (i) differences in the assessment of leadership factors and the assessment of psychosocial work environmental in nursing homes and home help services and (ii) the association between the psychosocial work environment and factors that are related to leadership in nursing homes and home help services. Leadership factors are an important element of the psychosocial work environment in old age care. The physical distance between leaders and nursing assistants is larger in home help services than in nursing homes. Therefore, it is important to study leadership separately in nursing homes and home help services. Assessments from 844 nursing assistants in nursing homes and 288 in home help services (45 nursing homes and 21 home help service units) were analysed. The data were analysed using linear regression. Age, gender, number of staff at the unit, number of years at the current working unit and educational level were controlled in Model 1. Summarised indexes that were based on all independent variables except the main independent variable were additionally controlled in Model 2. Psychosocial work environment was related to leadership factors, but stronger associations occurred more frequently in nursing homes than in home help services. Empowering leadership, support from superiors, the primacy of human resources and control over decisions were associated with higher assessments on all the variables that were related to the psychosocial work environment in both the nursing homes and home help services. Organisational differences in conducting leadership in old age care must be considered. Some leadership characteristics are better prerequisites for creating and maintaining a positive psychosocial work environment for nursing assistants in nursing homes and home help services. Due to the differences in
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Choi, Sandy Pin-Pin; Pang, Samantha Mei-Che; Cheung, Kin; Wong, Thomas Kwok-Shing
2011-10-01
The nursing work environment, which provides the context of care delivery, has been gaining increasing attention in recent years. A growing body of evidence points to an inseparable link between attributes of the nursing work environment and nurse and patient outcomes. While most studies have adopted a survey design to examine the workforce and work environment issues, this study employed a phenomenological approach to provide empirical evidence regarding nurses' perceptions of their work and work environment. The aim of this study was to advance our understanding of the phenomenon of increasing nurse turnover through exploring frontline registered nurses' lived experiences of working in Hong Kong public hospitals. A modified version of Van Kaam's controlled explication method was adopted. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 frontline nurses recruited from ten acute regional, district and non-acute public hospitals in Hong Kong. Their perspectives in regard to their work and work environment, such as workload, manpower demand and professional values, were extensively examined, and a hypothetical description relating the nursing work environment with nurses' turnover intention was posited. Contemplation of nurses' experiences revealed the vulnerable aspects of nursing work and six essential constituents of the nursing work environment, namely staffing level, work responsibility, management, co-worker relationships, job, and professional incentives. These essential constituents have contributed to two sets of forces, stabilizing and destabilizing forces, which originate from the attributes of the nursing work environment. Nurses viewed harmonious co-worker relationships, recognition and professional development as the crucial retaining factors. However, nurses working in an unfavorable environment were overwhelmed by destabilizing forces; they expressed frustration and demonstrated an intention to leave their work environment. The nursing
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Gendered learning environments in managerial work
Gustavsson, Maria; Fogelberg Eriksson, Anna
2010-01-01
The aim is to investigate female and male managers’ learning environments with particular focus on their opportunities for and barriers to learning and career development in the managerial work of a male-dominated industrial company. In the case study 42 managers, 15 women and 27 men in the company were interviewed. The findings demonstrate that the male managers were provided with significantly richer opportunities to participate in activities conducive to learning and career development tha...
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Prevalence of viral hepatitis (B and C serological markers in healthy working population
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
José Luis Calleja-Panero
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Introduction and objectives: prevalence of viral hepatitis (B and C changes geographically. Our aim was to determinate the prevalence of hepatitis B (HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV serological markers in healthy working population and to describe the epidemiological characteristics associated to its presence. Methods: blood samples and epidemiological data of 5,017 healthy workers from Murcia and Madrid were recorded prospectively. Results: a total of 5,017 healthy volunteers participated. Mean age 39 ± 11 years, men predominance (73 %. Prevalence of serological markers of HCV and HBV was 0.6 % and 0.7 %. Age of patients with HCV antibody was significantly higher (43 ± 9 years vs. 39 ± 11 years; p = 0.03. We observed significant differences in liver test values (alanine aminotransferase [ALT] 64 ± 56 IU/L vs. 28 ± 20 IU/L; p < 0.001; aspartate aminotransferase [AST] (51 ± 45 IU/L vs. 23 ± 12 IU/L; p < 0.001 and in gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT value (104 ± 122 IU/L vs. 37 ± 46 IU/L; p < 0.001. The presence of HCV antibody was related significantly to previous transfusion (13 % vs. 5 %; p = 0.03, tattoos (29 % vs. 13 %; p < 0.01, intravenous drug addiction (13 % vs. 0.2 %; p < 0.001 and coexistence with people with positive HCV antibody (16 % vs. 4 %; p < 0.001. In HBV no differences in basal characteristics were observed with exception in AST values (29 ± 15 IU/L vs. 23 ± 12 IU/L; p < 0.01. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg was related significantly to previous transfusion (15 % vs. 5 %; p < 0.01, tattoos (26 % vs. 14 %; p = 0.04 and coexistence with people with positive HBsAg (17 % vs. 4 %; p < 0.001. Conclusions: prevalence of serological markers in healthy working population is low. Risk factors for infection were previous transfusion and tattoos. Intravenous drug addiction was only a risk factor in HCV.
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Research on Digital Forensic Readiness Design in a Cloud Computing-Based Smart Work Environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sangho Park
2018-04-01
Full Text Available Recently, the work environments of organizations have been in the process of transitioning into smart work environments by applying cloud computing technology in the existing work environment. The smart work environment has the characteristic of being able to access information assets inside the company from outside the company through cloud computing technology, share information without restrictions on location by using mobile terminals, and provide a work environment where work can be conducted effectively in various locations and mobile environments. Thus, in the cloud computing-based smart work environment, changes are occurring in terms of security risks, such as an increase in the leakage risk of an organization’s information assets through mobile terminals which have a high risk of loss and theft and increase the hacking risk of wireless networks in mobile environments. According to these changes in security risk, the reactive digital forensic method, which investigates digital evidence after the occurrence of security incidents, appears to have a limit which has led to a rise in the necessity of proactive digital forensic approaches wherein security incidents can be addressed preemptively. Accordingly, in this research, we design a digital forensic readiness model at the level of preemptive prevention by considering changes in the cloud computing-based smart work environment. Firstly, we investigate previous research related to the cloud computing-based smart work environment and digital forensic readiness and analyze a total of 50 components of digital forensic readiness. In addition, through the analysis of the corresponding preceding research, we design seven detailed areas, namely, outside the organization environment, within the organization guideline, system information, terminal information, user information, usage information, and additional function. Then, we design a draft of the digital forensic readiness model in the cloud
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Bullying among radiation therapists: effects on job performance and work environment.
Trad, Megan; Johnson, Jordan
2014-01-01
To identify the effects of workplace bullying in the radiation therapy department on job performance and explore the environment and morale of individuals who work with a bully. A quantitative research study was designed to assess the prevalence and effects of bullying in the radiation therapy workplace. A total of 308 radiation therapists participated in the study for a return rate of 46%. Of those, 194 indicated that workplace bullying was present either in their current workplace or in a previous radiation therapy environment and that it negatively affected job performance and satisfaction. Findings of this study indicate a need for evaluation of the radiation therapy workplace, education on how to identify and prevent bullying behavior, and better communication among members of the radiation therapy environment. Participants indicated that working in a hostile environment led to forgetfulness, ineffective communication, and perceived discrepancies in promotion and treatment by management. Any bullying behavior contributes to an overall toxic work environment, which is unhealthy and unsafe for patients and therapists. Those who manage therapists should promote a culture of safety and embrace their staff's independence.
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Nationwide Survey of Work Environment, Work-Life Balance and Burnout among Psychiatrists in Japan
Umene-Nakano, Wakako; Kato, Takahiro A.; Kikuchi, Saya; Tateno, Masaru; Fujisawa, Daisuke; Hoshuyama, Tsutomu; Nakamura, Jun
2013-01-01
BACKGROUND: Psychiatry has been consistently shown to be a profession characterised by 'high-burnout'; however, no nationwide surveys on this topic have been conducted in Japan. AIMS: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of burnout and to ascertain the relationship between work environment satisfaction, work-life balance satisfaction and burnout among psychiatrists working in medical schools in Japan. METHOD: We mailed anonymous questionnaires to all 80 psychiatry depart...
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Work Environment and Japanese Fathers' Involvement in Child Care
Ishii-Kuntz, Masako
2013-01-01
Previous studies mainly examined individual and family factors affecting Japanese fathers' involvement in child care. Along with these factors, we examine how work-related factors such as father-friendly environment at work, workplace's accommodation of parental needs, job stress, and autonomy are associated with Japanese men's participation in…
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Sociotechnical design processes and working environment: The case of a continuous process wok
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Broberg, Ole
2000-01-01
A five-year design process of a continuous process wok has been studied with the aim of elucidating the conditions for integrating working environment aspects. The design process is seen as a network building activity and as a social shaping process of the artefact. A working environment log...... is suggested as a tool designers can use to integrate considerations of future operators' working environment....
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[Mobbing and working environment: towards an organizational prevention].
Bosco, Maria Giuseppina; Salerno, Silvana
2004-01-01
Psychological violence in the workplaces is increasing and the Italian national health service and trade unions are mostly involved in single cases of diagnosis strategy. To analyse published mobbing cases using a mobbing prevention approach that takes account of the main civil rights violation in mobbing actions. 25 cases were analysed in order to identify the type of mobbing, gender, the professional position and the main civil rights that were violated. Seven main civil rights had been violated in the 25 mobbing cases: health, work, professional skills, equal treatment, legality, diversity, dignity. Men working in unhealthy conditions, mostly due to unhealthy working environments, were forced to leave under the pressure of moral violence. In women, equal treatment and diversity were the main rights that were violated. Co-worker support was absent in all cases. A civil rights assessment to prevent mobbing is considered. Italian legislation, particularly the Civil Code, can be the legislation key for prevention, with the employer responsible for providing a violence-free environment as indicated in European Directive 626/94.
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The experience of work in a call centre environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sanet Hauptfleisch
2006-10-01
Full Text Available This qualitative research study explored the work experience in a call centre environment in an information technology call centre based in South Africa, which service foreign customers exclusively. Three data collection methods were used, namely narratives, in-depth interviews with call centre consultants, and observation. Following a grounded theory approach, four themes were elicited, namely the perceptions of team members, uncertainty created by a constantly changing environment, perceived distances due to management practices, and depersonalisation experienced while actually dealing with customers. In addition to this, the reported impact of these themes on work performance was explored and compared to existing research.
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MultiNational Corporations work environment of brewing firms and employees productivity
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Olugbenga Abiola OJO
2015-12-01
Full Text Available This study examined the multinational work environment and employee productivity by examining if the elements conducive work environment assists MNCs (multinational corporations employee to be motivated at work and if the provision of infrastructural facilities have a significant relationship on employee satisfaction that affect employee productivity. The data required for this study was gotten through the instrument of questionnaire. One hundred and twenty four (124 copies of questionnaire were administered out of which one hundred and thirteen (113 were retrieved for analysis. Three hypotheses were formulated from the structured research questions. Regression and correlational analysis were used to test the hypotheses through the statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS 18.0. The result showed that conducive work environment assists MNCs employee to be motivated at work (R2 = 0.546, at P < 0.05 and that provision of infrastructural facilities have a significant relationship on employee satisfaction (0.699, at P < 0.05. The study therefore recommends among others that that organization should see conducive environment and infrastructural development as a way of helping them to continue being in businesses rather than seeing it as a means of luxury to achieve their desires because it has been proven that infrastructural facility development has assisted in enhancing employee satisfaction.
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Goh, Yong-Shian; Lopez, Violeta
2016-10-01
This study sought to explore the job satisfaction level of migrant nurses working in a multicultural society and, more specifically, the relationship between their job satisfaction levels, work environment, their intentions to leave and the predictors of their intentions to leave. Nursing shortages have led to the increasing trend of employing migrant nurses, which necessitated studies examining nurses' migration. A cross-sectional, correlational design using a stratified random sample was conducted on 495 migrant nurses working in a tertiary public-funded hospital in Singapore. The results showed that migrant nurses were satisfied with their jobs; with job satisfaction negatively correlated with work environment. Interestingly, pre-existing groups of Chinese migrant nurses did not help newly arrived Chinese migrant nurses to assimilate better. Predictors of migrant nurses' intentions to leave included having supportive nurse managers and nursing practice environment. The presence of a supportive work environment is essential to retain migrant nurses. Health administrators need to empower nursing managers with skills to implement career development plans as part of hospitals' retention strategies for migrant nurses. Information should also be provided during recruitment campaigns to enable migrant nurses to make informed choices. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Hiramoto, Mitsuru; Kotani, Fumio [Institute of Nuclear Safety System Inc., Seika, Kyoto (Japan)
2000-09-01
At the maintenance work site in nuclear power plants, due to the shortening (reduction of a regular inspection period) of the regular inspection period, the tendency toward working on around-the-clock basis has increased; thus, nighttime work is on the rise. Based upon research both locally and internationally, as well as examples of measures against such a tendency and the results of on-site surveys of the environment surrounding maintenance works at nuclear power plants, the author comprehensively studied the effects of nighttime work on workers, the measures to cope with the situation, and how a working environment for nighttime work should be. Based on the results, the authors made a guidebook for nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants. This guidebook, which deals with the subject of nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants, is quite unique in the world. It is expected that by using this guidebook, the quality of nighttime maintenance work and the levels of techniques/skills would be enhanced and maintained, and the safety of workers would be ensured, promoting considerably thus the establishment of a comfortable workplace. (author)
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hiramoto, Mitsuru; Kotani, Fumio
2000-01-01
At the maintenance work site in nuclear power plants, due to the shortening (reduction of a regular inspection period) of the regular inspection period, the tendency toward working on around-the-clock basis has increased; thus, nighttime work is on the rise. Based upon research both locally and internationally, as well as examples of measures against such a tendency and the results of on-site surveys of the environment surrounding maintenance works at nuclear power plants, the author comprehensively studied the effects of nighttime work on workers, the measures to cope with the situation, and how a working environment for nighttime work should be. Based on the results, the authors made a guidebook for nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants. This guidebook, which deals with the subject of nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants, is quite unique in the world. It is expected that by using this guidebook, the quality of nighttime maintenance work and the levels of techniques/skills would be enhanced and maintained, and the safety of workers would be ensured, promoting considerably thus the establishment of a comfortable workplace. (author)
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Teacher performance and work environment in the instructional process in vocational school
Kuncoro, Tri; Dardiri, Ahmad
2017-09-01
Teachers should have pedagogical, personality, social, and professional competency. stated that performance appraisal has several benefits, namely for the implementation of reward and punishment system, provision of feedback for teachers to develop their competencies, identification of training needs, and diagnosis of problems. According to performance is one's work result or success rate as a whole over a certain period of time in performing tasks compared to various possibilities, such as work standards, targets or criteria which have been predetermined and agreed. One's performance is based on daily tasks and responsibilities assigned to him/her. The racial differences in personality are largely due to different environmental influences, where people of different races have progressed for generations. Vocational high school teachers have a low pedagogic and professional performance. The factors that influence performance, according to the partner-lawyer model proposed, are expectations about rewards, encouragements, abilities, needs and traits, perceptions of tasks, internal and external rewards, perceptions of reward levels and job satisfaction. This study used a survey method to collect data or information about a large population using relatively small samples. The population of this research was vocational high school teachers. Data analysis techniques used the Regression Analysis with the assistance of SPSS. The results of teacher performance are as follows: 1) the pedagogic performance was relatively good; 2) professional performance was relatively good, and the overall performance of vocational high school teachers was still less effective and efficient; 3) the teachers' work environment was 42.5234%; and 4) there was no correlation between work environment and teacher performance, meaning that the work environment (conditions of physical work environment, psychological work environment, and non-physical work environment) does not positively support the
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Verbal abuse from nurse colleagues and work environment of early career registered nurses.
Budin, Wendy C; Brewer, Carol S; Chao, Ying-Yu; Kovner, Christine
2013-09-01
This study examined relationships between verbal abuse from nurse colleagues and demographic characteristics, work attributes, and work attitudes of early career registered nurses (RNs). Data are from the fourth wave of a national panel survey of early career RNs begun in 2006. The final analytic sample included 1,407 RNs. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample, analysis of variance to compare means, and chi square to compare categorical variables. RNs reporting higher levels of verbal abuse from nurse colleagues were more likely to be unmarried, work in a hospital setting, or work in a non-magnet hospital. They also had lower job satisfaction, and less organizational commitment, autonomy, and intent to stay. Lastly, they perceived their work environments unfavorably. Data support the hypothesis that early career RNs are vulnerable to the effects of verbal abuse from nurse colleagues. Although more verbal abuse is seen in environments with unfavorable working conditions, and RNs working in such environments tend to have less favorable work attitudes, one cannot assume causality. It is unclear if poor working conditions create an environment where verbal abuse is tolerated or if verbal abuse creates an unfavorable work environment. There is a need to develop and test evidence-based interventions to deal with the problems inherent with verbal abuse from nurse colleagues. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.
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The importance of work environment: evidence-based strategies for enhancing nurse retention.
Flynn, Linda
2005-06-01
As the nation faces a growing nursing shortage, it is imperative that home care leaders implement evidence-based strategies to improve nurse recruitment and retention. Previous research indicates that characteristics of the work environment that support nursing practice enhance nurses' job satisfaction and reduce turnover. Yet, there is little evidence to assist in prioritizing initiatives to improve the work environment of nurses. In this nationwide survey, home care nurses were asked to rate the importance of specific agency work environment traits, as listed on the Nursing Work Index-Revised, in supporting their home care practice. The 10 agency traits rated as most important are presented, and evidence-based recommendations for creating a culture of nurse retention are discussed.
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Wan, Qiaoqin; Li, Zhaoyang; Zhou, Weijiao; Shang, Shaomei
2018-01-19
To assess turnover intention among experienced nurses and explore the effects of work environment, job characteristics and work engagement on turnover intention. The nursing shortage is an urgent concern in China. A high turnover rate of experienced nurses could have serious effects on the quality of care, costs and the efficiency of hospitals. It is crucial to explore the predictors of turnover intention and develop strategies tailored to experienced nurses. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design. A total of 778 experienced nurses from seven hospitals was surveyed on their work engagement, job characteristics, work environment and turnover intention in March-May 2017. Structural equation modelling was used to test a theoretical model and the hypotheses. The results showed that 35.9% of experienced nurses had high-level turnover intention. The final model explained 50% of the variance in experienced nurses' turnover intention and demonstrated that: (1) work environment was positively associated with higher work engagement and lower turnover intention and work engagement partially mediated the relationship between work environment and turnover intention; and (2) job characteristics were positively related to higher work engagement and lower turnover intention and work engagement fully mediated the relationship between job characteristics and turnover intention. The study confirms the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on work engagement posited by job demands-resources model. Theory-driven strategies to improve work environment, enhance job characteristics and promote wok engagement are needed to address the nursing shortage and high turnover intention among experienced nurses. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Belansky, Elaine S.; Cutforth, Nick; Chavez, Robert; Crane, Lori A.; Waters, Emily; Marshall, Julie A.
2013-01-01
Background: School environment and policy changes have increased healthy eating and physical activity; however, there has been modest success in translating research ?ndings to practice. The School Environment Project tested whether an adapted version of Intervention Mapping (AIM) resulted in school change. Methods: Using a pair randomized design,…
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Gunnarsson, Kristina; Andersson, Ing-Marie; Rosén, Gunnar
2010-01-01
Small-scale enterprises face difficulties in fulfilling the regulations for organising Systematic Work Environment Management. This study compared three groups of small-scale manufacturing enterprises with and without support for implementing the provision. Two implementation methods, supervised and network method, were used. The third group worked according to their own ideas. Twenty-three enterprises participated. The effects of the implementation were evaluated after one year by semi-structured dialogue with the manager and safety representative. Each enterprise was classified on compliance with ten demands concerning the provision. The work environment was estimated by the WEST-method. Impact of the implementation on daily work was also studied. At the follow-up, the enterprises in the supervised method reported slightly more improvements in the fulfilment of the demands in the provision than the enterprises in the network method and the enterprises working on their own did. The effect of the project reached the employees faster in the enterprises with the supervised method. In general, the work environment improved to some extent in all enterprises. Extensive support to small-scale enterprises in terms of advise and networking aimed to fulfil the regulations of Systematic Work Environment Management had limited effect - especially considering the cost of applying these methods.
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“Can nurse work environment influence readmission risk?” – a systematic review
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ma C
2014-07-01
Full Text Available Chenjuan Ma,1 Jingjing Shang,2 Patricia W Stone3 1The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, 2Columbia University School of Nursing, 3Center for Health Policy, Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY, USA Background: Readmissions have been targeted as events that can improve quality of care while reducing health care expenditures. While increasing evidence has linked nurse work environment to various patient outcomes, no systematic review has assessed evidence examining nurse work environment in relation to readmission. Methods: This review was guided by the Institute of Medicine's Standards for Systematic Reviews. Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO, and were complemented by hand searching. Two reviewers independently completed full-text review and quality assessment using a validated tool. Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria and were included for final review. Various methods were used to measure readmission and nurse work environment, and analyses were conducted at both the patient and hospital levels. Overall, associations between nurse work environment and readmission emerged, and better nurse work environments (particularly higher levels of nurse staffing were associated with fewer readmissions. Discussion: The interpretation of results from each study was limited by the differences in variable measures across studies and methodological flaws. The relationship between nurse work environment and readmission needs to be further confirmed by stronger evidence from studies using standardized measures and more rigorous research design. Keywords: nurse work environment, nurse staffing, readmission, nursing, patient outcome
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Nonlinear Analysis to Detect if Excellent Nursing Work Environments Have Highest Well-Being.
Casalicchio, Giuseppe; Lesaffre, Emmanuel; Küchenhoff, Helmut; Bruyneel, Luk
2017-09-01
To detect potentially nonlinear associations between nurses' work environment and nurse staffing on the one hand and nurse burnout on the other hand. A cross-sectional multicountry study for which data collection using a survey of 33,731 registered nurses in 12 European countries took place during 2009 to 2010. A semiparametric latent variable model that describes both linear and potentially nonlinear associations between burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment) and work environment (Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index: managerial support for nursing, doctor-nurse collegial relations, promotion of care quality) and staffing (patient-to-nurse ratio). Similar conclusions are reached from linear and nonlinear models estimating the association between work environment and burnout. For staffing, an increase in the patient-to-nurse ratio is associated with an increase in emotional exhaustion. At about 15 patients per nurse, no further increase in emotional exhaustion is seen. Absence of evidence for diminishing returns of improving work environments suggests that continuous improvement and achieving excellence in nurse work environments pays off strongly in terms of lower nurse-reported burnout rates. Nurse staffing policy would benefit from a larger number of studies that identify specific minimum as well as maximum thresholds at which inputs affect nurse and patient outcomes. Nurse burnout is omnipresent and has previously been shown to be related to worse patient outcomes. Additional increments in characteristics of excellent work environments, up to the highest possible standard, correspond to lower nurse burnout. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.
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Workplace Health Promotion and Mental Health: Three-Year Findings from Partnering Healthy@Work
Jarman, Lisa; Martin, Angela; Venn, Alison; Otahal, Petr; Blizzard, Leigh; Teale, Brook; Sanderson, Kristy
2016-01-01
This study aimed to investigate the association between mental health and comprehensive workplace health promotion (WHP) delivered to an entire state public service workforce (~28,000 employees) over a three-year period. Government departments in a state public service were supported to design and deliver a comprehensive, multi-component health promotion program, Healthy@Work, which targeted modifiable health risks including unhealthy lifestyles and stress. Repeated cross-sectional surveys co...
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Watanabe, Kazuhiro; Tabuchi, Takahiro; Kawakami, Norito
2017-03-01
This cross-sectional multilevel study aimed to investigate the relationship between improvement of the work environment and work-related stress in a nationally representative sample in Japan. The study was based on a national survey that randomly sampled 1745 worksites and 17,500 nested employees. The survey asked the worksites whether improvements of the work environment were conducted; and it asked the employees to report the number of work-related stresses they experienced. Multilevel multinominal logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted. Improvement of the work environment was not significantly associated with any level of work-related stress. Among men, it was significantly and negatively associated with the severe level of work-related stress. The association was not significant among women. Improvements to work environments may be associated with reduced work-related stress among men nationwide in Japan.
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Parental employment and work-family stress: Associations with family food environments
Bauer, Katherine W.; Hearst, Mary O.; Escoto, Kamisha; Berge, Jerica M.; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne
2013-01-01
Parental employment provides many benefits to children's health. However, an increasing number of studies have observed associations between mothers' full-time employment and less healthful family food environments. Few studies have examined other ways in which parental employment may be associated with the family food environment, including the role of fathers' employment and parents' stress balancing work and home obligations. This study utilized data from Project F-EAT, a population-based study of a socio-demographically diverse sample of 3709 parents of adolescents living in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States, to examine cross-sectional associations between mothers' and fathers' employment status and parents' work-life stress with multiple aspects of the family food environment. Among parents participating in Project F-EAT, 64% of fathers and 46% of mothers were full-time employed, while 25% of fathers and 37% of mothers were not employed. Results showed that full-time employed mothers reported fewer family meals, less frequent encouragement of their adolescents' healthful eating, lower fruit and vegetable intake, and less time spent on food preparation, compared to part-time and not-employed mothers, after adjusting for socio-demographics. Full-time employed fathers reported significantly fewer hours of food preparation; no other associations were seen between fathers' employment status and characteristics of the family food environment. In contrast, higher work-life stress among both parents was associated with less healthful family food environment characteristics including less frequent family meals and more frequent sugar-sweetened beverage and fast food consumption by parents. Among dual-parent families, taking into account the employment characteristics of the other parent did not substantially alter the relationships between work-life stress and family food environment characteristics. While parental employment is beneficial for many
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Parental employment and work-family stress: associations with family food environments.
Bauer, Katherine W; Hearst, Mary O; Escoto, Kamisha; Berge, Jerica M; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne
2012-08-01
Parental employment provides many benefits to children's health. However, an increasing number of studies have observed associations between mothers' full-time employment and less healthful family food environments. Few studies have examined other ways in which parental employment may be associated with the family food environment, including the role of fathers' employment and parents' stress balancing work and home obligations. This study utilized data from Project F-EAT, a population-based study of a socio-demographically diverse sample of 3709 parents of adolescents living in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States, to examine cross-sectional associations between mothers' and fathers' employment status and parents' work-life stress with multiple aspects of the family food environment. Among parents participating in Project F-EAT, 64% of fathers and 46% of mothers were full-time employed, while 25% of fathers and 37% of mothers were not employed. Results showed that full-time employed mothers reported fewer family meals, less frequent encouragement of their adolescents' healthful eating, lower fruit and vegetable intake, and less time spent on food preparation, compared to part-time and not-employed mothers, after adjusting for socio-demographics. Full-time employed fathers reported significantly fewer hours of food preparation; no other associations were seen between fathers' employment status and characteristics of the family food environment. In contrast, higher work-life stress among both parents was associated with less healthful family food environment characteristics including less frequent family meals and more frequent sugar-sweetened beverage and fast food consumption by parents. Among dual-parent families, taking into account the employment characteristics of the other parent did not substantially alter the relationships between work-life stress and family food environment characteristics. While parental employment is beneficial for many
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Wang, Yanqing; Chong, Heap-Yih; Liao, Pin-Chao; Ren, Hantao
2017-09-25
Unsafe behavior is a leading factor in accidents, and the working environment significantly affects behaviors. However, few studies have focused on detailed mechanisms for addressing unsafe behaviors resulting from environmental constraints. This study aims to delineate these mechanisms using cognitive work analysis (CWA) for an elevator installation case study. Elevator installation was selected for study because it involves operations at heights: falls from heights remain a major cause of construction worker mortality. This study adopts a mixed research approach based on three research methodology stages. This research deconstructs the details of the working environment, the workers' decision-making processes, the strategies chosen given environmental conditions and the conceptual model for workers' behaviors, which jointly depict environment-behavior mechanisms at length. By applying CWA to the construction industry, environmental constraints can easily be identified, and targeted engineering suggestions can be generated.
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A Multiagent Modeling Environment for Simulating Work Practice in Organizations
Sierhuis, Maarten; Clancey, William J.; vanHoof, Ron
2004-01-01
In this paper we position Brahms as a tool for simulating organizational processes. Brahms is a modeling and simulation environment for analyzing human work practice, and for using such models to develop intelligent software agents to support the work practice in organizations. Brahms is the result of more than ten years of research at the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL), NYNEX Science & Technology (the former R&D institute of the Baby Bell telephone company in New York, now Verizon), and for the last six years at NASA Ames Research Center, in the Work Systems Design and Evaluation group, part of the Computational Sciences Division (Code IC). Brahms has been used on more than ten modeling and simulation research projects, and recently has been used as a distributed multiagent development environment for developing work practice support tools for human in-situ science exploration on planetary surfaces, in particular a human mission to Mars. Brahms was originally conceived of as a business process modeling and simulation tool that incorporates the social systems of work, by illuminating how formal process flow descriptions relate to people s actual located activities in the workplace. Our research started in the early nineties as a reaction to experiences with work process modeling and simulation . Although an effective tool for convincing management of the potential cost-savings of the newly designed work processes, the modeling and simulation environment was only able to describe work as a normative workflow. However, the social systems, uncovered in work practices studied by the design team played a significant role in how work actually got done-actual lived work. Multi- tasking, informal assistance and circumstantial work interactions could not easily be represented in a tool with a strict workflow modeling paradigm. In response, we began to develop a tool that would have the benefits of work process modeling and simulation, but be distinctively able to
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Improvement of workíng environment - from a grass-root strategy to institutionalized professionalism
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jacobsen, Thomas
2002-01-01
Improvement of working environment as a tool to promote sustainable development - from a grass-root strategy to institutionalized professionalism. It is now more than 25 years since substitution of organic solvents started to be considered as a meaningful way in Denmark to reduce harmful effects...... on workers. During that period different groups of actors have been involved, new institutions to improve working environment have emerged, and legislation has been changed. The paper will describe the development from a grass-root strategy to improve working environment to a much more complex situation...... where working environment professionals play an important role, and where the concept of ‘cleaner technology’ is generally accepted as a tool to promote sustainable development in the Danish society. The paper will also discuss the necessity of incorporation of working environment considerations...
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Healthy Eating and Academic Achievement
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts
This podcast highlights the evidence that supports the link between healthy eating and improved academic achievement. It also identifies a few actions to support a healthy school nutrition environment to improve academic achievement.
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Development of a work environment rating scale for kindergarten teachers.
Wong, Yau-ho P
2015-08-01
Kindergarten education in Hong Kong serves children aged 32-68 months. However, there is no extant scale that measures kindergarten teachers' perceived work environment, an important influence on their well-being. To develop a new instrument, the Teachers' Perceived Work Environment (TPWE) scale, and to assess whether kindergarten teachers with higher TPWE ratings had higher scores for job satisfaction, self-esteem and mental health. A 25-item rating scale was developed and used with a sample of in-service kindergarten teachers. Their perceived work environment was represented by five factors (ergonomics, staffing, teaching space, work hours and social space). These teachers also completed three well-being inventories: the Job Satisfaction Survey, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire-12. In a second stage, a new sample of in-service kindergarten teachers was used to cross-validate the findings from the earlier assessment. In the first sample of 141 teachers and the second of 125, social space, staffing and work hours were associated with job satisfaction, while ergonomics was a significant negative predictor of mental health complaints. The TPWE exhibited satisfactory reliability and validity. Some factors were differentially associated with specific types of well-being. The results may inform future studies of the working conditions of kindergarten teachers. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Chang, Hye-Ja; Kim, Jeong-Won; Ju, Se-Young; Go, Eun-Sun
2012-01-01
In order to create a worker-friendly environment for institutional foodservice, facilities operating with a dry kitchen system have been recommended. This study was designed to compare the work safety and work environment of foodservice between wet and dry kitchen systems. Data were obtained using questionnaires with a target group of 303 staff at 57 foodservice operations. Dry kitchen facilities were constructed after 2006, which had a higher construction cost and more finishing floors with ...
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Web Environments for Group-Based Project Work in Higher Education
Andernach, J.A.; van Diepen, N.M.; Collis, Betty; Andernach, Toine
1997-01-01
We discuss problems confronting the use of group-based project work as an instructional strategy in higher education and describe two courses in which course-specific World Wide Web (Web) environments have evolved over a series of course sequences and are used both as tool environments for
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Wood pellets and work environment; Traepiller og arbejdsmiljoe
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Skov, S.
2012-07-01
The project aim was to evaluate the working environment in the production, transport and use of wood pellets. Furthermore, obtained knowledge and guidelines should be disseminated to relevant audiences. The first aim was achieved by making dust measurements at various relevant locations and analyze the results. Several technical problems regarding the measurements occurred during the project. In general, the manual handling of pellets often is a short-term task, which limits the amount of dust that can be collected on the sampling filter. The solution to this problem could be the use of in situ monitoring equipment, however, this technic did not work well for wood dust. Dissemination is mainly done by publishing the findings and guidelines on the webpage www.fyrmedpiller.dk. The result shows that there are widespread dust problems associated with the use and handling of pellets. The result may have been expected in the wood pellet industry, which has been reluctant to support this project. Legislation on the working environment has set a threshold limit for the dust concentration in the air on max 1 mg of dust per cubic meters of air over a working day and in over shorter periods this limit may be doubled. These threshold values were exceeded in many cases. Brief overview: The production of pellets takes place in a very dusty working environment, but the specific pelletizing and bagging processes only produce limited amounts of dust. The dust problems are major in the large warehouses where the handling of the raw material for the pellets increases the dust concentration in the air to levels that by far exceeds the legal threshold values. The work is mainly carried out from the cabin of different machines e.g. loaders and bobcats. It turns out that the average dust concentration in these cabins with filters also exceeds the threshold values. The transports of wood pellets include loading, unloading and delivery of loose pellets, all situations that are critical
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Thorsen, Anne Vibeke
The challenge of public health nutrition in relation to worksite settings is to improve access to healthier meal options – especially for the groups with a lower educational level. Strategies changing the dietary environment such as increasing the availability of healthy food and reducing barriers...... by the involved local actors' ideas of health and nutrition and also by their concepts of how these ideas interrelate with the worksite’s working conditions and working performance. A combination of a social shaping approach and a worksite policy process approach to the shaping and embedding of healthy worksite...... a crucial role. The results of this thesis point to the need for a more widespread implementation of strategies that promote healthier eating at worksite canteens. The results indicate that a worksite intervention needs to be tailored to the needs of the particular worksite environment in which...
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Luesse, Hiershenee B; Paul, Rachel; Gray, Heewon L; Koch, Pamela; Contento, Isobel; Marsick, Victoria
2018-02-14
Background Childhood obesity is a major public health concern and families play an important role. Improving strategies to reach parents and directing tailored nutrition education to them is needed. Purpose To investigate the challenges and facilitators to promoting a healthy environment at home and to identify communication preferences to inform intervention strategies for effectively reaching low-income urban minority families. Procedure Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with four groups involving 16 low-income urban parents (94% female; 88% Hispanic/Latino, 12% African American) of elementary school children. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed applying Social Cognitive Theory and using in-vivo coding. Main Findings The most common barriers to parents providing healthy foods to their children were accommodating child preferences and familial opposition. Parents showed intentionality to engage in healthy behaviors, and often shared procedural knowledge for reaching health goals. The analyses of desired communication channels yielded major preferences: tailored information, information provided through multiple mediums, appropriate duration/frequency of messages, and presented from a voice of authority. Conclusion and Implication While parents expressed desires to be healthy, the home food environment presented substantial challenges. Multi-media supports such as workshops, flyers, and text messaging may be useful to facilitate the sharing of information to minimize the tensions between intentionality and reaching desired goals to be healthy. Some parents thought that information received through text messaging could be easily shared and would act as a voice of authority to support child behavior change.
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The FINUT healthy lifestyles guide: Beyond the food pyramid.
Gil, Angel; Ruiz-Lopez, Maria Dolores; Fernandez-Gonzalez, Miguel; Martinez de Victoria, Emilio
2014-05-01
The WHO has proposed that health be promoted and protected through the development of an environment that enables sustainable actions at individual, community, national, and global levels. Indeed, food-based dietary guidelines, i.e., food pyramids, have been developed in numerous countries to disseminate nutritional information to the general population. However, wider recommendations are needed, with information on an active healthy lifestyle, not just healthy eating. The objective of the present work is to propose a three-dimensional pyramid as a new strategy for promoting adequate nutrition and active healthy lifestyles in a sustainable way. Indeed, the Iberoamerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) pyramid of healthy lifestyles has been designed as a tetrahedron, with its 3 lateral faces corresponding to the facets of food and nutrition, physical activity and rest, and education and hygiene. Each lateral face is divided into 2 triangles. These faces show the following: 1) food-based guidelines and healthy eating habits as related to a sustainable environment; 2) recommendations for rest and physical activity and educational, social, and cultural issues; and 3) selected hygiene and educational guidelines that, in conjunction with the other 2 faces, would contribute to better health for people in a sustainable planet. The new FINUT pyramid is addressed to the general population of all ages and should serve as a guide for living a healthy lifestyle within a defined social and cultural context. It includes an environmental and sustainability dimension providing measures that should contribute to the prevention of noncommunicable chronic diseases. © 2014 American Society for Nutrition.
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[The finut healthy lifestyles guide: beyond the food pyramid].
Gil, Angel; Ruiz-Lopez, Maria Dolores; Fernandez-Gonzalez, Miguel; Martinez de Victoria, Emilio
2015-05-01
The World Health Organization has proposed that health be promoted and protected through the development of an environment that enables sustainable actions at individual, community, national and global levels. Indeed, food-based dietary guidelines, i.e., food pyramids, have been developed in numerous countries to disseminate nutritional information to the general population. However, wider recommendations are needed, with information on an active, healthy lifestyle, not just healthy eating. The objective of the present work is to propose a three-dimensional pyramid as a new strategy for promoting adequate nutrition and active healthy lifestyles in a sustainable way. Indeed, the Iberomerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) pyramid of healthy lifestyles has been designed as a tetrahedron, its three lateral faces corresponding to the binomials food and nutrition, physical activity and rest, and education and hygiene. Each lateral face is divided into two triangles. These faces show the following: 1. food-based guidelines and healthy eating habits as related to a sustainable environment; 2. recommendations for rest and physical activity and educational, social and cultural issues; 3. selected hygiene and educational guidelines that, in conjunction with the other two faces, would contribute to better health and provide measures to promote environmental sustainability. The new FINUT pyramid is addressed to the general population of all ages and should serve as a guide for living a healthy lifestyle within a defined social and cultural context. It includes an environmental and sustainability dimension providing measures that should contribute to the prevention of non-communicable chronic diseases. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.
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Chen, Zheng; Powell, Gary N.; Greenhaus, Jeffrey H.
2009-01-01
This study adopted a person-environment fit approach to examine whether greater congruence between employees' preferences for segmenting their work domain from their family domain (i.e., keeping work matters at work) and what their employers' work environment allowed would be associated with lower work-to-family conflict and higher work-to-family…
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Hanratty, Barbara; Milton, Beth; Ashton, Matthew; Whitehead, Margaret
2012-12-01
Food outlets may make an important contribution to an obesogenic environment. This study investigated barriers and facilitators to public health work with food outlets in disadvantaged areas. In-depth qualitative interviews with 36 directors, managers and public health service delivery staff in a coterminous primary care trust and local authority in northwest England. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Three interventions were available to engage with businesses; awards for premises that welcomed breastfeeding mothers or offered healthy menu options and local authority planning powers. Sensitivity to the potential conflict between activities that generate profit and those that promote health, led to compromises, such as awards for cafés that offer only one healthy option on an otherwise unhealthy menu. An absence of existing relationships with businesses and limited time were powerful disincentives to action, leading to greater engagement with public rather than private sector organizations. Hiring staff with commercial experience and incentives for businesses were identified as useful strategies, but seldom used. Encouraging food outlets to contribute to tackling the obesogenic environment is a major challenge for local public health teams that requires supportive national policies. Commitment to engage with the local public health service should be part of any national voluntary agreements with industry.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Matsubara, Shohei
2006-01-01
In order to measure the airborne radioactive substance concentration in working environments, some kinds of sampler such as dust sampler and iodine sampler, measuring instruments (alpha and beta spectrometer, and liquid scintillation counter), monitor (dust-, iodine- and gas-monitor), survey meter for measuring gamma ray dose rate are stated. The measurement method of α, β and γ-ray nuclides and ambient dose-equivalent at 10 mm was explained. Some examples of the list of dust sampler, filter, tritium sampler, dust monitor, iodine monitor, gas monitor, and survey meter on the market are shown. There are so many kinds of measuring instruments for ionizing radiation in working environment that the best instrument for measurement should be selected. The environment conditions such as sample form, temperature and humidity have to be considered in order to evaluate the measurement values. (S.Y.)
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The work environment, stress and well-being.
Wadsworth, E J K; Chaplin, K S; Smith, A P
2010-12-01
Much recent work extending the field of job characteristics to include positive aspects of work makes the implicit assumption that the absence of negative work characteristics is equivalent to the presence of positive work characteristics. To consider the effect sizes seen at different ends of job characteristic dimensions and to compare the impact of the presence and absence of job characteristics in association with mental health and well-being outcomes. Data from 8755 workers were analysed to compare the impacts of the presence or absence of job characteristics (job demand, extrinsic effort and social support) in associations with both positive (job satisfaction) and negative (work-related stress) outcome measures. Comparable presence and absence impacts were apparent for extrinsic effort in association with work-related stress. However, in the association between job demand and work-related stress, the presence of high levels of job demand had a significantly greater impact than the absence of high levels of job demand; while in the association between social support and job satisfaction, the absence of high levels of social support had a significantly greater impact than the presence of high levels of social support. It is not always appropriate to assume that the absence of negative aspects of the work environment is equivalent to the presence of positive aspects.
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Takano, Takehito
2002-05-01
This is a review article on "Healthy Cities". The Healthy Cities programme has been developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle urban health and environmental issues in a broad way. It is a kind of comprehensive policy package to carry out individual projects and activities effectively and efficiently. Its key aspects include healthy public policy, vision sharing, high political commitment, establishment of structural organization, strategic health planning, intersectoral collaboration, community participation, setting approach, development of supportive environment for health, formation of city health profile, national and international networking, participatory research, periodic monitoring and evaluation, and mechanisms for sustainability of projects. The present paper covered the Healthy Cities concept and approaches, rapid urbanization in the world, developments of WHO Healthy Cities, Healthy Cities developments in the Western Pacific Region, the health promotion viewpoint, and roles of research.
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Relationships among supervisor feedback environment, work-related stressors, and employee deviance.
Peng, Jei-Chen; Tseng, Mei-Man; Lee, Yin-Ling
2011-03-01
Previous research has demonstrated that the employee deviance imposes enormous costs on organizational performance and productivity. Similar research supports the positive effect of favorable supervisor feedback on employee job performance. In light of such, it is important to understand the interaction between supervisor feedback environment and employee deviant behavior to streamline organization operations. The purposes of this study were to explore how the supervisor feedback environment influences employee deviance and to examine the mediating role played by work-related stressors. Data were collected from 276 subordinate-supervisor dyads at a regional hospital in Yilan. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to test hypotheses. Structural equation modeling analysis results show that supervisor feedback environment negatively related to interpersonal and organizational deviance. Moreover, work-related stressors were found to partially mediate the relationship between supervisor feedback environment and employee deviance. Study findings suggest that when employees (nurses in this case) perceive an appropriate supervisor-provided feedback environment, their deviance is suppressed because of the related reduction in work-related stressors. Thus, to decrease deviant behavior, organizations may foster supervisor integration of disseminated knowledge such as (a) how to improve employees' actual performance, (b) how to effectively clarify expected performance, and (c) how to improve continuous performance feedback. If supervisors absorb this integrated feedback knowledge, they should be in a better position to enhance their own daily interactions with nurses and reduce nurses' work-related stress and, consequently, decrease deviant behavior.
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Work environment impact scale: testing the psychometric properties of the Swedish version.
Ekbladh, Elin; Fan, Chia-Wei; Sandqvist, Jan; Hemmingsson, Helena; Taylor, Renée
2014-01-01
The Work Environment Impact Scale (WEIS) is an assessment that focuses on the fit between a person and his or her work environment. It is based on Kielhofner's Model of Human Occupation and designed to gather information on how clients experience their work environment. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the WEIS assessment instrument. In total, 95 ratings on the 17-item WEIS were obtained from a sample of clients with experience of sick leave due to different medical conditions. Rasch analysis was used to analyze the data. Overall, the WEIS items together cohered to form a single construct of increasingly challenging work environmental factors. The hierarchical ordering of the items along the continuum followed a logical and expected pattern, and the participants were validly measured by the scale. The three occupational therapists serving as raters validly used the scale, but demonstrated a relatively high rater separation index, indicating differences in rater severity. The findings provide evidence that the Swedish version of the WEIS is a psychometrically sound assessment across diagnoses and occupations, which can provide valuable information about experiences of work environment challenges.
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Moreno-Casbas, María Teresa; Alonso-Poncelas, Emma; Gómez-García, Teresa; Martínez-Madrid, María José; Escobar-Aguilar, Gema
2018-03-19
To describe nurses' perception in relation to the quality of care and their work environment, as well as to describe their quality of sleep. To analyze the relationship between ward and work shift with nurses' perception of their work environment, sleep quality and day time drowsiness. A multicentre, observational and descriptive study carried out between 2012-2014 in seven hospitals of the Spanish National Health System. Work environment, work satisfaction, sleep quality and quality of patient care were evaluated through validated tools. 635 registered nurses participated in the study. Eighty-three point seven percent perceived the quality of cares as good/excellent, and 55.1% rated the work environment of their hospital as good/excellent. PES-NWI classified 39% of hospitals as unfavourable and 20% as favourable. Fifteen point four percent of the nurses had a high level of burnout and 58.3% had low burnout. Sleep quality was 6.38 for nurses working on day shifts, 6.78 for the rotational shifts and 7.93 for night shifts. Significant differences were found between subjective sleep quality score, sleep duration, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction. In the provision of quality care services, there is a multitude of related factors such as shift, ward, satisfaction, and nurses' perceptions of patient safety and sleep quality. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.
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Jose, Kim; Venn, Alison; Jarman, Lisa; Seal, Judy; Teale, Brook; Scott, Jennifer; Sanderson, Kristy
2017-12-01
Research funding is increasingly supporting collaborations between knowledge users and researchers. Partnering Healthy@Work (pH@W), an inaugural recipient of funding through Australia's Partnership for Better Health Grants scheme, was a 5-year partnership between the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian State Service (TSS). The partnerships purpose was to evaluate a comprehensive workplace health promotion programme (Healthy@Work) targeting 30 000 public sector employees; generating new knowledge and influencing workplace health promotion policy and decision-making. This mixed methods study evaluates the partnership between policy-makers and academics and identifies strategies that enabled pH@W to deliver key project outcomes. A pH@W document review was conducted, two partnership assessment tools completed and semi-structured interviews conducted with key policy-makers and academics. Analysis of the partnership assessment tools and interviews found that pH@W had reached a strong level of collaboration. Policy-relevant knowledge was generated about the health of TSS employees and their engagement with workplace health promotion. Knowledge exchange of a conceptual and instrumental nature occurred and was facilitated by the shared grant application, clear governance structures, joint planning, regular information exchange between researchers and policy-makers and research student placements in the TSS. Flexibility and acknowledgement of different priorities and perspectives of partner organizations were identified as critical factors for enabling effective partnership working and research relevance. Academic-policy-maker partnerships can be a powerful mechanism for improving policy relevance of research, but need to incorporate strategies that facilitate regular input from researchers and policy-makers in order to achieve this. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions
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Støver, Morten; Pape, Kristine; Johnsen, Roar; Fleten, Nils; Sund, Erik R; Ose, Solveig Osborg; Bjørngaard, Johan Håkon
2013-08-01
To investigate the associations between work environment indicators and health- related work disability. A health survey of 5,749 working 40-42-year-old Norwegians from Nordland County were linked to a national register for disability pension during a follow-up of over 18 years. The risk for disability pension following various self-reported physical and psychosocial work environmental exposures (individual and cumulative) were estimated using Cox regression analysis. Both cumulative physical and psychosocial work environmental exposures were associated with an increased risk for disability pension, although this association was attenuated for most variables after adjusting for health and education. An increase in five poor psychosocial work environmental exposures was associated with a 22% increased risk for disability (adjusted hazard ratio, aHR, 1.22, 95% CI 1.04-1.44), whereas a similar increase in five poor physical work environmental exposures was associated with a 29% increased risk (aHR, 1.29, 95% CI 1.16-1.44). There were no indications of statistical interaction between either sex or education and work exposures. People who report a poor work environment are at a higher risk for subsequent work disability. This finding suggests that improving working conditions may be an area of intervention in order to reduce the number of people who leave the labour market with a disability pension.
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Residents′ perceptions of work environment during their postgraduate medical training in Pakistan
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Avan B
2006-01-01
Full Text Available Background: In Pakistan, there is a lack of information about the work environment of residency programs. This lack is a major impediment in their improvement. One of the approaches for improvement in these programs can be directed through the residents′ own perception of their working conditions. Therefore, we collected data which would reflect working conditions of residents. Aim: To assess the perceived status of "work environment" in different specialities Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in four teaching hospitals of Karachi from July 1999 to January 2000. Residents from selected programs were grouped into four broad groups: specialist, medical, surgical, and multidisciplinary. Responses of residents were obtained on a Likert scale of 0 to 4. Indices were formed for two components of work environment: academic and mistreatment. Statistical Analysis: Differences between residents′ groups were assessed through analysis of variance (ANOVA at 5% significance. Results: A total of 341 registered residents responded (response rate: 75%. Surgical residents were working more than 80 h/week and this was more than the other three groups. Medical residents were spending the highest actual time on research and teaching activities (10% and 14%, respectively. Academic index score was highest for surgical group (15.81, SD = 4.69 and lowest for multidisciplinary group (11.82, SD = 4.80. Medical group had the highest perceived mistreatment index score (5.56, SD = 4.57. Conclusions: In a study of work environment of residency programs, differential impact was found for the four groups on work environment perceptions. Most of the residents recognized undergraduate teaching, grand rounds, patient rounds, and seminars or workshops as contributing to their academic learning. Reporting of sexual harassment was low, indicating either underreporting or cultural dynamics of our setting.
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The development of the psychosocial work environment in Denmark from 1997 to 2005
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Pejtersen, Jan H; Kristensen, Tage S
2009-01-01
for development (skill discretion), lower level of meaning of work, more role conflicts, decreased role clarity, reduced sense of community, less social support from colleagues, increased conflicts at work, more threats of violence and more slander and gossip. CONCLUSIONS: The psychosocial work environment......OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to elucidate the development of the psychosocial work environment in Denmark from 1997-2005. METHODS: The analyses were based on two national questionnaire surveys (N1=1062; N2=3517) of randomly selected employees who completed the Copenhagen Psychosocial...... Questionnaire. The psychosocial work environment was described by 19 scales and 6 single items. RESULTS: Quality of leadership and social support from supervisors were the only dimensions that saw improvements. The negative developments were: higher work pace, less influence (job control), less possibilities...
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Borchini, Rossana; Veronesi, Giovanni; Bonzini, Matteo; Gianfagna, Francesco; Dashi, Oriana; Ferrario, Marco Mario
2018-01-11
The deregulation of the autonomic nervous system assessed through the heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a promising pathway linking work stress and cardiovascular diseases. We aim to investigate the associations between HRV High Frequency (HF) and Low Frequency (LF) powers and work stress in a sample of 36 healthy nurses. Perceived work stress was assessed twice one year apart, using the Job Content and Effort Reward Imbalance questionnaires. This allows to classify nurses in three exposure groups: "prolonged high stress" (PHS), "recent high stress" (RHS) and "stable low stress" (SLS). A 24-h ECG monitoring was later performed during a working day (WD) and a subsequent resting day (RD). Statistically significantly lower ( p working periods. In the subsequent resting periods, HF means showed increases over time in the RHS (beta = +0.41, p working and resting periods. Our study evidences that both prolonged and recent perceived high work stress were associated with a reduction of HF and LF powers during work. In addition, prolonged stress was associated with a lack of recovery during not-working and resting periods.
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Stressful work environment and wellbeing: What comes first?
Elovainio, Marko; Heponiemi, Tarja; Jokela, Markus; Hakulinen, Christian; Presseau, Justin; Aalto, Anna-Mari; Kivimäki, Mika
2015-07-01
The association between the psychosocial work environment, including job demands, job control, and organizational justice, and employee wellbeing has been well established. However, the exposure to adverse work environments is typically measured only using self-reported measures that are vulnerable to reporting bias, and thus any associations found may be explained by reverse causality. Using linear regression models and cross-lagged structural equation modeling (SEM), we tested the direction of the association between established job stress models (job demand control and organizational justice models) and 3 wellbeing indicators (psychological distress, sleeping problems, and job satisfaction) among 1524 physicians in a 4-year follow-up. Results from the longitudinal cross-lagged analyses showed that the direction of the association was from low justice to decreasing wellbeing rather than the reverse. Although the pattern was similar in job demands and job control, a reciprocal association was found between job control and psychological distress. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
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Psychosocial work environment and antidepressant medication: a prospective cohort study
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Westergaard-Nielsen Niels
2009-07-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Adverse psychosocial work environments may lead to impaired mental health, but it is still a matter of conjecture if demonstrated associations are causal or biased. We aimed at verifying whether poor psychosocial working climate is related to increase of redeemed subscription of antidepressant medication. Methods Information on all antidepressant drugs (AD purchased at pharmacies from 1995 through 2006 was obtained for a cohort of 21,129 Danish public service workers that participated in work climate surveys carried out during the period 2002–2005. Individual self-reports of psychosocial factors at work including satisfaction with the work climate and dimensions of the job strain model were obtained by self-administered questionnaires (response rate 77,2%. Each employee was assigned the average score value for all employees at his/her managerial work unit [1094 units with an average of 18 employees (range 3–120]. The risk of first-time AD prescription during follow-up was examined according to level of satisfaction and psychosocial strain by Cox regression with adjustment for gender, age, marital status, occupational status and calendar year of the survey. Results The proportion of employees that received at least one prescription of ADs from 1995 through 2006 was 11.9% and prescriptions rose steadily from 1.50% in 1996 to the highest level 6.47% in 2006. ADs were prescribed more frequent among women, middle aged, employees with low occupational status and those living alone. None of the measured psychosocial work environment factors were consistently related to prescription of antidepressant drugs during the follow-up period. Conclusion The study does not indicate that a poor psychosocial work environment among public service employees is related to prescription of antidepressant pharmaceuticals. These findings need cautious interpretation because of lacking individual exposure assessments.
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Ramachandran, Hadassah Joann; Wu, Vivien Xi; He, Hong-Gu; Jiang, Ying; Wang, Wenru
2016-01-01
The objectives of the study were to investigate awareness, knowledge, healthy lifestyle behaviors, and their correlates to coronary heart disease (CHD) among working women in Singapore. CHD is the leading cause of death for women globally, yet women are unaware of this or the associated risk factors that make them vulnerable to CHD. A cross-sectional descriptive study with a quota sample of 200 working women was conducted in Singapore. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires, including the Heart Disease Fact Questionnaire-2, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and a section on Awareness of CHD. Participants demonstrated suboptimal awareness of CHD being the leading cause of death among women and the risk factors associated with morbidity. Healthy lifestyle behaviors were found to be affected by age, ethnicity, marital status, income status, presence of chronic diseases, and working groups. Health care providers should systematically evaluate women at risk for CHD and provide both gender-sensitive and age-specific education. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Work environment and health in the fishing fleet: results from a survey amongst Norwegian fishers.
Sønvisen, Signe Annie; Thorvaldsen, Trine; Holmen, Ingunn M; Øren, Anita
Fishery is an important industry in Norway. Compared to other industries the number of occupational accidents is high. Fishers are exposed to a range of unfavourable working conditions, but there is limited research-based knowledge about the interaction between working conditions and health. The aim of the article is to study fishers' 1) work-related exposures and health complaints, 2) sickness absence, 3) subjective perception of health status and 3) level of job satisfaction. Data was gathered through a telephone survey. The survey included questions about exposure, health complaints, health status and job satisfaction. Methods for analysis were descriptive statistics and relative risk (RR). A total of 830 full-time fishers were interviewed. Coastal fishers are more exposed to factors such as climatic (RR = 1.546, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.311-1.823), ergonomic (RR = 1.539, 95% CI 1.293-1.833) and processing (RR = 2.119, 95% CI 1.847-2.431), compared to other groups of fishers. Coastal fishers are also more likely to experience musculoskeletal problems (RR = 1.623, 95% CI 1.139-2.314), sickness absence (RR = 1.337, 95% CI 1.081-1.655) and to perceive their own health as poor (RR = 2.155, 95% CI 1.119-4.152). Purse sein fishers are less exposed to climatic (RR = 0.777, 95% CI 0.633-0.953), ergonomic (RR = 0.617, 95% CI 0.487-0.783) and processing (RR = 0.292, 95% CI 0.221-0.385) factors and are less likely to experience sickness absence (RR = 0.635, 95% CI 0.479-0.840). In terms of job satisfaction, 99% if our respondents enjoy their work. Norwegian fishers have a high degree of job satisfaction and overall good health. Challenges regarding health complaints and exposures in the working environment were identified. This may be helpful for the industry, showing where measures should be implemented to prevent exposure, illness and sickness absence. Findings may also serve as a basis for future intervention studies aimed at promoting healthy working environments
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Working environment conditions in rural areas according to psychosocial indices.
Thelin, A G
1998-01-01
The aim of this work was to study psychosocial working environment factors among farmers and other people living in rural areas. The study was carried out as a cross-section investigation. All persons visiting local occupational health service centres for a health check up have been asked to answer an inquiry which was based on the Karasek-Theorell questionnaire on job strain. Five extra items on worry about the future were added. The questionnaire was completed by over 3,800 persons. Three of four indices showed significant difference with respect to sex. Women experienced less stimulance at work, authority over work and had a greater fear of the future. Farmers had a significantly higher index for psychological demands, stimulance at work as well as authority over work than other occupational groups. The index for authority over work was very high in comparison with presented results for different occupations in other studies. With respect to worry about the future, the farmers had a significantly higher index than nearly all the other occupational groups. The low risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) among farmers reported in other studies can probably be related to good psychosocial working environment as measured by the indices in this study as well as other known life style factors.
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NIOSH Mobile Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Work Environment Laboratory
Federal Laboratory Consortium — The NIOSH Mobile Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Work Environment Laboratory is a 2005 Wheeled Coach Type III ambulance mounted on a Ford E-450 cut-away van chassis....
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Talent Management for Creating a Performance Work Environment ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
This article examines the extent to which talent management can contribute towards creating a performance work environment (PWE) that can enhance sustainable talent identifi cation and development in the public service. The literature analysis results reveal that talent management is essential in creating a PWE in the ...
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Managerial strategies for creating an effective work environment.
Luse, Kimberly A
2013-01-01
To create a highly functioning medical imaging team, radiology managers must be able to analyze their departments and identify areas for improvement. This type of analysis means assessing front-line personnel who already work in the department, along with identifying staffing needs and recruiting talented new employees. In addition, managers must develop effective retention tools such as career ladders and mentorship programs to improve the overall working environment. This article discusses a variety of different strategies to help managers develop a more effective department.
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Collaborative Working Environments as Globalised Inquiry for All
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bach, Martina Sophia; Bloch Rasmussen, Leif
2008-01-01
With this paper we are sharing our practical findings in the eSangathan Project, interpreted from the theoretical perspectives of Inquiring Communities and Collaborative Working Environment (CWE). We start by investigating the use of IT and CWE in support of Inquiring Communities among seniors...... working to create social innovations. We identify five different forms of Inquiring Communities: the Realistic, the Analytic, the Idealistic, the Dialectic and the Pragmatic. These communities we take to be basic and essential for communication and sharing of knowledge among human beings...
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Partnering with Carryouts: Implementation of a Food Environment Intervention Targeting Youth Obesity
Perepezko, K.; Tingey, L.; Sato, P.; Rastatter, S.; Ruggiero, C.; Gittelsohn, J.
2018-01-01
Youth obesity is a major public health problem in the United States, especially among urban-based, minority youth. The B'More Healthy Communities for Kids (BHCK) trial worked at multiple levels of the food environment, including carryouts, to increase access to and demand for healthy, affordable foods. The objective of this article is to describe…
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Ferrer-Garcia, Marta; Pla-Sanjuanelo, Joana; Dakanalis, Antonios; Vilalta-Abella, Ferran; Riva, Giuseppe; Fernandez-Aranda, Fernando; Sánchez, Isabel; Ribas-Sabaté, Joan; Andreu-Gracia, Alexis; Escandón-Nagel, Neli; Gomez-Tricio, Osane; Tena, Virginia; Gutiérrez-Maldonado, José
2017-10-01
Eating behavior style (emotional, restrictive, or external) has been proposed as an explanation for the differences in response to food-related cues between people who overeat and those who do not, and has been also considered a target for the treatment of eating disorders (EDs) characterized by lack of control over eating and weight-related (overweight/obesity) conditions. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between eating behavior style and psychophysiological responses (self-reported food craving and anxiety) to food-related virtual reality (VR) environments in outpatients with bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED) and to compare them with healthy participants. Fifty-eight outpatients and 135 healthy participants were exposed to palatable foods in four experimental everyday real-life VR environments (kitchen, dining room, bedroom and café). During exposure, cue-elicited food craving and anxiety were assessed. Participants also completed standardized instruments for the study purposes. ED patients reported significantly higher levels of craving and anxiety when exposed to the virtual food than healthy controls. Eating behavior styles showed strong associations with cue-elicited food craving and anxiety. In the healthy group, external eating was the only predictor of cue-elicited craving and anxiety. In participants with BN and BED, external and emotional eating were the best predictors of cue-elicited craving and anxiety, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Silla, Inmaculada; Navajas, Joaquin; Koves, G Kenneth
2017-06-01
A safety-conscious work environment allows high-reliability organizations to be proactive regarding safety and enables employees to feel free to report any concern without fear of retaliation. Currently, research on the antecedents to safety-conscious work environments is scarce. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the mediating role of employee communication satisfaction in the relationship between constructive culture and a safety-conscious work environment in several nuclear power plants. Employee communication satisfaction partially mediated the positive relationships between a constructive culture and a safety-conscious work environment. Constructive cultures in which cooperation, supportive relationships, individual growth and high performance are encouraged facilitate the establishment of a safety-conscious work environment. This influence is partially explained by increased employee communication satisfaction. Constructive cultures should be encouraged within organizations. In addition, managers should promote communication policies and practices that support a safety-conscious work environment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.
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Aziz, Imrana; Kumar, Ramesh; Rathore, Anita; Lal, Manohr
2015-01-01
Work environment is believed to be a major factor for better performance of human resource for health in any organization. This study concentrated on multiple factors involved in job satisfaction was appraised to critique their efficient significance in calculation of the health professional liking. Factors included job matched with workers' skills/experience, incentives, supervision, administrator support; convenient work load, training, appreciation, low pay and job protection were major contributors in job satisfaction. A mix method study was done in 2014; an initial descriptive cross sectional survey was done followed by qualitative approach. Eighteen in-depth interviews with health care providers were conducted after taking written consent. Nodes, sub-nodes and final themes were generated during qualitative data analysis. Main findings and themes were, generated after making the nodes and sub-nodes from the most frequent responses. These themes were; absence of work pressure, work place safety, social support, learning opportunities, and employee influence on conditions and recognition individual or team efforts. Work environment is a major contributing factor towards job satisfaction among the health workers.
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Features of gas exchange of healthy people of working age
Noreiko S.B.
2011-01-01
The purpose of this study was to improve the accuracy of determining the basal metabolism of healthy people. Comparative studies of basal metabolism of healthy men and women on probation and respiratory physical factors are considered. Surveyed 30 healthy men and women aged 21-56 years. Determination of the volume of absorbed oxygen and produces carbon dioxide carried by the gas analyzer "Spirolit-2" were defined. Calculate the actual respiratory rate. It is established that the actual value ...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Brauer, Charlotte; Mikkelsen, Sigurd
2010-01-01
The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the psychosocial work environment--at the individual level as well as the workplace level--in explaining the variability in the employees' perception of the indoor environment.......The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the psychosocial work environment--at the individual level as well as the workplace level--in explaining the variability in the employees' perception of the indoor environment....
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sundstrup, Emil; Hansen, Åse Marie; Mortensen, Erik Lykke
2018-01-01
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prospective association between retrospectively assessed physical work environment during working life and prospectively assessed sickness absence and labour market exit among older workers. METHODS: Using Cox regression analyses we estimated the 4-year to 6-year...... and exposure to several factors in the physical work environment, especially heavy lifting, were important for labour market exit and sickness absence. This study underscores the importance of reducing physical work exposures throughout the working life course for preventing sickness absence and premature exit...... from the labour market....
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Psychosocial work environment and its association with socioeconomic status
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Moncada, Salvador; Pejtersen, Jan Hyld; Navarro, Albert
2010-01-01
AIMS: The purpose of this study was to describe psychosocial work environment inequalities among wage earners in Spain and Denmark. METHODS: Data came from the Spanish COPSOQ (ISTAS 21) and the Danish COPSOQ II surveys both performed in 2004-05 and based on national representative samples...... of employees with a 60% response rate. Study population was 3,359 Danish and 6,685 Spanish women and men. Only identical items from both surveys were included to construct 18 psychosocial scales. Socioeconomic status was categorized according to the European Socioeconomic Classification System. Analysis...... included ordinal logistic regression and multiple correspondence analysis after categorizing all scales. RESULTS: A relationship between socioeconomic status and psychosocial work environment in both Denmark and Spain was observed, with wider social inequalities in Spain for many scales, describing...
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Wong, Fiona; Stevens, Denise; O'Connor-Duffany, Kathleen; Siegel, Karen; Gao, Yue
2011-03-07
Novel efforts and accompanying tools are needed to tackle the global burden of chronic disease. This paper presents an approach to describe the environments in which people live, work, and play. Community Health Environment Scan Survey (CHESS) is an empirical assessment tool that measures the availability and accessibility, of healthy lifestyle options lifestyle options. CHESS reveals existing community assets as well as opportunities for change, shaping community intervention planning efforts by focusing on community-relevant opportunities to address the three key risk factors for chronic disease (i.e. unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and tobacco use). The CHESS tool was developed following a review of existing auditing tools and in consultation with experts. It is based on the social-ecological model and is adaptable to diverse settings in developed and developing countries throughout the world. For illustrative purposes, baseline results from the Community Interventions for Health (CIH) Mexico site are used, where the CHESS tool assessed 583 food stores and 168 restaurants. Comparisons between individual-level survey data from schools and community-level CHESS data are made to demonstrate the utility of the tool in strategically guiding intervention activities. The environments where people live, work, and play are key factors in determining their diet, levels of physical activity, and tobacco use. CHESS is the first tool of its kind that systematically and simultaneously examines how built environments encourage/discourage healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco use. CHESS can help to design community interventions to prevent chronic disease and guide healthy urban planning. © 2011 Fiona Wong et al.
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Lukersmith, Sue; Burgess-Limerick, Robin
2013-01-01
The value of creative employees to an organisation's growth and innovative development, productivity, quality and sustainability is well established. This study examined the perceived relationship between creativity and work environment factors of 361 practicing health professionals, and whether these factors were present (realised) in their work environment. Job design (challenges, team work, task rotation, autonomy) and leadership (coaching supervisor, time for thinking, creative goals, recognition and incentives for creative ideas and results) were perceived as the most important factors for stimulating creativity. There was room for improvement of these in the work environment. Many aspects of the physical work environment were less important. Public health sector employers and organisations should adopt sustainable strategies which target the important work environment factors to support employee creativity and so enhance service quality, productivity, performance and growth. Implications of the results for ergonomists and workplace managers are discussed with a participatory ergonomics approach recommended. Creative employees are important to an organisation's innovation, productivity and sustainability. The survey identified health professionals perceive a need to improve job design and leadership factors at work to enhance and support employee creativity. There are implications for organisations and ergonomists to investigate the creative potential of work environments.
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What kind of knowledge do small companies need to improve their working environment?
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Antonsson, Ann-Beth; Hasle, Peter
2015-01-01
towards knowledge-based behaviour. Additionally the time required increases when moving from skill- to knowledge-based behaviour. On the other hand, skill-based behaviour lacks the ability to solve problems and adapt to new situations. In the working environment risk assessment as well as the development...... of management routines are typically knowledge-based activities, whereas the application of good practice is more of skill or rule-based. For small companies, time as well as knowledge is an important constraint for the work environment management. Therefore the conclusion could be to focus on and provide skill......Background One of the main obstacles identified for small companies´ improvement of the working environment is lack of knowledge. Aim To discuss what kind of knowledge is required by small companies if they are to be able to improve their working environment and the pros and cons of different kinds...
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Healthy eating design guidelines for school architecture.
Huang, Terry T-K; Sorensen, Dina; Davis, Steven; Frerichs, Leah; Brittin, Jeri; Celentano, Joseph; Callahan, Kelly; Trowbridge, Matthew J
2013-01-01
We developed a new tool, Healthy Eating Design Guidelines for School Architecture, to provide practitioners in architecture and public health with a practical set of spatially organized and theory-based strategies for making school environments more conducive to learning about and practicing healthy eating by optimizing physical resources and learning spaces. The design guidelines, developed through multidisciplinary collaboration, cover 10 domains of the school food environment (eg, cafeteria, kitchen, garden) and 5 core healthy eating design principles. A school redesign project in Dillwyn, Virginia, used the tool to improve the schools' ability to adopt a healthy nutrition curriculum and promote healthy eating. The new tool, now in a pilot version, is expected to evolve as its components are tested and evaluated through public health and design research.
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Khanal, Santosh; Lloyd, Beverley; Rissel, Chris; Portors, Claire; Grunseit, Anne; Indig, Devon; Ibrahim, Ismail; McElduff, Sinead
2016-02-01
Issue addressed Get Healthy at Work (GHaW) is a statewide program to reduce chronic disease risk among NSW workers by helping them make small changes to modifiable lifestyle chronic disease risk factors and create workplace environments that support healthy lifestyles. It has two primary components: a workplace health program (WHP) for businesses and online or face-to-face Brief Health Checks (BHCs) for workers. In this paper, we discuss our evaluation to identify areas for improvement in the implementation of WHP and to assess the uptake of BHCs by workers. Methods Routinely collected WHP and BHC program data between July 2014 and February 2016 were analysed. A baseline online survey regarding workplace health promotion was conducted with 247 key contacts at registered GHaW worksites and a control group of 400 key contacts from a range of businesses. Seven telephone interviews were conducted with service provider key contacts. Results As at February 2016, 3133 worksites (from 1199 businesses) across NSW had registered for GHaW, of which 36.8% started the program. Similar proportions of GHaW (34.0%) and control (31.7%) businesses had existing WHPs. BHCs were completed by 12740 workers, and of those whose risks were assessed, 78.9% had moderate or high risk of diabetes and 33.6% had increased or high risk of cardiovascular disease. Approximately half (50.6%) of eligible BHC participants were referred to Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service (GHS) and 37.7% to Quitline. The uptake of face-to-face BHCs compared with online was significantly higher for males, people aged over 35 years, those undertaking less physical activity and those less likely to undertake active travel to work. Service providers suggested that the program's structured five-step pathway did not offer adequate flexibility to support worksites' progress through the program. Conclusions During the evaluation period, a substantial number of NSW worksites registered for GHaW but their progress
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Evaluating the food environment: application of the Healthy Eating Index-2005.
Reedy, Jill; Krebs-Smith, Susan M; Bosire, Claire
2010-05-01
The Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005), a tool designed to evaluate concordance with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, has been used to monitor the quality of foods consumed by Americans. Because the HEI-2005 is not tied to individual requirements and is scored on a per 1000 kcal basis, it can be used to assess the overall quality of any mix of foods. The goal of this paper is to examine whether the HEI-2005 can be applied to the food environment. Two examples were selected to examine the application of the HEI-2005 to the food environment: the dollar menu displayed at a fast-food restaurant (coded and linked to the MyPyramid Equivalents Database and the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies) to represent the community level and the 2005 U.S. Food Supply (measured with food availability data, loss-adjusted food availability data, nutrient availability data, and Salt Institute data) to represent the macro level. The dollar menu and the 2005 U.S. Food Supply received 43.4 and 54.9 points, respectively (100 possible points). According to the HEI-2005, for the offerings at a local fast-food restaurant and the U.S. Food Supply to align with national dietary guidance, substantial shifts would be necessary: a concomitant addition of fruit, dark-green vegetables, orange vegetables, legumes, and nonfat milk; replacement of refined grains with whole grains; and reduction in foods and food products containing sodium, solid fats, and added sugars. Because the HEI-2005 can be applied to both environmental- and individual-level data, it provides a useful metric for studies linking data across various levels of the socioecologic framework of dietary behavior. The present findings suggest that new dietary guidance could target not only individuals but also the architects of our food environment. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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Ball, Stephen; Kovarik, Jessica; Leidy, Heather
2015-01-01
The Active and Healthy School Program (AHS) can be used to alter the culture and environment of a school to help children make healthier choices. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of AHS to increase physical activity while decreasing total screen time, increase healthy food choices, and improve knowledge about physical…
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Bullich-Marín, Ingrid; Miralles Basseda, Ramón; Torres Egea, Pilar; Planas-Campmany, Carme; Juvé-Udina, María Eulalia
A favourable work environment contributes to greater job satisfaction and improved working conditions for nurses, a fact that could influence the quality of patient outcomes. The aim of the study is two-fold: Identifying types of centres, according to the working environment assessment made by nurses in intermediate care units, and describing the individual characteristics of nurses related to this assessment. An observational, descriptive, prospective, cross-sectional, and multicentre study was conducted in the last quarter of 2014. Nurses in intermediate care units were given a questionnaire containing the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) which assesses five factors of the work environment using 31 items. Sociodemographic, employment conditions, professional and educational variables were also collected. From a sample of 501 nurses from 14 centres, 388 nurses participated (77% response). The mean score on the PES-NWI was 84.75. Nine centres scored a "favourable" working environment and five "mixed". The best valued factor was "work relations" and the worst was "resource provision/adaptation". Rotating shift work, working in several units at the same time, having management responsibilities, and having a master degree were the characteristics related to a better perception of the nursing work environment. In most centres, the working environment was perceived as favourable. Some employment conditions, professional, and educational characteristics of nurses were related to the work environment assessment. Copyright © 2015 SEGG. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.
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The nurse work environment, job satisfaction and turnover rates in rural and urban nursing units.
Baernholdt, Marianne; Mark, Barbara A
2009-12-01
The aim of the present study was to determine whether there are differences in hospital characteristics, nursing unit characteristics, the nurse work environment, job satisfaction and turnover rates in rural and urban nursing units. Research in urban hospitals has found an association between the nurse work environment and job satisfaction and turnover rates, but this association has not been examined in rural hospitals. Rural and urban nursing units were compared in a national random sample of 97 United States hospitals (194 nursing units) with between 99 and 450 beds. Significant differences were found between hospital and nursing unit characteristics and the nurse work environment in rural and urban nursing units. Both nursing unit characteristics and the work environment were found to have a significant influence on nurse job satisfaction and turnover rates. Job satisfaction and turnover rates in rural and urban nursing units are associated with both nursing unit characteristics and the work environment. Both rural and urban hospitals can improve nurse job satisfaction and turnover rates by changing unit characteristics, such as creating better support services and a work environment that supports autonomous nursing practice. Rural hospitals can also improve the work environment by providing nurses with more educational opportunities.
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The Working Environment and Changing Role of Corporate Librarians in Taiwan
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Hsueh-hua Chen
2003-06-01
Full Text Available Influenced by the concept of “Knowledge Economics”, knowledge management (KM is getting a lot of attention in the field of business administration recently. Corporate centers are mostly affected by KM either in their working environment or in the role of their daily operation in the field of Library and Information Science. In the United States, the Special Library Association (SLA conducted numerous studies about the working environment and the changing role of corporate librarians in the past ten years. Due to the differences in politics, economics, and culture between Taiwan and the western countries, the organizational structure and corporate culture of the enterprise will not be exactly the same. Therefore, local studies on similar topics are needed. The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of the KM on the working environment and the changing roles of the corporate librarians in Taiwan based on the result of National Science Council Research Project executed by the authors.[Article content in Chinese
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van Ansem, Wilke Jc; Schrijvers, Carola Tm; Rodenburg, Gerda; van de Mheen, Dike
2014-09-12
The aims of this study are 1) to investigate the association between maternal educational level and healthy eating behaviour of 11-year-old children (fruit, vegetables and breakfast consumption), and 2) to examine whether factors in the home food environment (parental intake of fruit, vegetables and breakfast; rules about fruit and vegetables and home availability of fruit and vegetables) mediate these associations. Data were obtained from the Dutch INPACT study. In total, 1318 parent-child dyads were included in this study. Multilevel regression models were used to investigate whether factors of the home food environment mediated the association between maternal educational level and children's healthy eating behaviour. Children of mothers with a high educational level consumed more pieces of fruit per day (B = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.04-0.22), more grams of vegetables per day (B = 23.81, 95% CI = 14.93-32.69) and were more likely to have breakfast on a daily basis (OR = 2.97, 95% CI: 1.38-6.39) than children of mothers with a low educational level. Home availability, food consumption rules and parental consumption mediated the association between maternal education level and children's fruit and vegetable consumption. Parental breakfast consumption mediated the association between maternal education level and children's breakfast consumption. Factors in the home food environment play an important role in the explanation of socio-economic disparities in children's healthy eating behaviour and may be promising targets for interventions.
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Transfer of Training: A Reorganized Review on Work Environment and Motivation to Transfer
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Imran Khan
2015-11-01
Full Text Available Effective application of skills & knowledge gained from a training program to a job situation, i.e. transfer of training, has become a great concern in training issues. Transfer of learned skills at the actual workplace is subject to a number of factors, with work environment being one of those factors. Research has shown a relatively profound role of the work environment in delineating the construct of transfer. However, some of the most important characteristics of the work environment have arguably remained under-researched and are still going empirical testing. So, in earnest, this paper is an attempt to make a holistic review of the literature and methodology by going through summative, formative and meta studies published from 1988–2014 on transfer. This paper proposes a conceptual framework by recognizing the influential role of two forms of work environments (i.e., support and climate on transfer of training, taking into account the mediating role played by transfer motivation with recommended methodological standards.
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Virtual Team Work : Group Decision Making in 3D Virtual Environments
Schouten, A.P.; van den Hooff, B.; Feldberg, F.
2016-01-01
This study investigates how three-dimensional virtual environments (3DVEs) support shared understanding and group decision making. Based on media synchronicity theory, we pose that the shared environment and avatar-based interaction allowed by 3DVEs aid convergence processes in teams working on a
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Virtual Team Work : Group Decision Making in 3D Virtual Environments
Schouten, Alexander P.; van den Hooff, Bart; Feldberg, Frans
This study investigates how three-dimensional virtual environments (3DVEs) support shared understanding and group decision making. Based on media synchronicity theory, we pose that the shared environment and avatar-based interaction allowed by 3DVEs aid convergence processes in teams working on a
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Relationships among the nurse work environment, self-nurturance and life satisfaction.
Nemcek, Mary Ann; James, Gary D
2007-08-01
This paper is a report of a study to (1) ascertain the relationship among self-nurturance, perceived Magnet features and life satisfaction and (2) evaluate the predictive effects of self-nurturance and Magnet features on life satisfaction. Promoting health is a global priority for nurses and for the public who depend upon them to provide quality care. Health gains can be realized by modifying the work environment and by modifying lifestyle choices (self-nurturance). A study of nurses that examined perceptions of workplace features that enable nurses' professional practice (Magnet features), self-nurturance and healthy outcomes (life satisfaction) was not found in the literature. Survey data collected in May 2003 from a convenience sample of 310 Registered Nurses were used for this descriptive, correlational study. Self-nurturing nurses were more satisfied with life and perceived that more Magnet features were present in the workplace. Nurses with a master's degree were more self-nurturing than nurses without a baccalaureate degree. The synergistic effect of both self-nurturance and workplace factors predicted 29% of variance in nurses' life satisfaction. Higher levels of perceived Magnet features and frequent self-nurturance choices are important health influences on nurses' life satisfaction. Greater life satisfaction is known to reduce job dissatisfaction while improving retention. Approaches that incorporate both self-nurturance and workplace Magnet features are suggested to improve the health and retention of experienced nurses.
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Hayes, Bronwyn; Bonner, Ann; Douglas, Clint
2015-01-01
Haemodialysis nurses form long term relationships with patients in a technologically complex work environment. Previous studies have highlighted that haemodialysis nurses face stressors related to the nature of their work and also their work environments leading to reported high levels of burnout. Using Kanters (1997) Structural Empowerment Theory as a guiding framework, the aim of this study was to explore the factors contributing to satisfaction with the work environment, job satisfaction, job stress and burnout in haemodialysis nurses. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, the first phase involved an on-line survey comprising demographic and work characteristics, Brisbane Practice Environment Measure (B-PEM), Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS), Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The second phase involved conducting eight semi-structured interviews with data thematically analyzed. From the 417 nurses surveyed the majority were female (90.9 %), aged over 41 years of age (74.3 %), and 47.4 % had worked in haemodialysis for more than 10 years. Overall the work environment was perceived positively and there was a moderate level of job satisfaction. However levels of stress and emotional exhaustion (burnout) were high. Two themes, ability to care and feeling successful as a nurse, provided clarity to the level of job satisfaction found in phase 1. While two further themes, patients as quasi-family and intense working teams, explained why working as a haemodialysis nurse was both satisfying and stressful. Nurse managers can use these results to identify issues being experienced by haemodialysis nurses working in the unit they are supervising.
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Cuellar, Alison; Krist, Alex H; Nichols, Len M; Kuzel, Anton J
2018-04-01
Physicians have joined larger groups and hospital systems in the face of multiple environmental challenges. We examine whether there are differences across practice ownership in self-reported work environment, a practice culture of learning, psychological safety, and burnout. Using cross-sectional data from staff surveys of small and medium-size practices that participated in EvidenceNOW in Virginia, we tested for differences in work environment, culture of learning, psychological safety, and burnout by practice type. We conducted weighted multivariate linear regression of outcomes on ownership, controlling for practice size, specialty mix, payer mix, and whether the practice was located in a medically underserved area. We further analyzed clinician and staff responses separately. Participating were 104 hospital-owned and 61 independent practices and 24 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). We analyzed 2,005 responses from practice clinicians and staff, a response rate of 49%. Working in a hospital-owned practice was associated with favorable ratings of work environment, psychological safety, and burnout compared with independent practices. When we examined separately the responses of clinicians vs staff, however, the association appears to be largely driven by staff. Hospital ownership was associated with positive perceptions of practice work environment and lower burnout for staff relative to independent ownership, whereas clinicians in FQHCs perceive a more negative, less joyful work environment and burnout. Our findings are suggestive that clinician and nonclinician staff perceive practice adaptive reserve differently, which may have implications for creating the energy for ongoing quality improvement work. © 2018 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.
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THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION AND WORK ENVIRONMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES
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Muchtar Muchtar
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Abstract.This aims to determine the factors that affect the performance of employees of the University PGRI RonggolaweTuban. These factors are motivation and work environment. Employees who have a high motivation to work will have a positive impact for the organization, so as to achieve organizational goals. Hypothesis testing is done by spreading the questionnaire as many as 52 employees of the University PGRI RonggolaweTuban. Analysis using multiple linear regression analysis. Results of testing the hypothesis that the value F = 4,312; and p = 0.019 (p 0.05, meaning that work motivation has no significant effect on employee performance. On the environment variable obtained value t = 2,376; and p = 0.021 (p <0.05, which means that the working environment have a significant effect on employee performance. R2 = 0.115 shows that simultaneously motivated and able to contribute to the environmental performance of 11.5% on the employees of the University of PGRI RonggolaweTuban..
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A social survey on the noise impact in open-plan working environments in China.
Zhang, Mei; Kang, Jian; Jiao, Fenglei
2012-11-01
The aim of this study is to reveal noise impact in open-plan working environments in China, through a series of questionnaire surveys and acoustic measurements in typical open-plan working environments. It has been found that compared to other physical environmental factors in open-plan working environments, people are much less satisfied with the acoustic environment. The noise impact in the surveyed working environments is rather significant, in terms of sound level inside the office, understanding of colleagues' conversation, and the use of background music such as music players. About 30-50% of the interviewees think that various noise sources inside and outside offices are 'very disturbing' and 'disturbing', and the most annoying sounds include noises from outside, ventilation systems, office equipment, and keyboard typing. Using higher panels to separate work space, or working in enclosed offices, are regarded as effective improvement measures, whereas introducing natural sounds to mask unwanted sounds seems to be not preferable. There are significant correlations between the evaluation of acoustic environment and office symptoms, including hypersensitivity to loud sounds, easily getting tired and depression. There are also significant correlations between evaluation of various acoustics-related factors and certain statements relating to job satisfaction, including sensitivity to noise, as well as whether conversations could be heard by colleagues. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Work load and individual factors affecting work ability among aging municipal employees.
Tuomi, K; Eskelinen, L; Toikkanen, J; Jarvinen, E; Ilmarinen, J; Klockars, M
1991-01-01
The effects of work stressors, individual characteristics, symptoms, and diseases on work ability were studied among 4255 municipal employees. Work ability was assessed by a work ability index in two cross-sectional inquiries, one in 1981 and the other in 1985. The most impairing for work ability were mental symptoms and musculoskeletal disease. Among the work stressors, high physical demands at work, poor physical work environment, and lack of freedom were associated with impaired work ability. Muscular work, disturbing temperatures at the workplace, and lack of freedom particularly affected employees with disease, whereas poor work postures and role conflicts at work were particularly injurious for healthy employees. The worst situation was observed when a worker with many symptoms and disease was exposed to many different work stressors. Life satisfaction, sitting work posture, a good basic education, and physical exercise during leisure time were associated with good work ability.
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Work environment and safety climate in the Swedish merchant fleet.
Forsell, Karl; Eriksson, Helena; Järvholm, Bengt; Lundh, Monica; Andersson, Eva; Nilsson, Ralph
2017-02-01
To get knowledge of the work environment for seafarers sailing under the Swedish flag, in terms of safety climate, ergonomical, chemical and psychosocial exposures, and the seafarers self-rated health and work ability. A Web-based questionnaire was sent to all seafarers with a personal e-mail address in the Swedish Maritime Registry (N = 5608). Comparisons were made mainly within the study population, using Student's t test, prevalence odds ratios and logistic regressions with 95% confidence intervals. The response rate was 35% (N = 1972; 10% women, 90% men), with 61% of the respondents working on deck, 31% in the engine room and 7% in the catering/service department (1% not classifiable). Strain on neck, arm or back and heavy lifting were associated with female gender (p = 0.0001) and younger age (below or above 30 years of age, p harassment or bullying during last year of service. Noise, risk of accidents, hand/arm and whole-body vibrations and psychosocial factors such as harassment were commonly reported work environment problems among seafarers within the Swedish merchant fleet.
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Phiri, Lindokuhle P; Draper, Catherine E; Lambert, Estelle V; Kolbe-Alexander, Tracy L
2014-01-01
Nurses have an increased risk for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), along with a high prevalence of obesity, poor eating habits and insufficient physical activity. The aim of this study was to determine the health concerns, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle among nurses and hospital management staff from public hospitals in the Western Cape Metropole, South Africa. Participants were purposively sampled (n = 103), and included management personnel (n = 9), night shift (n = 57) and day-shift nurses (n = 36). Twelve focus groups (FGDs) were conducted with nursing staff to obtain insight into nurses' health concerns, lifestyle behaviours and worksite health promotion programmes (WHPPs). Seven key informant interviews (KII) were conducted with management personnel, to gain their perspective on health promotion in the worksite. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data with the assistance of Atlas.ti Qualitative Data Analysis Software. Night shift nurses frequently identified weight gain and living with NCDs such as hypertension as their main health concerns. Being overweight was perceived to have a negative impact on work performance. All nurses identified backache and exposure to tuberculosis (TB) as occupation-related health concerns, and both management and nurses frequently reported a stressful working environment. Nurses frequently mentioned lack of time to prepare healthy meals due to long working hours and being overtired from work. The hospital environment was perceived to have a negative influence on the nurses' lifestyle behaviours, including food service that offered predominantly unhealthy foods. The most commonly delivered WHPPs included independent counselling services, an online employee wellness programme offered by the Department of Health and wellness days in which clinical measures, such as blood glucose were measured. Nurses identified a preference for WHPPs that provided access to fitness facilities or
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Kop, Jean-Luc; Althaus, Virginie; Formet-Robert, Nadja; Grosjean, Vincent
2016-04-01
Many questionnaires have been developed to measure how psychosocial characteristics are perceived in a work environment. But the content validity of these questionnaires has rarely been questioned due to the absence of a reference taxonomy for characteristics of work environments. To propose an exhaustive taxonomy of work environment characteristics involved in psychosocial risks and to apply this taxonomy to questionnaires on workplace psychosocial factors. The taxonomy was developed by categorizing factors present in the main theoretical models of the field. Questionnaire items most frequently cited in scientific literature were retained for classification. The taxonomy was structured into four hierarchical levels and comprises 53 categories. The 17 questionnaires analyzed included 927 items: 59 from the "physical environment" category, 116 from the "social environment" category, 236 from the "work activity" category, 255 from the "activity management" category, and 174 from the "organizational context" category. There are major content differences among analyzed questionnaires. This study offers a means for selecting a scale on the basis of content.
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Collaborative Working e-Learning Environments Supported by Rule-Based e-Tutor
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Salaheddin Odeh
2007-10-01
Full Text Available Collaborative working environments for distance education sets a goal of convenience and an adaptation into our technologically advanced societies. To achieve this revolutionary new way of learning, environments must allow the different participants to communicate and coordinate with each other in a productive manner. Productivity and efficiency is obtained through synchronized communication between the different coordinating partners, which means that multiple users can execute an experiment simultaneously. Within this process, coordination can be accomplished by voice communication and chat tools. In recent times, multi-user environments have been successfully applied in many applications such as air traffic control systems, team-oriented military systems, chat text tools, and multi-player games. Thus, understanding the ideas and the techniques behind these systems can be of great significance regarding the contribution of newer ideas to collaborative working e-learning environments. However, many problems still exist in distance learning and tele-education, such as not finding the proper assistance while performing the remote experiment. Therefore, the students become overwhelmed and the experiment will fail. In this paper, we are going to discuss a solution that enables students to obtain an automated help by either a human tutor or a rule-based e-tutor (embedded rule-based system for the purpose of student support in complex remote experimentative environments. The technical implementation of the system can be realized by using the powerful Microsoft .NET, which offers a complete integrated developmental environment (IDE with a wide collection of products and technologies. Once the system is developed, groups of students are independently able to coordinate and to execute the experiment at any time and from any place, organizing the work between them positively.
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Özer, Özlem; Şantaş, Fatih; Şantaş, Gülcan; Şahin, Deniz Say
2017-12-01
This study examines the association of nurses' perception of their work environment and communication satisfaction with their intention to quit. The implementation part of the study was conducted with nurses working in a public hospital in the city of Burdur, Turkey. Data were collected in January 2017 from 175 participants and then assessed. The analysis showed that perceptions of the work environment and communication satisfaction taken together explain the total variance of the intention to quit. While participants' perceptions of the work environment become increasingly positive, their communication satisfaction increases and their intention to quit decreases. The findings of this study suggest that making improvements to the nursing work environment and nurses' communication satisfaction will decrease their intention to quit. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
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Government regulation to promote healthy food environments--a view from inside state governments.
Shill, J; Mavoa, H; Allender, S; Lawrence, M; Sacks, G; Peeters, A; Crammond, B; Swinburn, B
2012-02-01
Food policy interventions are an important component of obesity-prevention strategies and can potentially drive positive changes in obesogenic environments. This study sought to identify regulatory interventions targeting the food environment, and barriers/facilitators to their implementation at the Australian state government level. In-depth interviews were conducted with senior representatives from state/territory governments, statutory authorities and non-government organizations (n =45) to examine participants' (i) suggestions for regulatory interventions for healthier food environments and (ii) support for pre-selected regulatory interventions derived from a literature review. Data were analysed using thematic and constant comparative analyses. Interventions commonly suggested by participants were regulating unhealthy food marketing; limiting the density of fast food outlets; pricing reforms to decrease fruit/vegetable prices and increase unhealthy food prices; and improved food labelling. The most commonly supported pre-selected interventions were related to food marketing and service. Primary production and retail sector interventions were least supported. The dominant themes were the need for whole-of-government and collaborative approaches; the influence of the food industry; conflicting policies/agenda; regulatory challenges; the need for evidence of effectiveness; and economic disincentives. While interventions such as public sector healthy food service policies were supported by participants, marketing restrictions and fiscal interventions face substantial barriers including a push for deregulation and private sector opposition. © 2011 The Authors. obesity reviews © 2011 International Association for the Study of Obesity.
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Working memory training improves emotional states of healthy individuals
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Hikaru eTakeuchi
2014-10-01
Full Text Available Working memory (WM capacity is associated with various emotional aspects, including states of depression and stress, reactions to emotional stimuli, and regulatory behaviors. We have previously investigated the effects of WM training (WMT on cognitive functions and brain structures. However, the effects of WMT on emotional states and related neural mechanisms among healthy young adults remain unknown. In the present study, we investigated these effects in young adults who underwent WMT or received no intervention for 4 weeks. Before and after the intervention, subjects completed self-report questionnaires related to their emotional states and underwent scanning sessions in which brain activities related to negative emotions were measured. Compared with controls, subjects who underwent WMT showed reduced anger, fatigue, and depression. Furthermore, WMT reduced activity in the left posterior insula during tasks evoking negative emotion, which was related to anger. It also reduced activity in the left frontoparietal area. These findings show that WMT can reduce negative mood and provide new insight into the clinical applications of WMT, at least among subjects with preclinical-level conditions.
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Understanding the psychosocial and physical work environment in a Singapore medical school.
Chan, G C T; Koh, D
2007-02-01
This study aims to understand the physical and psychosocial work environment, expectations and the perceived levels of stress encountered of medical students in Singapore. A cross-sectional study employing a self-administered work environment questionnaire was applied over a one-week period to the entire 2003/2004 medical school cohort (1,069 students, response rate 85 percent) from the first to fifth (final) years at the National University of Singapore. 3.3 percent had at least one needlestick injury within the academic year. The majority (especially the clinical students) also had musculoskeletal complaints (neck and back mainly) within the last three months. Using the General Health Questionnaire, it was found that 49.6 percent encountered significant stress and 64.6 percent reported that more than 60 percent of their total life stress was due to medical school. The most important psychosocial stressors were: too much work and difficulty in coping. The clinical students were particularly concerned about being good medical students and doctors. The reasons for choosing Medicine as a career and social health (health, study and sleep habits) were also studied. The health risks of a medical student are primarily psychosocial in nature. The biggest challenges are work demands, maintaining a work-life balance and managing the psychosocial work environment.
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The Role of Public Authorities in Balance Contribution of Half Work Environment
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Fernando Franco Morais
2016-10-01
Full Text Available The Federal Constitution guarantees everyone the right to decent work and put the environment as a fundamental right and duty of the State to implement policies to protect and decrease in unemployment , in protecting the mental and physical integrity of the employee in the workplace , normalizing and supervising if companies are performing their social function. Thus , this paper focuses on demonstrating the importance of the state to maintain a balanced work environment , in the sense that is protected psychophysical integrity of employees, is dampening , so the incidence of occupational diseases and accidents work.
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Villaume, Karin; Hasson, Dan
2017-01-01
Little is known about personality in relation to assessments of the psychosocial work environment and leadership. Therefore the objective of this study is to explore possible associations and differences in mean values between employee health-relevant personality traits and assessments of the psychosocial work environment and leadership behaviors. 754 survey responses from ten organizations were selected from a large-scale intervention study. The Health-relevant Personality 5 inventory was used to assess personality. Five dimensions of the psychosocial work environment were assessed with 38 items from the QPS Nordic and 6 items from the Developmental Leadership Questionnaire were used to assess leadership behavior. Positive correlations were found between Hedonic capacity (facet of Extraversion) and perceptions of the psychosocial work environment and leadership behavior. Negative correlations were found for Negative affectivity (facet of Neuroticism), Antagonism (facet of Agreeableness), Impulsivity (facet of Conscientiousness) and Alexithymia (facet of Openness). There were also significant differences in mean values of all work environment indicators between levels of health-relevant personality traits. Those with higher levels of hedonic capacity had higher (better) perceptions compared to those with lower levels. Those with higher levels of negative affectivity had lower (worse) perceptions compared to those with lower levels. The findings show a clear association between employee health-relevant personality traits and assessments of the psychosocial work environment and leadership behavior. Personality can be important to take into consideration for leaders when interpreting survey results and when designing organizational interventions.
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Solvents Measurement and Influence on health in the Work Environment in Manufacturing
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piia tint
2015-09-01
Full Text Available The composition of the mixture of chemicals in the work environment depends mostly on the temperature of the air or processing temperature of the raw material or the intermediate products. For determination the chemicals in the air FTIR/FT-NIR spectrometer Interspec 301-X with open optical path and Dräger tubes were used. The toxicology of the gaseous components was determined on the basis of the scientific literature. On the basis of these investigations and the legislation on the chemicals safety (exposure limits the health risk assessment model (HRA was worked out. This model connects the hazards in the work environment and the health risk to the workers and also gives the possibility to the medical personnel to determine the frequency of the medical examinations and biomonitoring for the workers continuously working in the hazardous conditions. The novelty of the study includes in the possibility to keep under control the chemicals concentration in the work environment air through the use of HRA model and the measurement with modern measurement equipment (FTIR/FT-NIR. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.21.3.7345
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Fiona Wong
2011-03-01
Full Text Available Background: Novel1 1This study was performed on behalf of the Community Interventions for Health (CIH collaboration. efforts and accompanying tools are needed to tackle the global burden of chronic disease. This paper presents an approach to describe the environments in which people live, work, and play. Community Health Environment Scan Survey (CHESS is an empirical assessment tool that measures the availability and accessibility, of healthy lifestyle options lifestyle options. CHESS reveals existing community assets as well as opportunities for change, shaping community intervention planning efforts by focusing on community-relevant opportunities to address the three key risk factors for chronic disease (i.e. unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and tobacco use. Methods: The CHESS tool was developed following a review of existing auditing tools and in consultation with experts. It is based on the social-ecological model and is adaptable to diverse settings in developed and developing countries throughout the world. Results: For illustrative purposes, baseline results from the Community Interventions for Health (CIH Mexico site are used, where the CHESS tool assessed 583 food stores and 168 restaurants. Comparisons between individual-level survey data from schools and community-level CHESS data are made to demonstrate the utility of the tool in strategically guiding intervention activities. Conclusion: The environments where people live, work, and play are key factors in determining their diet, levels of physical activity, and tobacco use. CHESS is the first tool of its kind that systematically and simultaneously examines how built environments encourage/discourage healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco use. CHESS can help to design community interventions to prevent chronic disease and guide healthy urban planning.
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Attention and working memory in elderly: the influence of a distracting environment.
Rodrigues, Pedro F S; Pandeirada, Josefa N S
2015-02-01
The present work investigated the effect of a distracting environment in the performance of attentional and working memory (WM) tasks in elderly participants. To this end, forty elderly performed two attentional tasks (simple reaction time and go/no-go tasks), and three WM tasks (arithmetic, memory for digits and sequences of letters and numbers). Each participant performed the tasks in a distracting and a non-distracting environment, with an interval of 14-21 days between sessions. The results revealed better performance in the attentional tasks when these were done in the non-distracting environment, as compared to when they were done in the distracting environment. Specifically, participants provided more accurate responses, fewer false alarms and omissions when responding in the non-distracting environment than when responding in the distracting environment. Participants were also faster at providing correct responses in the go/no-go task when it was performed in the non-distracting environment. As for the memory tasks, the effect of type of environment was significant only in the memory for digits in a forward direction task. Our data suggest the need to consider the potential damaging consequences of distracting environments when the elderly have to perform tasks that demand their attention. Specific examples of such situations are presented in the discussion (e.g., distracting effect of environment on medical and on psychological evaluations).
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Work of scientific and technological information under network environment
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chen Yingxi; Huang Daifu; Yang Lifeng
2010-01-01
With the development of internet and information technology, the work of scientific and technological information is faced with great challenge. This article expounds the new changes of scientific and technological information in enterprise under network environment by giving a minute description on the situation the work faced and characteristic of the work. Not only does it carry out enthusiastic discussion upon problems which are present in the work of scientific and technological information in the company, but puts forward proposals and specific measures as well. Service theory is also offered by adjusting and reforming the resources construction, service ways and the job of providing contents. We should take vigorous action to the research work of scientific and technological information, changing the information directional service into knowledge providing service. (authors)
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Yoo, Moon Sook; Kim, Kyoung Ja
2017-09-01
The aim of this study was to explore the influence of nurse work environments and patient safety culture on attitudes toward incident reporting. Patient safety culture had been known as a factor of incident reporting by nurses. Positive work environment could be an important influencing factor for the safety behavior of nurses. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The structured questionnaire was administered to 191 nurses working at a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. Nurses' perception of work environment and patient safety culture were positively correlated with attitudes toward incident reporting. A regression model with clinical career, work area and nurse work environment, and patient safety culture against attitudes toward incident reporting was statistically significant. The model explained approximately 50.7% of attitudes toward incident reporting. Improving nurses' attitudes toward incident reporting can be achieved with a broad approach that includes improvements in work environment and patient safety culture.
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Wang, H. Echo; Lee, Matthew; Hart, Adante; Summers, Amber C.; Steeves, Elizabeth Anderson; Gittelsohn, Joel
2013-01-01
Soaring obesity rates in the United States demand comprehensive health intervention strategies that simultaneously address dietary patterns, physical activity, psychosocial factors and the food environment. Healthy Bodies, Healthy Souls (HBHS) is a church-based, community-participatory, cluster-randomized health intervention trial conducted in…
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Seeking Connectivity in Nurses' Work Environments: Advancing Nurse Empowerment Theory.
Udod, Sonia
2014-09-01
The purpose of this study was to investigate how staff nurses and their managers exercise power in a hospital setting in order to better understand what fosters or constrains staff nurses' empowerment and to extend nurse empowerment theory. Power is integral to empowerment, and attention to the challenges in nurses' work environment and nurse outcomes by administrators, researchers, and policy-makers has created an imperative to advance a theoretical understanding of power in the nurse-manager relationship. A sample of 26 staff nurses on 3 units of a tertiary hospital in western Canada were observed and interviewed about how the manager affected their ability to do their work. Grounded theory methodology was used. The process of seeking connectivity was the basic social process, indicating that the manager plays a critical role in the work environment and nurses need the manager to share power with them in the provision of safe, quality patient care. Copyright© by Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University.
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Tamas Forgacs,; Henrietta Finna
2010-01-01
Ergonomy aims at creating a work place that suits the employee’s needs. A well-developed office does not only increase work efficiency but it can also significantly reduce costs. This study researches and reveals the specific personal attributes and the factors of workplace environment, which have an effect on the efficiency of the workforce. We were searching for studies, where the core work wasn’t changed -the increase in work efficiency was reached only by changing the work environment.
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The Foundations of the Characterization of the Right a Good Work Environment as a Fundamental Right
João Hélio Ferreira Pes
2016-01-01
This study aim to determine which are the foundations of the characterization of the right to a good work environment as a fundamental right. Initially, it conceptualizes the right to a good work environment. After, it mentions the distinction between formal and material fundamentality of the right to a good work environment under the post-positivist theory. Finally, it presents some substantial foundations of the characterization of the right to a good work environment as a fundame...
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Brewer, Carol S; Kovner, Christine T; Obeidat, Rana F; Budin, Wendy C
2013-01-01
Verbal abuse in the workplace is experienced by registered nurses (RNs) worldwide; physicians are one of the main sources of verbal abuse. To examine the relationship between levels of physician verbal abuse of early-career RNs and demographics, work attributes, and perceived work environment. Fourth wave of a mailed national panel survey of early career RNs begun in 2006. RNs' perception of verbal abuse by physicians was significantly associated with poor workgroup cohesion, lower supervisory and mentor support, greater quantitative workload, organizational constraints, and nurse-colleague verbal abuse, as well as RNs' lower job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to stay. RNs working in unfavorable work environments experience more physician abuse and have less favorable work attitudes. Causality is unclear: do poor working conditions create an environment in which physicians are more likely to be abusive, or does verbal abuse by physicians create an unfavorable work environment? Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Olesen, Kasper Vinther; Carneiro, Isabella G; Jørgensen, Marie B
2012-01-01
INTRODUCTION: Non-Western cleaners have reported better psychosocial work environment but worse health compared with their Danish colleagues. The aim of this study was to compare the association between psychosocial work environment and hypertension among non-Western immigrant cleaners and Danish...
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W.J.C. van Ansem (Wilke); C.Th.M. Schrijvers (Carola); G. Rodenburg (Gerda); H. van de Mheen (Dike)
2014-01-01
textabstractBackground: The aims of this study are 1) to investigate the association between maternal educational level and healthy eating behaviour of 11-year-old children (fruit, vegetables and breakfast consumption), and 2) to examine whether factors in the home food environment (parental intake
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Part Summary of the Project ‘Speakers’ Comfort’: Teachers’ Voice use in Teaching Environments
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lyberg-Åhlander, Viveka; Rydell, Roland; Löfqvist, Anders
2015-01-01
Classroom acoustics not always take the speaker’s comfort into consideration. The purpose of the presented papers was to investigate voice use, vocal behavior and prevalence of voice problems in Swedish teaching staff. Ratings of features in the work-environment on voice use were explored in n...... = 487 teachers. Based on their answers the respondents were split into two groups: teachers with self-assessed voice problems and voice-healthy teachers. Teachers with voice problems and were matched to a voice-healthy colleague from the same school and were investigated and compared for clinical...... findings and for vocal behavior. Acoustic properties of their teaching environments were measured. Teachers with voice-problems were more affected by any loading factor in the work-environment and were more aware of the room acoustics. Differences between the groups were found during field...
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Rushakoff, Joshua A; Zoughbie, Daniel E; Bui, Nancy; DeVito, Katerina; Makarechi, Leila; Kubo, Hitomi
2017-09-01
Rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Kentucky's Cumberland Valley region are among the highest in the United States and limited access to healthy food contributes to these epidemics. The aim of Healthy2Go (H2G), a country store transformation project launched by Spread the Health Appalachia (STHA), was to improve awareness and availability of healthy options in small, rural stores. Ten country stores participated in H2G and received training and technical assistance to increase availability and awareness of healthy foods. Stores made inventory changes; installed point-of-purchase educational and in-store marketing materials directing shoppers to healthier options; provided nutrition education such as healthy recipes; and altered the display and location of healthy items. To measure changes within stores and the potential impact on resident eating and purchasing habits, STHA used four instruments: a modified version of the Nutrition Environs Measures Survey - Corner Stores at baseline and follow-up, a bimonthly store inventory assessment, a final store owner survey, and a Community Nutrition Survey at baseline (n = 287) and follow-up (n = 281). The stores in the H2G program (n = 10) had a 40% increase in stocking fresh produce, a 20% increase in produce variety, and trends towards increasing healthy inventory. During the same period, surveyed residents reported a statistically significant increase in the frequency of healthy food consumption. Small store transformation programs can improve availability of and access to healthy food in rural settings and influence local purchasing patterns.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Joshua A. Rushakoff
2017-09-01
Full Text Available Rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Kentucky's Cumberland Valley region are among the highest in the United States and limited access to healthy food contributes to these epidemics. The aim of Healthy2Go (H2G, a country store transformation project launched by Spread the Health Appalachia (STHA, was to improve awareness and availability of healthy options in small, rural stores. Ten country stores participated in H2G and received training and technical assistance to increase availability and awareness of healthy foods. Stores made inventory changes; installed point-of-purchase educational and in-store marketing materials directing shoppers to healthier options; provided nutrition education such as healthy recipes; and altered the display and location of healthy items. To measure changes within stores and the potential impact on resident eating and purchasing habits, STHA used four instruments: a modified version of the Nutrition Environs Measures Survey – Corner Stores at baseline and follow-up, a bimonthly store inventory assessment, a final store owner survey, and a Community Nutrition Survey at baseline (n = 287 and follow-up (n = 281. The stores in the H2G program (n = 10 had a 40% increase in stocking fresh produce, a 20% increase in produce variety, and trends towards increasing healthy inventory. During the same period, surveyed residents reported a statistically significant increase in the frequency of healthy food consumption. Small store transformation programs can improve availability of and access to healthy food in rural settings and influence local purchasing patterns.
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Person factors and work environments of workers who use mobility devices.
Gray, David B; Morgan, Kerri A; Gottlieb, Meghan; Hollingsworth, Holly H
2014-01-01
Nearly 25% of people with mobility impairments and limitations who are of working age are employed, yet few studies have examined their perspectives on their jobs or work environments required to complete job tasks. The purpose of this study was to describe the factors that contribute to successful employment for those who use mobility devices. A convenience sample of 132 workers who use power wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, canes, crutches or walkers. Participants completed an online version of the Mobility Device User Work Survey (MWS). A multivariate analysis and a two-step multiple linear regression analysis were used. Study participants had few secondary health conditions that influenced their work. Employee satisfactoriness to their employers was high. Accessibility of worksites was high. Assistive technologies were inexpensive, and personal assistance was used infrequently and usually was unpaid. Co-worker communications were very positive. Flexible work rules and supportive managers were highly valued. Job satisfaction positively correlated with accessibility, work tasks, co-worker communication and work support. The description of work environments of successfully employed mobility device users can provide some useful guidance to employers, vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors and unemployed mobility device users to balance employee abilities and preferences with the needs of employers.
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A Study on Work Life Balance of Female Teachers in Ernakulam District
Sabnam EA; Neena Merina; Dr Vineeth KM
2018-01-01
Work-life balance is about creating and maintaining supportive and healthy work environments, which will enable employees to have a balance between work and personal responsibilities and thus strengthening employee loyalty and productivity. Evidence suggests that improvements in people management practices, especially work time and work location flexibility and the development of supportive managers, contribute to increased work-life balance. The present study concludes that Work Place Suppor...
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Gustat, Jeanette; O'Malley, Keelia; Hu, Tian; Tabak, Rachel G; Goins, Karin Valentine; Valko, Cheryl; Litt, Jill; Eyler, Amy
2014-01-01
To examine support for local policies encouraging physical activity and perceived neighborhood environment characteristics by physical activity and weight status of respondents across U.S. counties. We used a random-digit-dial, computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) to conduct a cross-sectional telephone questionnaire in selected U.S. counties in 2011. Counties with high prevalences of obesity and sedentary behavior (HH; n = 884) and counties with low prevalences of obesity and sedentary behavior (LL; n = 171) were selected nationally. Adult respondents from HH (n = 642) and LL (n = 566) counties. Questions were asked of respondents, pertaining to support for physical activity policies in various settings, neighborhood features, time spent in physical activity and sedentary behaviors, self-reported weight and height, and personal demographic information. Means and frequencies were calculated; bivariable and multivariable linear and logistic regression models, developed. Models were adjusted for individual characteristics and county HH/LL status. Respondents in LL counties perceived their neighborhood and work environments to be more supportive of healthy behaviors and were more supportive of local physical activity policies than respondents in HH counties (p physical activity, and decreased sedentary behavior. Policy support and neighborhood environments are associated with behaviors. Results can inform targeting policy agendas to facilitate the improvement of environments (community, work, and school) to be more supportive of physical activity.
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Hedlund, Ann; Ateg, Mattias; Andersson, Ing-Marie; Rosén, Gunnar
2010-04-01
Workers' motivation to actively take part in improvements to the work environment is assumed to be important for the efficiency of investments for that purpose. That gives rise to the need for a tool to measure this motivation. A questionnaire to measure motivation for improvements to the work environment has been designed. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the domains of the questionnaire have been measured, and the factorial structure has been explored, from the answers of 113 employees. The internal consistency is high (0.94), as well as the correlation for the total score (0.84). Three factors are identified accounting for 61.6% of the total variance. The questionnaire can be a useful tool in improving intervention methods. The expectation is that the tool can be useful, particularly with the aim of improving efficiency of companies' investments for work environment improvements. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Do working environment interventions reach shift workers?
Nabe-Nielsen, Kirsten; Jørgensen, Marie Birk; Garde, Anne Helene; Clausen, Thomas
2016-01-01
Shift workers are exposed to more physical and psychosocial stressors in the working environment as compared to day workers. Despite the need for targeted prevention, it is likely that workplace interventions less frequently reach shift workers. The aim was therefore to investigate whether the reach of workplace interventions varied between shift workers and day workers and whether such differences could be explained by the quality of leadership exhibited at different times of the day. We used questionnaire data from 5361 female care workers in the Danish eldercare sector. The questions concerned usual working hours, quality of leadership, and self-reported implementation of workplace activities aimed at stress reduction, reorganization of the working hours, and participation in improvements of working procedures or qualifications. Compared with day workers, shift workers were less likely to be reached by workplace interventions. For example, night workers less frequently reported that they had got more flexibility (OR 0.5; 95 % CI 0.3-0.7) or that they had participated in improvements of the working procedures (OR 0.6; 95 % CI 0.5-0.8). Quality of leadership to some extent explained the lack of reach of interventions especially among fixed evening workers. In the light of the evidence of shift workers' stressful working conditions, we suggest that future studies focus on the generalizability of results of the present study and on how to reach this group and meet their needs when designing and implementing workplace interventions.
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Chen, Chih-Wei; Aztiria, Asier; Ben Allouch, Soumaya; Aghajan, Hamid; Salah, Albert Ali; Lepri, Bruno
2011-01-01
In this work, we study social interactions in a work environment and investigate how the presence of other people changes personal behavior patterns. We design the visual processing algorithms to track multiple people in the environment and detect dyadic interactions using a discriminative
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Radioactivity surveillance data for the environment around Ningyo Toge Works (1998)
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1999-07-01
Radioactivity level of the environment around Ningyo Toge Works and the ruins of uranium mine has been periodically determined for the purpose of keeping the favorable natural environment. Periodical measurements for plutonium levels around the Works and the control site are also carried out as the use of recycled uranium. As the measuring sites, ten sites in the Works and 22 sites outside were chosen. Various samples from the air, land water, soil plants, etc. were periodically collected 1-4 times per year for analyzing radioisotopes and fluorine and the data were all reported to Okayama prefectural office. The special gamma-ray dose level and the levels of 238 U and 226 Ra in airborne dusts, river water, river sediments and paddy soil were lower than the respective desired levels. (J.P.N.)
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Danish Working Environment Regulation. How reflexive - how political? -a Scandinavian case
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Koch, Christian
an understanding of the directions of the reforms made in this period. The paper operate with two analytical perspectives: The reflexive regulation perspective and the political process perspective. Danish working environment regulation is discussed through the general political initiatives taken, and through four...... specific regulation topics: The Occupational Health Services (OHS), regulation of the psychological working environment, the 'Monotonous Repeated Work'-plan and the workers' compensation. Taking the last twenty years' development as a whole the main developments in the regulation is a further shift...... in balance between material and reflexive regulation elements to the benefit of the latter. But although the reflexive elements seem to stabilize, they are vulnerable to a loss of legitimacy and changes in the political pattern.The impact on enterprise power patterns is summed up in a polarization thesis...
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Lin, Yun-Ping; McCullagh, Marjorie C; Kao, Tsui-Sui; Larson, Janet L
2014-02-01
The purpose of this review is to synthesize the research evidence for the role of the work environment-workplace physical activity policies and resources and job strain factors-in explaining physical activity in white-collar workers. White-collar workers are at risk for developing a sedentary lifestyle, which contributes to all-cause mortality. Understanding how work environment can influence worker physical activity is important for the development of effective interventions. We reviewed 15 research articles that describe the relationship between work environment factors and physical activity in predominantly white-collar workers. Relatively consistent evidence was found for the effects of supportive workplace policies and resources. Weak evidence was found for the effects of job strain. Both work environment factors have the potential to influence physical activity but require further exploration to fully understand their contribution to physical activity in white-collar workers. Limitations and implications are discussed.
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New tools and strategies for the inspection of the psychosocial working environment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Rasmussen, Mette Bøgehus; Hansen, Tom; Nielsen, Klaus Tranetoft
2011-01-01
In 2007 the Danish Working Environment Authority launched a new strategy to strengthen and qualify primary prevention of work related stress. Part of the strategy consists of increased inspections of the psychosocial working environment as well as the development and implementation of a new...... improvement notices regarding work related stress and violence, and there has been an increasing number of notices issued on several risk factors. For some aspects, the tools have helped increase the clarity and comprehensibility of the improvement notices and reduce the WEA’s time consumption per enterprise....... The guidance tools seem to be a suitable and efficient way of assessing several health and safety risks concerning work related stress and violence thereby allowing the WEA to detect more of the existing problems. Future challenges projected for the strategy include continuously training all WEA inspectors...
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Immigrants in the Working Environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maria Vlachadi
2014-09-01
Full Text Available Immigration constitutes an all time and multi-dimensional social phenomenon. There are quite a few people that in every time period seek a new place of residence and employment, in order to be able to survive or get a better life. The causes which lead to immigration are various and the immigration itself affects not only the immigrants but also the countries of departure and arrival. The immigration phenomenon has occupied and continues to occupy the majority of countries, among which is Greece which has been one of the new host countries for immigrants. The moving of the population presents when the social and economic environment in which an individual lives and moves, does not provide him with the capability to fulfill his pursuits and satisfy his ambitions. The most frequent reason of immigration nowadays is the economic factor and the objective of the individual that immigrates is finding work. In the present project we will study unemployment and employment in the host countries and more specifically in Greece. In Greece during the last years there appears to be an intense influx of immigrants converting it from a departure country to a host country for immigrants. What happens with the working conditions and insurance, how does immigration affect the unemployment of the permanent population, in what kind of jobs are immigrants occupied and do age and sex play a role in finding work? These are some of the questions we are called to answer through this project. The project not only will deal with how immigration affects the working market but also the economy in general (Cholezas and Tsakloglou, 2008. The research part of the project is based on the Greek and European Statistics Service. The statistical data are presented in the form of charts and diagrams. The data actually concern the legal immigrants in the area of Greece and countries of the E.U. (Vgenopoulos, 1988.
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Šukaitienė, Deimantė
2016-01-01
Aim of the work – to determine and evaluate the health problems and the psychosocial and physical factors of work environment of employees working in sales chain X in Kaunas. Objectives: 1. To determine the peculiarities of health problems among sales chain employees‘ according to the sociodemografic characteristics. 2. To determine and evaluate the psychosocial and physical factors of work environment of Kaunas sales chain employees‘. 3. To evaluate the relations between the he...
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Ellenkamp, Joke J H; Brouwers, Evelien P M; Embregts, Petri J C M; Joosen, Margot C W; van Weeghel, Jaap
2016-03-01
People with an intellectual disability value work as a significant part of their lives, and many of them want to participate in regular paid employment.Current estimates show that the number of people with ID who have some form of paid employment are very low, ranging from 9 to 40% across different countries,despite legislations. This review examines papers published in the past 20 years in an attempt to answer the following research question: ‘What work environment-related factors contribute to obtaining or maintaining work in competitive employment for people with an intellectual disability?’ The databases of PubMed, PsycINFO,CINAHL, Embase and Web of Science were searched for relevant papers published between 1993 and 2013. All papers were independently screened by two researchers.Methodological quality of the studies was evaluated, and data on work environment-related factors stimulating employment for people with intellectual disabilities were extracted and grouped into categories. A total of 1932 articles were retrieved. After extensive screening for relevance and quality, 26 articles were included in this review. Four themes/categories with work environment related factors that could influence work participation were distinguished. Five studies were conducted on employers’ decisions and opinions. Eight focused on job content and performance, and eight on workplace interaction and culture. Five studies evaluated support by job coaches. Despite ongoing legislation to promote participation of people with intellectual disabilities in the paid workforce, research in this area is still extremely scarce. In the past 20 years, very few studies have focused on work environment-related factors that can enhance competitive work for people with intellectual disabilities.This review shows that relevant work environment-related factors for obtaining and maintaining work in competitive employment include supporting the employers by paying specific attention to
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Medical symptoms among pilots associated with work and home environments: a 3-year cohort study.
Fu, Xi; Lindgren, Torsten; Norbäck, Dan
2015-05-01
To study associations between the cockpit environment, psychosocial work environment, home environment, and medical symptoms in a cohort of commercial pilots followed over 3 yr. A standardized questionnaire was mailed in February-March 1997 to all Stockholm-based pilots on duty in a Scandinavian flight company (N = 622); 577 (93%) participated. During this time smoking was allowed on long haul flights, but not on shorter flights. Smoking was prohibited on all flights after September 1997. The same questionnaire was sent to the cohort of 577 pilots in February-March 2000; 436 participated (76%). The questionnaire contained questions on symptoms, the psychosocial work environment, and the home environment. Associations were investigated using multiple logistic and ordinal regression. Symptoms were common, especially eye symptoms (38.5%), nose symptoms (39.9%), and tiredness (29.9%). Pilots exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on long haul flights had more eye symptoms (odds ratio = 1.91) and tiredness (odds ratio = 2.73). These symptoms were reduced when no longer exposed to ETS. Those who started working on long haul flights developed more nose symptoms. Pilots reporting increased work demands developed more nose and dermal symptoms and tiredness and those with decreased work control developed more eye symptoms. Pilots living in new houses, multifamily houses, and in recently painted homes reported more symptoms. Eliminating ETS exposure on board reduced medical symptoms. Further work to reduce ETS exposure globally is needed. Psychosocial aspects of the work environment for commercial pilots should be considered, as well as the home environment.
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Mackenzie Owen, John
2001-01-01
An important characteristic of most computer supported work environments is the distribution of work over individuals or teams in different locations. This leads to what we nowadays call `virtual' environments. In these environments communication between actors is to a large degree mediated, i.e. established through communications media (telephone, fax, computer networks) rather in a face-to-face way. Unfortunately, mediated communication limits the effectiveness of knowledge exchange in virt...
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Healthy publics: enabling cultures and environments for health
Hinchliffe, Stephen; Jackson, Mark A.; Wyatt, Katrina; Barlow, Anne E.; Barreto, Manuela; Clare, Linda; Depledge, Michael H.; Durie, Robin; Fleming, Lora E.; Groom, Nick; Morrissey, Karyn; Salisbury, Laura; Thomas, Felicity
2018-01-01
Despite extraordinary advances in biomedicine and associated gains in human health and well-being, a growing number of health and well-being related challenges have remained or emerged in recent years. These challenges are often ‘more than biomedical’ in complexion, being social, cultural and environmental in terms of their key drivers and determinants, and underline the necessity of a concerted policy focus on generating healthy societies. Despite the apparent agreement on this diagnosis, the means to produce change are seldom clear, even when the turn to health and well-being requires sizable shifts in our understandings of public health and research practices. This paper sets out a platform from which research approaches, methods and translational pathways for enabling health and well-being can be built. The term ‘healthy publics’ allows us to shift the focus of public health away from ‘the public’ or individuals as targets for intervention, and away from the view that culture acts as a barrier to efficient biomedical intervention, towards a greater recognition of the public struggles that are involved in raising health issues, questioning what counts as healthy and unhealthy and assembling the evidence and experience to change practices and outcomes. Creating the conditions for health and well-being, we argue, requires an engaged research process in which public experiments in building and repairing social and material relations are staged and sustained even if, and especially when, the fates of those publics remain fragile and buffeted by competing and often more powerful public formations. PMID:29862036
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Leading a multicultural work environment: reflections on the next frontier of nurse leadership.
Washington, Deborah
2015-01-01
Nurses face the challenge of leading in a diverse society. Is the cross section of present-day nurse leaders prepared to meet the needs of patients and a work environment represented by a broader range of social backgrounds, cultural traditions, and languages? Fundamental to leaders' ability to meet diverse needs is a new framework for understanding the meaning of leadership, in which the issue of diversity is paramount. This article explores how the word leadership expresses a more complex system, when responsibility to address human needs is emphasized, and care for multilingual and multiethnic patients by a diverse, committed work environment is a focus. Under the umbrella of diversity, the necessary knowledge to create such a work environment may lack depth or may even be absent.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Iben Posniak
in the design process and the object of design have not been computer artefacts or systems but workplace design and redesign of product series. The design process in the two cases has included physical working environment aspects but contrary to participatory ergonomics, psychosocial working environment...... of political processes. This perspective focuses upon three different spheres which define the learning space: the work and the work organisation; the formal system of negotiation and cooperation; the informal social relations and values. The perspective provides an excellent explanation...... of the interrelationship between the three spheres in the daily work and how these spheres have influence on the possibilities of learning. The role of technology is dismissed in this perspective and as I find that technology is an important factor in the learning space, I extend the perspective to include technology...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Labriola, Merete; Feveile, Helene; Christensen, Karl B
2009-01-01
The objectives were to identify the impact of ergonomic work environment exposures on the risk of disability pension. A representative sample of 8475 employees of the total working population in Denmark were interviewed regarding work environment exposures and followed in a national register...... with data on granted disability pension. For women, approximately 34% of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment exposures. For men, 21% of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment. Ergonomic work environment, especially physically...... demanding work, working with hands lifted and repetitive work, are areas of intervention at the workplace that can facilitate and prolong labour market participation. The study provides estimates for the association between ergonomic exposures at work and administrative, cost-related measures of work...
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Pas, B R; Lagro-Janssen, A L M; Doorewaard, J A C M; Eisinga, R N; Peters, C P
2008-10-04
To determine gender differences in career motivation and the effect of a family friendly work environment. Cross-sectional pilot investigation. A web survey among male and female doctors (n = 107; 72 women and 35 men) in different specialties, including surgical, internal medicine and general practitioners, was used to gather information on different dimensions of career motivation and perceptions of the family friendliness of the work environment. Differences were analysed by means of t-tests and regression analyses. Male doctors had higher scores on career identity and on career planning than female doctors. However, male and female doctors did not differ in their willingness to achieve top positions. Female doctors were more determined concerning their career goals than their male counterparts. The family friendliness of the work environment had an overall positive effect on career motivation for both male and female doctors. However, a family friendly work environment had a negative effect on the career identity of male doctors. For male and female doctors alike, support to achieve career goals and elimination of career barriers lead to increased career identity. Male and female doctors differed in certain dimensions of career motivation. Offering support for career goals and taking away career barriers leads to a higher career motivation than offering a family friendly work environment.
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Labriola, Merete; Feveile, Helene; Christensen, Karl B; Strøyer, Jesper; Lund, Thomas
2009-11-01
The objectives were to identify the impact of ergonomic work environment exposures on the risk of disability pension. A representative sample of 8475 employees of the total working population in Denmark were interviewed regarding work environment exposures and followed in a national register with data on granted disability pension. For women, approximately 34% of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment exposures. For men, 21% of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment. Ergonomic work environment, especially physically demanding work, working with hands lifted and repetitive work, are areas of intervention at the workplace that can facilitate and prolong labour market participation. The study provides estimates for the association between ergonomic exposures at work and administrative, cost-related measures of work disability in a large population-based longitudinal cohort study over 14 years. Approximately 21% for men and 34% for women of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment exposures.
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Permanent challenge for a healthy environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marli Teresinha Gimeniz Galvão
2016-02-01
Full Text Available For over a century, Florence Nightingale, a precursor of modern nursing, promulgated the importance of the adequate environment for disease prevention, treatment of diseased and their recovery. He highlighted, among others, the importance of clean air and environmental hygiene. Concerning the disease prevention, considered necessary care residences about air, water, sewerage, cleaning and illumination. In current times, the concepts expanded, the wounds arising from lack of water and sanitation, demonstrated care urgently in the wide mode environment, and prevention in the residential areas and peridomicile.
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Do working environment interventions reach shift workers?
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Nabe-Nielsen, Kirsten; Jørgensen, Marie Birk; Garde, Anne Helene
2016-01-01
PURPOSE: Shift workers are exposed to more physical and psychosocial stressors in the working environment as compared to day workers. Despite the need for targeted prevention, it is likely that workplace interventions less frequently reach shift workers. The aim was therefore to investigate whether...... the reach of workplace interventions varied between shift workers and day workers and whether such differences could be explained by the quality of leadership exhibited at different times of the day. METHODS: We used questionnaire data from 5361 female care workers in the Danish eldercare sector...
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Setyaningsih, Yuliani; Husodo, Adi Heru; Astuti, Indwiani
2018-02-01
One of the informal sector which absorbs labor was electroplating business. This sector uses chromium as coating material because it was strong, corrosion resistant and strong. Nonetheless hexavalent chromium is highly toxic if inhaled, swallowed and contact with skin. Poor hygiene, the lack of work environment factors and sanitation conditions can increase the levels of chromium in the body. This aimed of this study was to analyze the association between work environment factors and levels of urinary chromium in informal electroplating worker. A Purposive study was conducted in Tegal Central Java. The research subjects were 66 male workers. Chi Square analysis was used to establish an association between work environment factors and level of urinary chromium. There is a relationship between heat stress and wind direction to the chromium levels in urine (p 0.05). This explains that work environment factors can increase chromium levels in the urine of informal electroplating workers.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Setyaningsih Yuliani
2018-01-01
Full Text Available One of the informal sector which absorbs labor was electroplating business. This sector uses chromium as coating material because it was strong, corrosion resistant and strong. Nonetheless hexavalent chromium is highly toxic if inhaled, swallowed and contact with skin. Poor hygiene, the lack of work environment factors and sanitation conditions can increase the levels of chromium in the body. This aimed of this study was to analyze the association between work environment factors and levels of urinary chromium in informal electroplating worker. A Purposive study was conducted in Tegal Central Java. The research subjects were 66 male workers. Chi Square analysis was used to establish an association between work environment factors and level of urinary chromium. There is a relationship between heat stress and wind direction to the chromium levels in urine (p 0.05. This explains that work environment factors can increase chromium levels in the urine of informal electroplating workers.
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The attribution of work environment in explaining gender differences in long-term sickness absence
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Labriola, Merete; Holte, Kari Anne; Christensen, Karl Bang
2011-01-01
. Conclusion Differences in psychosocial work environments in terms of emotional demands, reward at work, management quality and role conflicts, explained roughly 30% of women's excess long-term sickness absence risk. Assuming women and men had identical working conditions would leave the larger part......Objectives To identify differences in risk of long-term sickness absence between female and male employees in Denmark and to examine to what extent differences could be explained by work environment factors. Methods A cohort of 5026 employees (49.1% women, mean age 40.4 years; 50.9% men, mean age....... Results 298 workers (5.9%) received sickness absence compensation for 8 weeks or more. Women had an excess risk of 37% compared to men, when adjusting for age, family status and socio-economic position. Physical work environment exposures could not explain this difference, whereas differences...
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Workplace Health Promotion and Mental Health: Three-Year Findings from Partnering Healthy@Work.
Jarman, Lisa; Martin, Angela; Venn, Alison; Otahal, Petr; Blizzard, Leigh; Teale, Brook; Sanderson, Kristy
2016-01-01
This study aimed to investigate the association between mental health and comprehensive workplace health promotion (WHP) delivered to an entire state public service workforce (~28,000 employees) over a three-year period. Government departments in a state public service were supported to design and deliver a comprehensive, multi-component health promotion program, Healthy@Work, which targeted modifiable health risks including unhealthy lifestyles and stress. Repeated cross-sectional surveys compared self-reported psychological distress (Kessler-10; K10) at commencement (N = 3406) and after 3 years (N = 3228). WHP availability and participation over time was assessed, and associations between the K10 and exposure to programs estimated. Analyses were repeated for a cohort subgroup (N = 580). Data were weighted for non-response. Participation in any mental health and lifestyle programs approximately doubled after 3 years. Both male and female employees with poorer mental health participated more often over time. Women's psychological distress decreased over time but this change was only partially attributable to participation in WHP, and only to lifestyle interventions. Average psychological distress did not change over time for men. Unexpectedly, program components directly targeting mental health were not associated with distress for either men or women. Cohort results corroborated findings. Healthy@Work was successful in increasing participation across a range of program types, including for men and women with poorer mental health. A small positive association of participation in lifestyle programs with mental health was observed for women but not men. The lack of association of mental health programs may have reflected program quality, its universality of application or other contextual factors.
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Kraak, V I; Englund, T; Misyak, S; Serrano, E L
2017-08-01
This review identified and adapted choice architecture frameworks to develop a novel framework that restaurant owners could use to promote healthy food environments for customers who currently overconsume products high in fat, sugar and sodium that increase their risk of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. This review was conducted in three steps and presented as a narrative summary to demonstrate a proof of concept. Step 1 was a systematic review of nudge or choice architecture frameworks used to categorize strategies that cue healthy behaviours in microenvironments. We searched nine electronic databases between January 2000 and December 2016 and identified 1,244 records. Inclusion criteria led to the selection of five choice architecture frameworks, of which three were adapted and combined with marketing mix principles to highlight eight strategies (i.e. place, profile, portion, pricing, promotion, healthy default picks, prompting or priming and proximity). Step 2 involved conducting a comprehensive evidence review between January 2006 and December 2016 to identify U.S. recommendations for the restaurant sector organized by strategy. Step 3 entailed developing 12 performance metrics for the eight strategies. This framework should be tested to determine its value to assist restaurant owners to promote and socially normalize healthy food environments to reduce obesity and non-communicable diseases. © 2017 The Authors. Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of World Obesity Federation.
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Hammer, Tove Helland; Saksvik, Per Øystein; Nytrø, Kjell; Torvatn, Hans; Bayazit, Mahmut
2004-01-01
This study examined the contributions of organizational level norms about work requirements and social relations, and work-family conflict, to job stress and subjective health symptoms, controlling for Karasek's job demand-control-support model of the psychosocial work environment, in a sample of 1,346 employees from 56 firms in the Norwegian food and beverage industry. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that organizational norms governing work performance and social relations, and work-to-family and family-to-work conflict, explained significant amounts of variance for job stress. The cross-level interaction between work performance norms and work-to-family conflict was also significantly related to job stress. Work-to-family conflict was significantly related to health symptoms, but family-to-work conflict and organizational norms were not.
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How Nurse Work Environments Relate to the Presence of Parents in Neonatal Intensive Care.
Hallowell, Sunny G; Rogowski, Jeannette A; Lake, Eileen T
2017-09-25
Parental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is essential for families to participate in infant care and prepare them to transition from hospital to home. Nurses are the principal caregivers in the NICU. The nurse work environment may influence whether parents spend time with their hospitalized infants. To examine the relationship between the NICU work environment and parental presence in the NICU using a national data set. We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study of a national sample of 104 NICUs, where 6060 nurses reported on 15,233 infants cared for. Secondary analysis was used to examine associations between the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) (subscale items and with a composite measure) and the proportion of parents who were present during the nurses' shift. Parents of 60% (SD = 9.7%) of infants were present during the nurses' shift. The PES-NWI composite score and 2 domains-Nurse Participation in Hospital Affairs and Manager Leadership and Support-were significant predictors of parental presence. A 1 SD higher score in the composite or either subscale was associated with 2.5% more parents being present. Parental presence in the NICU is significantly associated with better nurse work environments. NICU practices may be enhanced through enhanced leadership and professional opportunities for nurse managers and staff. Future work may benefit from qualitative work with parents to illuminate their experiences with nursing leaders and nurse-led interventions in the NICU and design and testing of interventions to improve the NICU work environment.
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Andersen, Lars Peter; Hogh, Annie; Biering, Karin; Gadegaard, Charlotte Ann
2018-01-01
Threats and violence at work are major concerns for employees in many human service sectors. The prevention of work-related violence is a major challenge for employees and management. The purpose of this study was to identify prospective associations between psycho-social work environment and work-related threats and violence in four high risk human service sectors. Questionnaire data was collected from 3011 employees working at psychiatric wards, in the elder sector, in the Prison and Probation Service and at Special Schools. Associations between psycho-social work environment and work-related violence and threats were then studied using a one-year follow-up design and multilevel logistic regression analyses. The analyses showed that quantitative demands, high emotional demands, low level of influence over own work-situation, low predictability, low rewards at work, low role clarity, many role conflicts, many work-family conflicts and low organizational justice had statistically significant associations with high levels of work-related threats. Furthermore, high emotional demands, low predictability, low role clarity, many role conflicts, many work-family conflicts, low supervisor quality and low support from nearest supervisor had statistically significant associations with high levels of work-related violence. Finally, across the four sectors both similar and different associations between psycho-social work environment and work-related violence and threats were found. The results of the study underline the importance of including the psycho-social work environment as a supplement to existing violence prevention methods and interventions aimed at reducing work-related violence and threats.
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Ji, Bu-Tian; Gao, Yu-Tang; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Yang, Gong; Yu, Kai; Xue, Shou-Zheng; Li, Hong-Lan; Liao, Linda M; Blair, Aaron; Rothman, Nathaniel; Zheng, Wei; Chow, Wong-Ho
2012-11-01
Six-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) is a primary urinary metabolite of melatonin. We examined the association between aMT6s levels and shift work estimated by a job exposure matrix (JEM) among healthy participants of the Shanghai Women's Health Study. Creatinine-adjusted aMT6s levels were measured in the urine samples of 300 women and related to JEM shift work categories. Adjusted geometric means of aMT6s levels from urine samples collected before 08:00 hours were lower among persons holding nighttime shift work jobs. The adjusted aMT6s levels (ng/mg creatinine) were 8.36 [95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 4.47-15.6], 6.37 (95% CI 3.53-11.5), 6.20 (95% CI 3.33-11.5), 3.81 (95% CI 2.02-7.19), and 3.70 (95% CI 1.92-7.11) from the lowest (never held a shift work job) to the highest (current job likely involved all-night shift work) shift work JEM scores (P=0.05). Our results indicate that nightshift work JEM scores were significantly and inversely associated with aMT6s levels in early morning spot urine samples collected between 07:00-08:00 hours.
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Woodland as working space: where is the restorative green idyll?
Bingley, Amanda
2013-08-01
Much has been written on the beneficial, restorative qualities of 'natural' (non-built) rural or urban 'green' space, including woodland, in promoting mental and physical health when accessed for leisure, sport and education. In contrast, with the exception of rural health studies, there is relatively little debate about the health benefits of 'green space' as work place, especially in woodland and forests. In the developed world, this apparent gap in the literature may be partly due to an assumption of the forest work place as inherently healthy, and also the invisibility of a tiny percentage of the workforce now employed in forestry. However, in the UK and parts of Europe over recent years there has been a small, though significant, increase in opportunities to train and work in woodlands using traditional, sustainable management such as coppicing, and an exploration of health issues of woodland work is timely. This paper reports on findings from a secondary narrative analysis of oral history interviews selected from two phases of the Woodland Recollections Project and newsletters written by local people historically and currently engaged in coppicing and woodland work in North West England. Perceptions of healthy working in green space are examined by applying key concepts of Attention Restoration Theory (ART). Findings suggest that woodland work environments involve many counter-restorative factors that can render the 'green idyll' detrimental to health and wellbeing. To benefit from restorative elements requires drawing on a high level of specialist skills that empower individuals to manage and maintain healthy working practices in these diverse and challenging environments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Psychosocial work environment and burnout among emergency medical and nursing staff.
Escribà-Agüir, V; Martín-Baena, D; Pérez-Hoyos, S
2006-11-01
The prevalence of burnout syndrome is increasing among doctors and nurses. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between the psychosocial work environment and burnout syndrome among emergency medical and nursing staff in Spain. A secondary aim was to determine if the effect of this psychosocial work environment on burnout was different for doctors and nurses. A cross-sectional survey was carried out by means of a mail questionnaire among 945 emergency doctors and nursing staff of Spain. The outcome variable was three dimensions of burnout syndrome [emotional exhaustion (EE), personal accomplishment (PA), depersonalisation (DP)]. The explanatory variable was that psychosocial work environment evaluated according to Karasek and Johnson's demand-control model. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated by logistical regression. The probability of high EE was greater among those exposed to high psychological demands, OR 4.66 (2.75-7.90), low job control, OR 1.65 (1.04-2.63), and low supervisors' social support, OR 1.64 (1.01-2.59). Emotional exhaustion dimension was negatively influenced by low control only among doctors. Those exposed to low job control had a higher risk of low PA, OR 2.55 (1.66-3.94). There was no evidence of negative effect of psychosocial risk factors on the DP. Prevalence of EE and PA was higher among doctors and nurses. The presence of risk factors derived from work organisation within the work place (psychosocial risk factors) increases the probability of presenting burnout syndrome and, above all, EE.
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Healthy Eating and Academic Achievement
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts
2014-12-09
This podcast highlights the evidence that supports the link between healthy eating and improved academic achievement. It also identifies a few actions to support a healthy school nutrition environment to improve academic achievement. Created: 12/9/2014 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). Date Released: 12/9/2014.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Petit, J.C.
1998-01-01
The Working group 'Chemistry of Complexing Molecules and Environment' of the Mission Environment (AG/ENV) identified themes for an original positioning of CEA on important issues of environmental research if a sufficiently strong demand appears. The research of CEA on the environment should be complementary to actions undertaken by other partners (official institutions, research organizations and industrial firms). The themes suggested are: the synthesis of new chelating molecules and new materials having specific properties, with the support of theoretical chemistry and modeling, analytical physical chemistry and speciation of species in relation to their eco-toxicity and their biogeochemical mobility in the natural environment. These themes, illustrated by examples of actions in progress at CEA or likely to be launched quickly, draw largely from recognized competences of the teams, generally developed for finalized nuclear applications: experimental, theoretical and instrumental competences. (author)
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Healthy Swimming/Recreational Water
... Medical Professionals En Español Publications, Data, & Statistics Healthy Swimming Resources Health Promotion Materials Find Your State Training & ... Announcements Outbreak Response Toolkits CDC at Work: Healthy Swimming Fast Facts Index of Water-Related Topics Model ...
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Liu, Ke; You, Li-Ming; Chen, Shao-Xian; Hao, Yuan-Tao; Zhu, Xiao-Wen; Zhang, Li-Feng; Aiken, Linda H
2012-05-01
This study examines the relationship between hospital work environments and job satisfaction, job-related burnout and intention to leave among nurses in Guangdong province, China. The nursing shortage is an urgent global problem and also of concern in China. Studies in Western countries have shown that better work environments are associated with higher nurse satisfaction and lower burnout, thereby improving retention and lowering turnover rates. However, there is little research on the relationship between nurse work environments and nurse outcomes in China. This is a cross-sectional study. Survey data were collected from 1104 bedside nurses in 89 medical, surgical and intensive care units in 21 hospitals across the Guangdong province in China. Stratified convenience sampling was used to select hospitals, and systematic sampling was used to select units. All staff nurses working on participating units were surveyed. The China Hospital Nurse Survey, including the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index and Maslach Burnout Inventory, was employed to collect data from nurses. Statistical significance level was set at 0·05. Thirty-seven per cent of the nurses experienced high burnout, and 54% were dissatisfied with their jobs. Improving nurses' work environments from poor to better was associated with a 50% decrease in job dissatisfaction and a 33% decrease in job-related burnout among nurses. Burnout and job dissatisfaction are high among hospital nurses in Guangdong province, China. Better work environments for nurses were associated with decreased job dissatisfaction and job-related burnout, which may successfully address the nursing shortage in China. The findings of this study indicate that improving work environments is essential to deal with the nursing shortage; the findings provide motivation for nurse managers and policy makers to improve work environments of hospital nurses in China. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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The Positive Effect of Resilience on Stress and Business Outcomes in Difficult Work Environments.
Shatté, Andrew; Perlman, Adam; Smith, Brad; Lynch, Wendy D
2017-02-01
To examine whether resilience has a protective effect in difficult work environments. A survey of 2063 individuals measured individual resilience, stress, burnout, sleep problems, likelihood of depression, job satisfaction, intent to quit, absences, and productivity. It also measured work characteristics: job demands, job influence, and social support. Multivariate and logistic regression models examined the main effects and interactions of resilience and job characteristics. High strain work environments (high demand, low influence, and low support) have an unfavorable effect on all outcomes. Resilience has a protective effect on all outcomes. For stress, burnout, and sleep, higher resilience has a more protective effect under low-strain conditions. For depression, absence and productivity, resilience has a more protective effect when job strain is high. Workers with high resilience have better outcomes in difficult work environments.
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Lohela-Karlsson, Malin; Nybergh, Lotta; Jensen, Irene
2018-02-14
The aim was to investigate the prevalence of health problems and work environment problems and how these are associated with subjective production loss among women and men at an academic workplace. An additional aim was to investigate whether there were differences between women and men according to age group, years at current workplace, academic rank or managerial position. A questionnaire was sent in 2011 to all employees at a Swedish university (n = 5144). Only researchers and teachers were included in the study (n = 3207). Spearman correlations were performed to investigate differences in health and work environment problems. Employees who reported having experienced work environment or health problems in the previous seven days (n = 1475) were included in the analyses in order to investigate differences in subjective production loss. This was done using Student's t-test, One-way Anova and generalized linear models. The response rate was 63% (n = 2022). A total of 819 academic staff (40% of the population) reported experiencing either health problems, work environment problems or both during the previous seven days. The prevalence of health problems only or a combination of work environment and health problems was higher among women than men (p-value ˂0.05). This was especially the case for younger women, those in lower academic positions and those who had worked for fewer years at their current workplace. No difference was found for work environment problems. The majority of the employees who reported problems said that these problems affected their ability to perform at work (84-99%). The average production loss varied between 31 and 42% depending on the type of problem. Production loss due to health-related and work-environment related problems was highest among junior researchers and managers. No significant difference between men and women was found in the level of production loss. Subjective production loss in academia can be associated
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Utility-driven evidence for healthy cities
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
de Leeuw, Evelyne; Skovgaard, Thomas
2005-01-01
The question whether the WHO Healthy Cities project 'works' has been asked ever since a number of novel ideas and actions related to community health, health promotion and healthy public policy in the mid 1980s came together in the Healthy Cities Movement initiated by the World Health Organization....... The question, however, has become more urgent since we have entered an era in which the drive for 'evidence' seems all-pervasive. The article explores the nature of evidence, review available evidence on Healthy Cities accomplishments, and discusses whether enough evidence has been accumulated on different...... performances within the realm of Healthy Cities. A main point of reference is the European Healthy Cities Project (E-HCP). Building on the information gathered through documentary research on the topic, it is concluded that there is fair evidence that Healthy Cities works. However, the future holds great...
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Fulkerson, Jayne A; Friend, Sarah; Horning, Melissa; Flattum, Colleen; Draxten, Michelle; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne; Gurvich, Olga; Garwick, Ann; Story, Mary; Kubik, Martha Y
2018-02-01
Research has demonstrated a significant positive association between frequent family meals and children's dietary intake; however, the promotion of healthful family meals has not been rigorously tested for key food environment and nutrition-related behavioral outcomes in a randomized trial. To describe family home food environment and nutrition-related parent and child personal and behavioral outcomes of the Healthy Home Offerings via the Mealtime Environment Plus program, the first rigorously tested family meals intervention targeting childhood obesity prevention. Randomized controlled trial. Baseline, postintervention (12 months, 93% retention), and follow-up (21 months, 89% retention) data (surveys and dietary recalls) were collected. Children aged 8 to 12 years (N=160) and their parents were randomized to intervention (n=81) or control (n=79) groups. The intervention included five parent goal-setting calls and 10 monthly sessions delivered to families in community settings that focused on experiential nutrition activities and education, meal planning, cooking skill development, and reducing screen time. Family home food environment outcomes and nutrition-related child and parent personal and behavioral outcomes. Analyses used generalized linear mixed models. Primary comparisons were contrasts between intervention and control groups at postintervention and follow-up, with adjustments for child age and parent education. Compared with control parents, intervention parents showed greater improvement over time in scores of self-efficacy for identifying appropriate portion sizes, with significant differences in adjusted means at both post-intervention (P=0.002) and follow-up (P=0.01). Intervention children were less likely to consume at least one sugar-sweetened beverage daily at post-intervention than control children (P=0.04). The Healthy Home Offerings via the Mealtime Environment Plus program involved the entire family and targeted personal, behavioral, and
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Joseph T. Costello
2015-01-01
Full Text Available This study evaluated the physiological tolerance times when wearing explosive and chemical (>35 kg personal protective equipment (PPE in simulated environmental extremes across a range of differing work intensities. Twelve healthy males undertook nine trials which involved walking on a treadmill at 2.5, 4, and 5.5 km·h−1 in the following environmental conditions, 21, 30, and 37°C wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT. Participants exercised for 60 min or until volitional fatigue, core temperature reached 39°C, or heart rate exceeded 90% of maximum. Tolerance time, core temperature, skin temperature, mean body temperature, heart rate, and body mass loss were measured. Exercise time was reduced in the higher WBGT environments (WBGT37 < WBGT30 < WBGT21; P < 0.05 and work intensities (5.5 < 4 < 2.5 km·h−1; P < 0.001. The majority of trials (85/108; 78.7% were terminated due to participant’s heart rate exceeding 90% of their maximum. A total of eight trials (7.4% lasted the full duration. Only nine (8.3% trials were terminated due to volitional fatigue and six (5.6% due to core temperatures in excess of 39°C. These results demonstrate that physiological tolerance times are influenced by the external environment and workload and that cardiovascular strain is the limiting factor to work tolerance when wearing this heavy multilayered PPE.
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Cho, Eunhee; Sloane, Douglas M; Kim, Eun-Young; Kim, Sera; Choi, Miyoung; Yoo, Il Young; Lee, Hye Sun; Aiken, Linda H
2015-02-01
While considerable evidence has been produced showing a link between nursing characteristics and patient outcomes in the U.S. and Europe, little is known about whether similar associations are present in South Korea. To examine the effects of nurse staffing, work environment, and education on patient mortality. This study linked hospital facility data with staff nurse survey data (N=1024) and surgical patient discharge data (N=76,036) from 14 high-technology teaching hospitals with 700 or more beds in South Korea, collected between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008. Logistic regression models that corrected for the clustering of patients in hospitals were used to estimate the effects of the three nursing characteristics on risk-adjusted patient mortality within 30 days of admission. Risk-adjusted models reveal that nurse staffing, nurse work environments, and nurse education were significantly associated with patient mortality (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00-1.10; OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.31-0.88; and OR 0.91, CI 0.83-0.99; respectively). These odds ratios imply that each additional patient per nurse is associated with an 5% increase in the odds of patient death within 30 days of admission, that the odds of patient mortality are nearly 50% lower in the hospitals with better nurse work environments than in hospitals with mixed or poor nurse work environments, and that each 10% increase in nurses having Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree is associated with a 9% decrease in patient deaths. Nurse staffing, nurse work environments, and percentages of nurses having Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in South Korea are associated with patient mortality. Improving hospital nurse staffing and work environments and increasing the percentages of nurses having Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree would help reduce the number of preventable in-hospital deaths. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The work environment and empowerment as predictors of patient safety culture in Turkey.
Dirik, Hasan Fehmi; Intepeler, Seyda Seren
2017-05-01
As scant research based information is available regarding the work environment, empowerment and patient safety culture, this study from a developing country (Turkey) in which health care institutions are in a state of transition, aimed to investigate further the relationships between these three variables. A cross-sectional descriptive design was employed. The sample comprised 274 nurse participants working in a university hospital located in Izmir (Turkey). In data evaluation, descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. The work environment and structural empowerment were related to the patient safety culture and explained 55% of the variance in patient safety culture perceptions. 'Support for optimal patient care', 'nurse/physician relationships' and 'staff involvement in organisational affairs' were the significant predictors. An enhancement of the work environment and providing access to empowerment structures may help health care organisations improve the patient safety culture. In light of the findings, the following actions can be recommended to inform health care leaders: providing necessary resources for nursing practise, encouraging nurses' participation in decision-making, strengthening communication within the team and giving nurses the opportunities to cope with challenging work problems to learn and grow. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Sundstrup, Emil; Hansen, Åse Marie; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Poulsen, Otto Melchior; Clausen, Thomas; Rugulies, Reiner; Møller, Anne; Andersen, Lars L
2018-01-01
Objective To determine the prospective association between retrospectively assessed physical work environment during working life and prospectively assessed sickness absence and labour market exit among older workers. Methods Using Cox regression analyses we estimated the 4-year to 6-year prospective risk of register-based long-term sickness absence (LTSA), disability pension, early retirement and unemployment from exposure to different physical work environmental factors during working life among 5076 older workers (age 49–63 at baseline) from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank cohort. Results Very hard physical work throughout working life was a risk factor for LTSA (HR 1.66,95% CI 1.32 to 2.07), disability pension (HR 2.21,95% CI 1.04 to 4.72) and early retirement (HR 1.57,95% CI 1.13 to 2.17). Both short-term (work during working life and exposure to several factors in the physical work environment, especially heavy lifting, were important for labour market exit and sickness absence. This study underscores the importance of reducing physical work exposures throughout the working life course for preventing sickness absence and premature exit from the labour market. PMID:28819019
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Pelletier, Jennifer E; Laska, Melissa N
2012-01-01
To characterize associations between perceived time constraints for healthy eating and work, school, and family responsibilities among young adults. Cross-sectional survey. A large, Midwestern metropolitan region. A diverse sample of community college (n = 598) and public university (n = 603) students. Time constraints in general, as well as those specific to meal preparation/structure, and perceptions of a healthy life balance. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression (α = .005). Women, 4-year students, and students with lower socioeconomic status perceived more time constraints (P balance (P ≤ .003). Having a heavy course load and working longer hours were important predictors of time constraints among men (P life balance despite multiple time demands. Interventions focused on improved time management strategies and nutrition-related messaging to achieve healthy diets on a low time budget may be more successful if tailored to the factors that contribute to time constraints separately among men and women. Copyright © 2012 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Employees’ perceptions of the impact of work on health behaviours
Payne, Nicola; Jones, Fiona; Harris, Peter R.
2013-01-01
Research examining the impact of work on health behaviours has rarely provided a complete picture of the impact across health behaviours. Twenty-four employees were interviewed about their smoking, drinking, exercise and eating. Themes included the impact of the work environment, including policy, convenience and workplace cultural norms; business events effecting one’s routine, and again convenience and workplace cultural norms; being busy at work effecting time and energy for healthy behavi...
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Anskär, Eva; Lindberg, Malou; Falk, Magnus; Andersson, Agneta
2018-03-07
Over the past decades, reorganizations and structural changes in Swedish primary care have affected time utilization among health care professionals. Consequently, increases in administrative tasks have substantially reduced the time available for face-to-face consultations. This study examined how work-time was utilized and the association between work time utilization and the perceived psychosocial work environment in Swedish primary care settings. This descriptive, multicentre, cross-sectional study was performed in 2014-2015. Data collection began with questionnaire. In the first section, respondents were asked to estimate how their workload was distributed between patients (direct and indirect patient work) and other work tasks. The questionnaire also comprised the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, which assessed the psychosocial work environment. Next a time study was conducted where the participants reported their work-time based on three main categories: direct patient-related work, indirect patient-related work, and other work tasks. Each main category had a number of subcategories. The participants recorded the time spent (minutes) on each work task per hour, every day, for two separate weeks. Eleven primary care centres located in southeast Sweden participated. All professionals were asked to participate (n = 441), including registered nurses, primary care physicians, care administrators, nurse assistants, and allied professionals. Response rates were 75% and 79% for the questionnaires and the time study, respectively. All health professionals allocated between 30.9% - 37.2% of their work-time to each main category: direct patient work, indirect patient work, and other work. All professionals estimated a higher proportion of time spent in direct patient work than they reported in the time study. Physicians scored highest on the psychosocial scales of quantitative demands, stress, and role conflicts. Among allied professionals, the proportion of
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Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Leiter, Michael P
2006-05-01
To test a theoretical model of professional nurse work environments linking conditions for professional nursing practice to burnout and, subsequently, patient safety outcomes. The 2004 Institute of Medicine report raised serious concerns about the impact of hospital restructuring on nursing work environments and patient safety outcomes. Few studies have used a theoretical framework to study the nature of the relationships between nursing work environments and patient safety outcomes. Hospital-based nurses in Canada (N = 8,597) completed measures of worklife (Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Scale), and their report of frequency of adverse patient events. Structural equation modeling analysis supported an extension of Leiter and Laschinger's Nursing Worklife Model. Nursing leadership played a fundamental role in the quality of worklife regarding policy involvement, staffing levels, support for a nursing model of care (vs medical), and nurse/physician relationships. Staffing adequacy directly affected emotional exhaustion, and use of a nursing model of care had a direct effect on nurses' personal accomplishment. Both directly affected patient safety outcomes. The results suggest that patient safety outcomes are related to the quality of the nursing practice work environment and nursing leadership's role in changing the work environment to decrease nurse burnout.
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Workplace Health Promotion and Mental Health: Three-Year Findings from Partnering Healthy@Work.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lisa Jarman
Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate the association between mental health and comprehensive workplace health promotion (WHP delivered to an entire state public service workforce (~28,000 employees over a three-year period. Government departments in a state public service were supported to design and deliver a comprehensive, multi-component health promotion program, Healthy@Work, which targeted modifiable health risks including unhealthy lifestyles and stress. Repeated cross-sectional surveys compared self-reported psychological distress (Kessler-10; K10 at commencement (N = 3406 and after 3 years (N = 3228. WHP availability and participation over time was assessed, and associations between the K10 and exposure to programs estimated. Analyses were repeated for a cohort subgroup (N = 580. Data were weighted for non-response. Participation in any mental health and lifestyle programs approximately doubled after 3 years. Both male and female employees with poorer mental health participated more often over time. Women's psychological distress decreased over time but this change was only partially attributable to participation in WHP, and only to lifestyle interventions. Average psychological distress did not change over time for men. Unexpectedly, program components directly targeting mental health were not associated with distress for either men or women. Cohort results corroborated findings. Healthy@Work was successful in increasing participation across a range of program types, including for men and women with poorer mental health. A small positive association of participation in lifestyle programs with mental health was observed for women but not men. The lack of association of mental health programs may have reflected program quality, its universality of application or other contextual factors.
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The relative price of healthy and less healthy foods available in Australian school canteens.
Billich, Natassja; Adderley, Marijke; Ford, Laura; Keeton, Isabel; Palermo, Claire; Peeters, Anna; Woods, Julie; Backholer, Kathryn
2018-04-12
School canteens have an important role in modelling a healthy food environment. Price is a strong predictor of food and beverage choice. This study compared the relative price of healthy and less healthy lunch and snack items sold within Australian school canteens. A convenience sample of online canteen menus from five Australian states were selected (100 primary and 100 secondary schools). State-specific canteen guidelines were used to classify menu items into 'green' (eat most), 'amber' (select carefully) and 'red' (not recommended in schools). The price of the cheapest 'healthy' lunch (vegetable-based 'green') and snack ('green' fruit) item was compared to the cheapest 'less healthy' ('amber/red') lunch and snack item, respectively, using an un-paired t-test. The relative price of the 'healthy' items and the 'less healthy' items was calculated to determine the proportion of schools that sold the 'less healthy' item cheaper. The mean cost of the 'healthy' lunch items was greater than the 'less healthy' lunch items for both primary (AUD $0.70 greater) and secondary schools ($0.50 greater; p snack was cheaper than the 'healthy' snack. These proportions were greatest for primary schools located in more, compared to less, disadvantaged areas. The relative price of foods sold within Australian school canteens appears to favour less healthy foods. School canteen healthy food policies should consider the price of foods sold.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rossana Borchini
2018-01-01
Full Text Available The deregulation of the autonomic nervous system assessed through the heart rate variability (HRV analysis is a promising pathway linking work stress and cardiovascular diseases. We aim to investigate the associations between HRV High Frequency (HF and Low Frequency (LF powers and work stress in a sample of 36 healthy nurses. Perceived work stress was assessed twice one year apart, using the Job Content and Effort Reward Imbalance questionnaires. This allows to classify nurses in three exposure groups: “prolonged high stress” (PHS, “recent high stress” (RHS and “stable low stress” (SLS. A 24-h ECG monitoring was later performed during a working day (WD and a subsequent resting day (RD. Statistically significantly lower (p < 0.02 HF and LF means were found in PHS and RHS nurses during the working periods. In the subsequent resting periods, HF means showed increases over time in the RHS (beta = +0.41, p < 0.05, but not in PHS nurses. LF means did not show any substantial increases in the resting periods, in the PHS group with geometric means lower when compared to SLS, in the non-working and resting periods. Our study evidences that both prolonged and recent perceived high work stress were associated with a reduction of HF and LF powers during work. In addition, prolonged stress was associated with a lack of recovery during not-working and resting periods.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Xiaokang Pan
2017-10-01
Full Text Available Objectives: This study aims to investigate the environmental and individual factors contributing to male nurses' psychological well-being and to explore the psychological mechanisms that may explain the links between nurses' practice environment and work engagement, thereby presenting the implications for nurse managers. Methods: A total of 161 male nurses from three tertiary first-class hospitals in Changsha City in China participated in the study. We collected the data using the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Results: Scores of male nurses' practice environment (2.88 ± 0.31, psychological capital (4.42 ± 0.62, and work engagement (3.17 ± 1.39 were all above the midpoint; however, the subscales âthe nursing staffing and resources adequacyâ (2.72 ± 0.48, âhopeâ (4.33 ± 0.72, and âdedicationâ (2.96 ± 1.61scored lowest. Nurses' practice environment and psychological capital positively predicted nurses' work engagement; psychological capital fully mediated the influence of nurses' practice environment on work engagement. Conclusions: Creating a supportive nursing practice environment can increase male nurses' work engagement by developing their psychological capital. Nurse managers can then provide reasonable workload and pathways for male nurses to achieve goals, thereby fostering their hope. Keywords: Male nurses, Nurses' practice environment, Psychological capital, Work engagement
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Abraham, Louisa; Greenslade, Jaimi; Thom, Ogilvie; Carlstrom, Eric; Wallis, Marianne; Crilly, Julia
2016-01-01
Abstract Employees in EDs report increasing role overload because of critical staff shortages, budgetary cuts and increased patient numbers and acuity. Such overload could compromise staff satisfaction with their working environment. This integrative review identifies, synthesises and evaluates current research around staff perceptions of the working conditions in EDs. A systematic search of relevant databases, using MeSH descriptors ED/EDs, Emergency room/s, ER/s, or A&E coupled with (and) working environment, working condition/s, staff perception/s, as well as reference chaining was conducted. We identified 31 key studies that were evaluated using the mixed methods assessment tool (MMAT). These comprised 24 quantitative‐descriptive studies, four mixed descriptive/comparative (non‐randomised controlled trial) studies and three qualitative studies. Studies included varied widely in quality with MMAT scores ranging from 0% to 100%. A key finding was that perceptions of working environment varied across clinical staff and study location, but that high levels of autonomy and teamwork offset stress around high pressure and high volume workloads. The large range of tools used to assess staff perception of working environment limits the comparability of the studies. A dearth of intervention studies around enhancing working environments in EDs limits the capacity to recommend evidence‐based interventions to improve staff morale. © 2016 The Authors. Emergency Medicine Australasia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine PMID:26784282
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Marginal socio-economic effects of an employer's efforts to improve the work environment.
Rezagholi, Mahmoud
2018-01-01
Workplace health promotion (WHP) strongly requires the employer's efforts to improve the psychosocial, ergonomic, and physical environments of the workplace. There are many studies discussing the socio-economic advantage of WHP intervention programmes and thus the internal and external factors motivating employers to implement and integrate such programmes. However, the socio-economic impacts of the employer's multifactorial efforts to improve the work environment need to be adequately assessed. Data were collected from Swedish company Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT) through a work environment survey in April 2014. Different regression equations were analysed to assess marginal effects of the employer's efforts on overall labour effectiveness (OLE), informal work impairments (IWI), lost working hours (LWH), and labour productivity loss (LPL) in terms of money. The employer's multifactorial efforts resulted in increasing OLE, decreasing IWI and illness-related LWH, and cost savings in terms of decreasing LPL. Environmental factors at the workplace are the important determinant factor for OLE, and the latter is where socio-economic impacts of the employer's efforts primarily manifest.
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Datta Gupta, Nabanita; Kristensen, Nicolai
2008-02-01
This paper investigates whether a satisfactory work environment can promote employee health even after controlling for socioeconomic status and life style factors. A dynamic panel model of health is estimated from worker samples from Denmark, France and Spain, employing both self-assessed general health and the presence of a functional limitation. In all three countries and for both types of health measures, a good perceived work environment is found to be a highly significant determinant of worker health even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and minimizing reverse causality. The marginal effect is, however, larger in France and Denmark than in Spain. Several potential explanations for this finding are discussed. Further, a satisfactory working environment is found to be at least as important for employee health as socioeconomic status. Thus, investing in giving workers a satisfying work environment could be a low-cost way of improving employee health.
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Organizational commitment, work environment conditions, and life satisfaction among Iranian nurses.
Vanaki, Zohreh; Vagharseyyedin, Seyyed Abolfazl
2009-12-01
Employee commitment to the organization is a crucial issue in today's health-care market. In Iran, few studies have sought to evaluate the factors that contribute to forms of commitment. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nurses' organizational commitment, work environment conditions, and life satisfaction. A cross-sectional design was utilized. Questionnaires were distributed to all the staff nurses who had permanent employment (with at least 2 years of experience in nursing) in the five hospitals affiliated to Birjand Medical Sciences University. Two hundred and fifty participants returned completed questionnaires. Most were female and married. The correlation of the total scores of nurses' affective organizational commitment and work environment conditions indicated a significant and positive relationship. Also, a statistically significant relationship was found between affective organizational commitment and life satisfaction. The implementation of a comprehensive program to improve the work conditions and life satisfaction of nurses could enhance their organizational commitment.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Madsen, Ida E H; Diderichsen, Finn; Burr, Hermann
2010-01-01
Previous Danish studies have shown that employees who "work with people" (i.e., do person-related work) are at increased risk of hospitalization with a diagnosis of depression. However, these studies were purely register-based and consequently unable to point to factors underlying this elevated...... risk. This paper examines whether person-related work is associated with incident use of antidepressants, and whether this association is mediated by several work environment exposures....
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Differences between National Cultures Matter – Case of Slovenian-Korean Working Environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tušar Matej
2016-08-01
Full Text Available Aims: Global business today usually requires organizations to be present locally in countries where their customers are. To do this successfully, good cooperation with local people is needed. Therefore, this paper focuses on the integration of cultures in the business world. The insights from this study are expected to benefit Slovenian expatriates to foreign companies in South Korea, as well as national culture researchers. The main goals of this research include a comparison of Hofstede’s IBM survey results with the researched working environment, and identifying the benefits of merging two national cultures for the working environment.
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Kim, Kihwan; Choi, Suk Bong
2017-01-01
Previous research on creative working environments has focused on business organizations. This study examined the influence of creative personality and creative working environment on the research productivity of business faculty. It was hypothesized that creative personality, family support, colleague support, research resources, and workload…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maria eEngstrom
2013-04-01
Full Text Available Despite the interest in the neuroimaging of working memory, little is still known about the neurobiology of complex working memory in tasks that require simultaneous manipulation and storage of information. In addition to the central executive network, we assumed that the recently described salience network (involving the anterior insular cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex might be of particular importance to working memory tasks that require complex, effortful processing. Method: Healthy participants (n=26 and participants suffering from working memory problems related to the Kleine-Levin syndrome (a specific form of periodic idiopathic hypersomnia; n=18 participated in the study. Participants were further divided into a high and low capacity group, according to performance on a working memory task (listening span. In a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI study, participants were administered the reading span complex working memory task tapping cognitive effort. Principal findings: The fMRI-derived blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal was modulated by 1 effort in both the central executive and the salience network and 2 capacity in the salience network in that high performers evidenced a weaker BOLD signal than low performers. In the salience network there was a dichotomy between the left and the right hemisphere; the right hemisphere elicited a steeper increase of the BOLD signal as a function of increasing effort. There was also a stronger functional connectivity within the central executive network because of increased task difficulty. Conclusion: The ability to allocate cognitive effort in complex working memory is contingent upon focused resources in the executive and in particular the salience network. Individual capacity during the complex working memory task is related to activity in the salience (but not the executive network so that high-capacity participants evidence a lower signal and possibly hence a larger
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tuvesson Hanna
2014-01-01
Full Text Available The psychosocial work environment is an important factor in psychiatric in-patient care, and knowing more of its correlates might open up new paths for future workplace interventions. Thus, the aims of the present study were to investigate perceptions of the psychosocial work environment among nursing staff in psychiatric in-patient care and how individual characteristics—Mastery, Moral Sensitivity, Perceived Stress, and Stress of Conscience—are related to different aspects of the psychosocial work environment. A total of 93 nursing staff members filled out five questionnaires: the QPSNordic 34+, Perceived Stress Scale, Stress of Conscience Questionnaire, Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire, and Mastery scale. Multivariate analysis showed that Perceived Stress was important for Organisational Climate perceptions. The Stress of Conscience subscale Internal Demands and Experience in current units were indicators of Role Clarity. The other Stress of Conscience subscale, External Demands and Restrictions, was related to Control at Work. Two types of stress, Perceived Stress and Stress of Conscience, were particularly important for the nursing staff’s perception of the psychosocial work environment. Efforts to prevent stress may also contribute to improvements in the psychosocial work environment.
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Extremely environment-hard and low work function transfer-mold field emitter arrays
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Nakamoto, Masayuki, E-mail: m-nakamoto@rie.shizuoka.ac.jp [Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011 (Japan); Moon, Jonghyun [Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011 (Japan)
2013-06-15
Extremely environment-hard and low work function field-emitter arrays (FEAs) were fabricated by a transfer-mold emitter fabrication method to produce highly reliable vacuum nanoelectronic devices able to operate stably at low voltage in highly oxidizing atmospheres. Amorphous carbon (a-C) having a work function of 3.6 eV and sp{sup 3} fraction of 85.6% prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition was used as the emitter material. The field-emission characteristics of the obtained transfer-mold FEAs strongly depended on their work function and morphology. The environment-hard characteristics of the transfer-mold a-C FEAs were compared with those of the transfer-mold titanium nitride FEAs and nickel FEAs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to confirm the stable chemical states of the FEAs after oxygen radical treatment. The small amount of material oxidized (6.3%) at the surface of the a-C FEAs compared with 11.8% for the TiN-FEAs and 39.0% for Ni FEAs after oxygen radical treatment explained their almost constant work function in oxidizing atmospheres. The emission fluctuation rates of transfer-mold a-C FEAs without resistive layers under in situ radical treatment were as low as ±5.0%, compared with 5–100% for conventional FEAs with resistive layers not under highly oxidizing atmospheres. Therefore, the present environment-hard and low work function transfer-mold a-C FEAs are expected to be useful for reliable vacuum nanoelectronic devices.
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Nurses' work environments, care rationing, job outcomes, and quality of care on neonatal units.
Rochefort, Christian M; Clarke, Sean P
2010-10-01
This paper is a report of a study of the relationship between work environment characteristics and neonatal intensive care unit nurses' perceptions of care rationing, job outcomes, and quality of care. International evidence suggests that attention to work environments might improve nurse recruitment and retention, and the quality of care. However, comparatively little attention has been given to neonatal care, a specialty where patient and nurse outcomes are potentially quite sensitive to problems with staffing and work environments. Over a 6-month period in 2007-2008, a questionnaire containing measures of work environment characteristics, nursing care rationing, job satisfaction, burnout and quality of care was distributed to 553 nurses in all neonatal intensive care units in the province of Quebec (Canada). A total of 339 nurses (61.3%) completed questionnaires. Overall, 18.6% were dissatisfied with their job, 35.7% showed high emotional exhaustion, and 19.2% rated the quality of care on their unit as fair or poor. Care activities most frequently rationed because of insufficient time were discharge planning, parental support and teaching, and comfort care. In multivariate analyses, higher work environment ratings were related to lower likelihood of reporting rationing and burnout, and better ratings of quality of care and job satisfaction. Additional research on the determinants of nurse outcomes, the quality of patient care, and the impact of rationing of nursing care on patient outcomes in neonatal intensive care units is required. The Neonatal Extent of Work Rationing Instrument appears to be a useful tool for monitoring the extent of rationing of nursing care in neonatal units. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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48 CFR 970.5223-1 - Integration of environment, safety, and health into work planning and execution.
2010-10-01
..., safety, and health into work planning and execution. 970.5223-1 Section 970.5223-1 Federal Acquisition... Integration of environment, safety, and health into work planning and execution. As prescribed in 970.2303-3(b), insert the following clause: Integration of Environment, Safety, and Health Into Work Planning and...
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A personalized healthy workplace
Timmer, Justin
2017-01-01
In February 2017, seven partners signed a contract to collaborate on a project called the Healthy Workplace. Measuremen, Menzis, Health2Work, ENGIE, Planon, and Hanzehogeschool Groningen are dedicated to make the regular workplace a healthy workplace. Health is of primary importance for both the
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Andre, Julia; Picchioni, Marco; Zhang, Ruibin; Toulopoulou, Timothea
2016-01-01
Working memory ability matures through puberty and early adulthood. Deficits in working memory are linked to the risk of onset of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, and there is a significant temporal overlap between the peak of first episode psychosis risk and working memory maturation. In order to characterize the normal working memory functional maturation process through this critical phase of cognitive development we conducted a systematic review and coordinate based meta-analyses of all the available primary functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (n = 382) that mapped WM function in healthy adolescents (10-17 years) and young adults (18-30 years). Activation Likelihood Estimation analyses across all WM tasks revealed increased activation with increasing subject age in the middle frontal gyrus (BA6) bilaterally, the left middle frontal gyrus (BA10), the left precuneus and left inferior parietal gyri (BA7; 40). Decreased activation with increasing age was found in the right superior frontal (BA8), left junction of postcentral and inferior parietal (BA3/40), and left limbic cingulate gyrus (BA31). These results suggest that brain activation during adolescence increased with age principally in higher order cortices, part of the core working memory network, while reductions were detected in more diffuse and potentially more immature neural networks. Understanding the process by which the brain and its cognitive functions mature through healthy adulthood may provide us with new clues to understanding the vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Julia Andre
2016-01-01
Full Text Available Working memory ability matures through puberty and early adulthood. Deficits in working memory are linked to the risk of onset of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, and there is a significant temporal overlap between the peak of first episode psychosis risk and working memory maturation. In order to characterize the normal working memory functional maturation process through this critical phase of cognitive development we conducted a systematic review and coordinate based meta-analyses of all the available primary functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (n = 382 that mapped WM function in healthy adolescents (10–17 years and young adults (18–30 years. Activation Likelihood Estimation analyses across all WM tasks revealed increased activation with increasing subject age in the middle frontal gyrus (BA6 bilaterally, the left middle frontal gyrus (BA10, the left precuneus and left inferior parietal gyri (BA7; 40. Decreased activation with increasing age was found in the right superior frontal (BA8, left junction of postcentral and inferior parietal (BA3/40, and left limbic cingulate gyrus (BA31. These results suggest that brain activation during adolescence increased with age principally in higher order cortices, part of the core working memory network, while reductions were detected in more diffuse and potentially more immature neural networks. Understanding the process by which the brain and its cognitive functions mature through healthy adulthood may provide us with new clues to understanding the vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Gardner, Jane K; Thomas-Hawkins, Charlotte; Fogg, Louis; Latham, Carolyn E
2007-01-01
While the nephrology nursing shortage persists despite the continued growth of the population of individuals with Stage 5 chronic kidney disease, there is a paucity of empirical data regarding nephrology nurses' perceptions of their work environments. Moreover, there are no studies that have examined the relationship of work environment attributes to patient and nurse outcomes in dialysis settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between staff nurses' perceptions of dialysis work environments, nurses' intentions to leave their current jobs, nurse turnover, patient satisfaction, and patient hospitalization rates. A descriptive, correlational design was used. Nurse level and facility level data were obtained. The sample for nurse-level data consisted of 199 registered nurses in staff nurse roles in 56 dialysis facilities of a national dialysis company. The sample for facility-level analysis consisted of 46 dialysis facilities, and nurse-level data were aggregated for facility-level analysis. The Practice Environment Scale-Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) was used to measure nurses' perceptions of the dialysis work environment. Nurses' intention to leave their jobs and facility-level turnover rates were the nurse outcomes examined in this study. Facility-level patient satisfaction and hospitalization rates were the patient outcomes examined. Correlation coefficients were computed to measure the relationships between study variables, and independent t-tests were performed to examine subgroup differences in work environment perceptions. Overall, nurses rated the work environment somewhat favorably. Nurses who expressed intention to leave their jobs rated the work environment more negatively compared to nurses who intended to stay. Significant correlations were found between nurses' perceptions of the dialysis work environment, nurses' intention to leave their jobs, nurse turnover rates, and patient hospitalizations. Study findings suggest that
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Goldenberg, Shira M; Duff, Putu; Krusi, Andrea
2015-12-16
Sex workers (SWs) experience a disproportionately high burden of HIV, with evidence indicating that complex and dynamic factors within work environments play a critical role in mitigating or producing HIV risks in sex work. In light of sweeping policy efforts to further criminalize sex work globally, coupled with emerging calls for structural responses situated in labour and human-rights frameworks, this meta-synthesis of the qualitative and ethnographic literature sought to examine SWs' narratives to elucidate the ways in which physical, social and policy features of diverse work environments influence SWs' agency to engage in HIV prevention. We conducted a meta-synthesis of qualitative and ethnographic studies published from 2008 to 2014 to elucidate SWs' narratives and lived experiences of the complex and nuanced ways in which physical, social, and policy features of indoor and outdoor work environments shape HIV prevention in the sex industry. Twenty-four qualitative and/or ethnographic studies were included in this meta-synthesis. SWs' narratives revealed the nuanced ways that physical, social, and policy features of work environments shaped HIV risk and interacted with macrostructural constraints (e.g., criminalization, stigma) and community determinants (e.g., sex worker empowerment initiatives) to shape SWs' agency in negotiating condom use. SWs' narratives revealed the ways in which the existence of occupational health and safety standards in indoor establishments, as well as protective practices of third parties (e.g., condom promotion) and other SWs/peers were critical ways of enhancing safety and sexual risk negotiation within indoor work environments. Additionally, working in settings where negative interactions with law enforcement were minimized (e.g., working in decriminalized contexts or environments in which peers/managers successfully deterred unjust policing practices) was critical for supporting SWs' agency to negotiate HIV prevention. Policy
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Leia M. Minaker; Meghan Lynch; Brian E. Cook; Catherine L. Mah
2017-01-01
Introduction: Population health interventions in the retail food environment, such as corner store interventions, aim to influence the kind of cues consumers receive so that they are more often directed toward healthier options. Research that addresses financial aspects of retail interventions, particularly using outcome measures such as store sales that are central to retail decision making, is limited. This study explored store sales over time and across product categories during a healthy ...
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Pulz, Isadora Santos; Martins, Paula Andréa; Feldman, Charles; Veiros, Marcela Boro
2017-03-01
The purpose of this novel study was to evaluate the food environment at a Brazilian university, encompassing 6 restaurants and 13 snack bars. The investigation uniquely analyses the food environment (barriers, facilitators, type of foods and prices). This was a food-based analysis of the nutritional quality of the products sold on campus. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used, applying the classic Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Restaurants (NEMS-R) adapted for Brazil and an original methodology to evaluate and classify qualitatively the nutritional quality and characteristics of the food. A census of all campus food environments was applied. The main results show most food and beverage products were made with processed ingredients and had a lower nutritional quality and price when compared with similar products made on premises, that is, processed iced tea compared with fresh tea ( p flour salgados compared with baked wholegrain flour salgados ( p flour biscuits compared with those made with whole grains ( p = .028). Only 16% of the outlets provided food ingredients or nutritional information of products available. The overall options for healthy food choices and good nutritional quality on campus were mostly limited by the availability and higher prices of products. These findings could be used to develop new policy perspectives for the offering of healthy food items and to facilitate better food choices among students in a healthier food environment.
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Djukic, Maja; Kovner, Christine; Budin, Wendy C; Norman, Robert
2010-01-01
The impact of personal, organizational, and economic factors on nurses' job satisfaction have been studied extensively, but few studies exist in which the effects of physical work environment--including perceptions of architectural, interior design, and ambient features on job satisfaction-are examined. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of perceived physical work environment on job satisfaction, adjusting for multiple personal, organizational, and economic determinants of job satisfaction. A cross-sectional, predictive design and a Web-based survey instrument were used to collect data from staff registered nurses in a large metropolitan hospital. The survey included 34 questions about multiple job satisfaction determinants, including 18 Likert-type measures with established good validity (comparative fit index = .97, Tucker-Lewis index = .98, root mean square error of approximation = .06) and reliability (r ≥ .70). A response rate of 48.5% resulted in a sample of 362, with 80% power to detect a medium effect of perceived physical environment on job satisfaction. On average, nurses had negative perceptions of physical work environment (M = 2.9, SD = 2.2). Although physical environment was related positively to job satisfaction (r =.256, p = .01) in bivariate analysis, in ordered probit regression, no effect of physical work environment on job satisfaction was found. In future studies, this relationship should be examined in larger and more representative samples of nurses. Qualitative methods should be used to explore how negatively perceived physical work environment impacts nurses. Rebuilding of U.S. hospitals, with a planned investment of $200 billion without considering how physical environment contributes to nurse work outcomes, threatens to exacerbate organizational nurse turnover.
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Boeijinga, Anniek; Hoeken, Hans; Sanders, José
2016-10-17
The working environment, the nature of the work, and the characteristics of truck drivers as a social group typically pose great challenges for the truck drivers' health and health promotion activities aiming to improve it. The purpose was to obtain a better understanding of (a) Dutch truck drivers' perceptions of health and lifestyle themes, and (b) the challenges they experience in their pursuit of a more healthy lifestyle, as a guiding framework for the development of health interventions targeting this occupational group. In this qualitative study, we conducted and analyzed 20 semi-structured interviews and seven cases of participant observations with Dutch truck drivers. Grounded theory was used to analyze the data. Our findings illustrate that Dutch truck drivers wish to improve their lifestyle but have unproductive associations with concepts of healthy living as well as a tendency to downplay their health risks. In addition, they experience barriers within their work and personal environment that prevent them from translating their intentions into actual lifestyle changes. Based on the insights derived from the interviews, we discuss recommendations for the development of more effective health promotion interventions for truck drivers.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pernille Hohnen
2014-09-01
Full Text Available Certified occupational health and safety (OHS management systems have become a global instrument in regulation of the work environment. However, their actual impact on OHS—in particular on softer psychosocial issues in the work environment—has been questioned. The most important standard of OHS management is OHSAS 18001, which has recently been supplemented with a British publically available guideline (PAS 1010 focusing specifically on psychosocial risk management. On the basis of the international literature on management standards, the present paper analyses OHSAS 18001 and PAS 1010 in order to understand the mechanism by which they work. The paper takes a social constructionist approach conceptualizing standards and their expected mechanisms as socially constructed—based on a particular kind of knowledge and logic—although they are presented as objective. Such a constructionist approach also emphasizes how standards transform specific work environment problems into generic procedures that can be audited. In the case of OHS standards, both the work environment in general and the psychosocial risks in particular are transformed into simple monocausal auditable relations whereby the complexity of psychosocial work environment issues seems to disappear. The new PAS 1010 guideline, which is particularly focusing on regulation of the psychosocial work environment, only partly succeeds in solving these shortcomings of OHSAS 18001.
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Lundgren, Dan; Ernsth Bravell, Marie; Börjesson, Ulrika; Kåreholt, Ingemar
2018-06-01
This study examines the association between nursing assistants' perceptions of their psychosocial work environment and satisfaction among older people receiving care in nursing homes and home care. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted among people receiving care ( N = 1,535) and nursing assistants ( N = 1,132) in 45 nursing homes and 21 home care units within municipal old-age care. Better psychosocial work environment was related to higher satisfaction in old-age care among the recipients. Significant and stronger associations were more common in nursing homes than in home care. Perception of mastery and positive challenges at work were associated with higher recipient satisfaction both in home care and in nursing homes: social climate, perception of group work, perception of mastery, and positive challenges at work only in nursing homes. Findings suggest that recipient satisfaction may be increased by improving the psychosocial work environment for nursing assistants, both in nursing homes and in home care.
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Health and the Built Environment: Exploring Foundations for a New Interdisciplinary Profession
Kent, Jennifer; Thompson, Susan
2012-01-01
The supportive role of the built environment for human health is a growing area of interdisciplinary research, evidence-based policy development, and related practice. Nevertheless, despite closely linked origins, the contemporary professions of public health and urban planning largely operate within the neoliberal framework of academic, political, and policy silos. A reinvigorated relationship between the two is fundamental to building and sustaining an effective “healthy built environment profession.” A recent comprehensive review of the burgeoning literature on healthy built environments identified an emergent theme which we have termed “Professional Development.” This literature relates to the development of relationships between health and built environment professionals. It covers case studies illustrating good practice models for policy change, as well as ways professionals can work to translate research into policy. Intertwined with this empirical research is a dialogue on theoretical tensions emerging as health and built environment practitioners and researchers seek to establish mutual understanding and respect. The nature of evidence required to justify policy change, for example, has surfaced as an area of asynchrony between accepted disciplinary protocols. Our paper discusses this important body of research with a view to initiating and supporting the ongoing development of an interdisciplinary profession of healthy planning. PMID:23028393
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Broberg, Ole; Hansen, Nanette Juhler; Høgsbo, Mette Maribo
1998-01-01
training at engineering schools are very limited. As the engineers find it very important to teach working environment at engineering schools it must be considered what kind of curriculum would be most effective for the engineering career. Finally, the engineers do not perceive that management or others......This study confirms that many engineers are not aware that they influence the working environment of other people through their engineering. Also, it indicates that the extent of influence dependends on engineering domain and task content. Many engineers and enterprises have an espoused theory...... expressing a positive attitude towards working environment considerations in engineering. However, the theory-in-action seems to be quite different. Engineers do not know what to do in relation to working environment considerations. They mainly point to solidifying their knowledge in the area combined...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Imranul, Hoque; Rana, Mohammad Bakhtiar
2018-01-01
The purpose of this study is to review and synthesise how extant literature understand different natures of buyer supplier relationships (BSR) and how BSR affect, and are affected by, the working environment (WE), and how both BSR and WE affect organisational performance (OP). Following...... a systematic review protocol and literature corroboration, we map the literature covering BSR, WE, and OP and conduct a thematic analysis on three themes (i.e. buyer supplier relationships, working environment, organisational performance) and their relationships. Our review synthesises BSR typologies and group......, working environment and organisational performance. Our findings illustrate that working environment is becoming important in cross-border sourcing and supply management, but this has been neglected in BSR literature from almost every disciplinary perspective. No study has directly linked the three themes...
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Lindqvist, Rikard; Smeds Alenius, Lisa; Griffiths, Peter; Runesdotter, Sara; Tishelman, Carol
2015-03-01
To investigate whether hospital characteristics not readily susceptible to change (i.e. hospital size, university status, and geographic location) are associated with specific self-reported nurse outcomes. Research often focuses on factors within hospitals (e.g. work environment), which are susceptible to change, rather than on structural factors in their own right. However, numerous assumptions exist about the role of structural factors that may lead to a sense of pessimism and undermine efforts at constructive change. Data was derived from survey questions on assessments of work environment and satisfaction, intention to leave, quality of care and burnout (measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory), from a population-based sample of 11 000 registered nurses in Sweden. Mixed model regressions were used for analysis. Registered nurses in small hospitals were slightly more likely to rank their working environment and quality of nursing care better than others. For example 23% of staff in small hospitals were very satisfied with the work environment compared with 20% in medium-sized hospitals and 21% in large hospitals. Registered nurses in urban areas, who intended to leave their job, were more likely to seek work in another hospital (38% vs. 32%). While some structural factors were related to nurse-reported outcomes in this large sample, the associations were small or of questionable importance. The influence of structural factors such as hospital size on nurse-reported outcomes is small and unlikely to negate efforts to improve work environment. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Analysis of comfort and ergonomics for clinical work environments.
Shafti, Ali; Lazpita, Beatriz Urbistondo; Elhage, Oussama; Wurdemann, Helge A; Althoefer, Kaspar
2016-08-01
Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are a serious risk to workers' health in any work environment, and especially in clinical work places. These disorders are typically the result of prolonged exposure to non-ergonomic postures and the resulting discomfort in the workplace. Thus a continuous assessment of comfort and ergonomics is necessary. There are different techniques available to make such assessments, such as self-reports on perceived discomfort and observational scoring models based on the posture's relevant joint angles. These methods are popular in medical and industrial environments alike. However, there are uncertainties with regards to objectivity of these methods and whether they provide a full picture. This paper reports on a study about these methods and how they correlate with the activity of muscles involved in the task at hand. A wearable 4-channel electromyography (EMG) and joint angle estimation device with wireless transmission was made specifically for this study to allow continuous, long-term and real-time measurements and recording of activities. N=10 participants took part in an experiment involving a buzz-wire test at 3 different levels, with their muscle activity (EMG), joint angle scores (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment - RULA), self-reports of perceived discomfort (Borg scale) and performance score on the buzz-wire being recorded and compared. Results show that the Borg scale is not responsive to smaller changes in discomfort whereas RULA and EMG can be used to detect more detailed changes in discomfort, effort and ergonomics.
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Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Sönmez, Sevil; Shattell, Mona M; Gonzales, Clifford; Fehrenbacher, Caitlin
2013-01-01
While trucking in industrialized nations is linked with driver health afflictions, the role of trucking in U.S. truckers' health remains largely unknown. This paper sheds light on links between the trucking work environment and drivers' physical health. Using a cross-sectional design, 316 truckers were enrolled in the Healthy Trucker Survey. Questions included work history, physical and mental health, and healthcare access. PASW 18 was used to examine patterns among factors. 316 truckers participated. Respondents were mainly full-time, long-haul drivers with over 5 years of experience, and who spent over 17 days on the road per month. While almost 75% described their health as good, 83.4% were overweight/obese, 57.9% had sleeping disturbances, 56.3% fatigue, 42.3% musculoskeletal disorders, and about 40% cardiovascular disease concerns. About 33% had no health insurance, 70% had no regular healthcare visits, 24.4% could not afford insurance, and 42.1% took over-the-counter drugs when sick, while 20.1% waited to reach home for medical care. Exercise facilities were unavailable in over 70% of trucking worksites and 70% of drivers did not exercise regularly. The trucking occupation places drivers at high risk for poor health outcomes. Prospective studies are needed to delve into how continued exposure to trucking influences the progression of disease burden.
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Permit to Work System in Nuclear Malaysia
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Shyen, A.K.S.; Azwafarina Zarmira Aznan; Md Derus Ibrahim
2015-01-01
A Permit-To-Work System is an essential part of the job risk assessment process. An effective Permit-To-Work System would help to prevent accident that usually involves maintenance and construction activities. In Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Radiation Safety and Health Division (BKS) has been given the responsibility to implement the system in order to fulfill the requirement of providing a safe and healthy workplace and environment for its employees as pledged in the Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Policy. This paper presents the roles and functions of Permit-To-Work System, together with the process flow and challenges ahead. (author)
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de Jong, Marlon; Jolij, Jacob; Lorist, Monicque
2016-01-01
Demographic ageing in the Western world means that the average age of the working population is increasing. This has major consequences for the labour process. Growing older is linked to physical and cognitive changes that can influence the performance of tasks. We are faced with an important
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de Jong, Marlon; Jolij, Jacob; Lorist, Monicque
2016-01-01
Background Demographic ageing in the Western world means that the average age of the working population is increasing. This has major consequences for the labour process. Growing older is linked to physical and cognitive changes that can influence the performance of tasks. We are faced with an
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de Jong, Marlon; Jolij, Jacob; Lorist, Monicque
2015-01-01
Demographic ageing in the Western world means that the average age of the working population is increasing. This has major consequences for the labour process. Growing older is linked to physical and cognitive changes which can influence performance of tasks. We are faced with an important
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Widening the scope of incident analysis in complex work environments
Vuuren, van W.; Kanse, L.; Manser, T.
2003-01-01
Incident analysis is commonly used as a tooi to provide information on how to improve health and safety in complex work environments. The effectiveness of this tooi, however, depends on how the analysis is actually carried out. The traditional view on incident analysis highlights the role of human
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
M Arab
2012-12-01
Full Text Available Background and Aims: In a healthy organization, staff's physical and mental health is as important and considerable as production and productivity. Burnout is a result of long-term tension and stress in the job environment. Its symptoms occur when employees' power and potency is not enough for the job environment demands. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment are three dimensions of burnout. In this survey we studied the nursing job environment considering nurses' participation in hospital affairs, foundation for quality of nursing care, managerial support and leadership, staffing/resource adequacy and collegial nurse-physician relation and their effects on nurses' burnout level. Methods: This survey is a cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study to review of nursing job environment on nurses' burnout dimensions in TUMS (Tehran … general-teaching hospitals in 1386. For this study, 214 nurses (confidence interval %95, powers %80 and attrition %30 were selected randomly. Data were gathered using Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI and Nursing Work Index(NWI questionnaires filled in by studied nurses. The validity of these questionnaires determined using masters' instructions. To determine the reliability of NWI questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted and its reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.88. The reliability and internal validity of MBI questionnaire had been proved in previous studies. Data were analyzed by SPSS 11.5 and Logistic regression and Chi-Square test. Results: Results show that hospital type and nurses' sex have effects on lack of personal accomplishment frequency and hospital type influences lack of personal accomplishment severity. Depersonalization frequency is effected negatively by decreasing foundation for quality of nursing care (OR=2.326 and lack of managerial support and leadership (OR=4.553 and limited collegial nurse-physician relation (OR=1
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An Innovative Economic Incentive Model for Improvement of the Working Environment in Europe
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Koch, Christian
1997-01-01
work injury compensation system, that a number of European countries operate. Building on an understanding of enterprise decision processes and ressources, it is suggested to implement a range of tools targetting different groups of enterprises. The central tools are bonus schemes, a special scheme......The design of economic incentive schemes to promote working environment embetterment has proven complicated. The contribution list some central preconditions and tools of an economic incentive model for improving the working environment. The economic incentive is proposed built into the compulsory...... for small enterprises, a marketing label and low interest investment aid. It is finally discussed what contrains the implementation of such a scheme can be confronted with....
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What is a healthy body weight? Perspectives of overweight youth.
Thomas, Heather M; Irwin, Jennifer D
2009-01-01
A qualitative assessment was completed of overweight/obese youths' perceptions of the meaning of "healthy body weight," barriers and facilitators to healthy body weight attainment, and what would effectively enhance and support their healthy body weight behaviours. This qualitative study targeted a sample of overweight and obese youth, aged 14 to 16 years. An experienced interviewer conducted 11 in-depth interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Three qualitative researchers conducted independent and simultaneous inductive content analysis to facilitate confirmability. Data trustworthiness was supported via member checking, peer debriefing, and reflexive journalling. Most participants characterized healthy body weight as a combination of healthy eating and regular physical activity. Some included a psychological dimension in the definition. Perceived facilitators of a healthy body weight included family support, access to nutritious food at home, physical activity encouragement, and a physical activity environment at school. Perceived barriers included lack of family support, a poor nutrition environment, an unsupportive school environment, time, self-esteem, and bullying. Participants identified preferences for an intervention that would include opportunities for unstructured coeducational recreational activities, coeducational nutrition education sessions, and a gender-specific discussion forum. Participants provided a wealth of information to form the foundation of future youth-focused efficacious healthy body weight interventions.
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van den Berg, Peter T
2011-08-01
The relationships between older employees' willingness to continue working and characteristics of the work environment for older workers were investigated, as well as a possible mediation by intrinsic motivation. 103 employees ages 50 to 65 years, from various sectors of the Dutch labor market, completed questionnaires that measured willingness to continue working, intrinsic motivation, organizational stimulation, work variety, work challenge, and job autonomy. Hierarchical regression analyses showed organizational stimulation, as well as the various job characteristics, were positively related to employees' willingness to continue working. Moreover, intrinsic motivation fully mediated the relationship of work variety with willingness to continue working and partially mediated the relationships of organizational stimulation, work challenge, and job autonomy with willingness to continue working. It was concluded that organizations can encourage older workers to work until age 65 and beyond by shifting their focus from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards.
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How to develop patent work research in the enterprise competitive intelligence environment
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Li Nansheng; Ren Xiaorong
2014-01-01
with the enterprise competitive environment rapid change, the importance of competitive intelligence becomes suddenly to reveal day by day. The patent is one of the most important information sources of competitive intelligence. This article describes the present status of the enterprise patent work, proposes the patent work strategy, point out that if it wants to enhance the enterprise competitive power, it will pay attention to the patent work. (authors)
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Music Teachers in Turkey: Their Proficiency, Working Environments and Problems
Otacioglu, Sena Gursen
2008-01-01
The aim of this study was the collection of data concerning Turkish music teachers' proficiency and their place in the primary and secondary education system. In addition, information was collected regarding the teachers' working environment and professional complications. A total of 200 music teachers' opinions were compiled for the determination…
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Antonsson, Ann-Beth; Hasle, Peter
2015-01-01
Background Small companies include many different sectors and types of organisations. Additionally the small companies are affected by clients, authorities and other stakeholders. Some of these contextual factors have been proven to be of relevance to and affect the work environment management, e.......g. in cleaning companies, where many aspects of the working environment is decided by the client company, whose premises is cleaned by the cleaning company. Aim To discuss what factors in small companies´ context may affect the outcome of work environment interventions as a theoretical basis for evaluation...... of what factors that may have affected the outcome of work environment interventions and programs in small companies. Discussion The context is a convenient and simple term covering a multitude of factors and complex relations. It is unavoidable to discuss context when aiming at understanding small...
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[Variables involved in the individual and collective practice of healthy habits].
García-Ubaque, Juan C; García-Ubaque, César A; Vaca-Bohórquez, Martha L
2014-01-01
To conduct a descriptive review of the concepts related to the practice of healthy habits by identifying the main variables associated with their managment in terms of health promotion actions. In consultation with groups working in health promotion in the city of performed by consulting databases and documentary sources. The strategy and criteria for the selection of documents was previously defined. Finally, we proceeded to organizing and structuring the information. It was established that, to promote healthy habits, four groups of behavior are involved: a) consumption, b) phyisical activity and hygiene, c) safety, and d) social participation. All of these are reviewed in order to point out the main concepts contained in each. The promotion of healthy habits must involve not only the transmission of behaviors associated with them. It must also involve understanding and adapting these habits to the environments of life in which people operate, with consideration for the different roles that they perform and the psychological and cultural demands that each space implies.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard; Forman, Marianne; Nielsen, Anne
2000-01-01
, working environment, child labour, use of pesticides and use of organic grown cotton the project have resulted in a large number of findings divided on the different aspects. However, the following common findings should be mentioned: - International trade quota and tariffs and changes in currency......: environment, working environment, child labour, use of pesticides in the cotton growing, and use of organic cotton. On the basis of the gathered experiences the team has formulated ideas minimising the barriers and made recommendations for further actions. Focussing on different aspects as environment...... exchange rates used for import and export are influencing heavily on the enterprises' choice of suppliers and set constraints for their ability to set requirements - Enterprises have different reasons to start working with an aspect: Public regulation, public debate, market opportunities and enterprises...
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Predictors of nurse manager stress: a dominance analysis of potential work environment stressors.
Kath, Lisa M; Stichler, Jaynelle F; Ehrhart, Mark G; Sievers, Andree
2013-11-01
Nurse managers have important but stressful jobs. Clinical or bedside nurse predictors of stress have been studied more frequently, but less has been done on work environment predictors for those in this first-line leadership role. Understanding the relative importance of those work environment predictors could be used to help identify the most fruitful areas for intervention, potentially improving recruitment and retention for nurse managers. Using Role Stress Theory and the Job Demands-Resources Theory, a model was tested examining the relative importance of five potential predictors of nurse manager stress (i.e., stressors). The work environment stressors included role ambiguity, role overload, role conflict, organizational constraints, and interpersonal conflict. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey study was conducted with a convenience sample of 36 hospitals in the Southwestern United States. All nurse managers working in these 36 hospitals were invited to participate. Of the 636 nurse managers invited, 480 responded, for a response rate of 75.5%. Questionnaires were distributed during nursing leadership meetings and were returned in person (in sealed envelopes) or by mail. Because work environment stressors were correlated, dominance analysis was conducted to examine which stressors were the most important predictors of nurse manager stress. Role overload was the most important predictor of stress, with an average of 13% increase in variance explained. The second- and third-most important predictors were organizational constraints and role conflict, with an average of 7% and 6% increase in variance explained, respectively. Because other research has shown deleterious effects of nurse manager stress, organizational leaders are encouraged to help nurse managers reduce their actual and/or perceived role overload and organizational constraints. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Sundstrup, Emil; Hansen, Åse Marie; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Poulsen, Otto Melchior; Clausen, Thomas; Rugulies, Reiner; Møller, Anne; Andersen, Lars L
2018-02-01
To determine the prospective association between retrospectively assessed physical work environment during working life and prospectively assessed sickness absence and labour market exit among older workers. Using Cox regression analyses we estimated the 4-year to 6-year prospective risk of register-based long-term sickness absence (LTSA), disability pension, early retirement and unemployment from exposure to different physical work environmental factors during working life among 5076 older workers (age 49-63 at baseline) from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank cohort. Very hard physical work throughout working life was a risk factor for LTSA (HR 1.66,95% CI 1.32 to 2.07), disability pension (HR 2.21,95% CI 1.04 to 4.72) and early retirement (HR 1.57,95% CI 1.13 to 2.17). Both short-term (factors in the physical work environment, especially heavy lifting, were important for labour market exit and sickness absence. This study underscores the importance of reducing physical work exposures throughout the working life course for preventing sickness absence and premature exit from the labour market. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.
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Wang, Shanshan; Liu, Yanhui
2015-04-01
This study aimed to investigate the influence of professional nursing practice environment and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement. Previous researchers have acknowledged the positive influence that nurse work environment and psychological empowerment have on engagement. However, less is known about the mechanisms that explain the links between them. A predictive, non-experimental design was used to test the model in a random sample of 300 clinical nurses from two tertiary first class hospitals of Tianjin, China. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index and the Psychological Empowerment Scale were used to measure the study variables. Structural equation modelling revealed a good fit of the model to the data based on various fit indices (P = 0.371, χ(2) /df = 1.056, goodness of fit index = 0.967), which indicated that both professional practice environment and psychological empowerment could positively influence work engagement directly, and professional practice environment could also indirectly influence work engagement through the mediation of psychological empowerment. The study hypotheses were supported. Psychological empowerment was found to mediate the relationship between practice environments and work engagement. Administrators should provide a professional nursing practice environment and empower nurses psychologically to increase nurse engagement. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Healthy diet: Health impact, prevalence, correlates, and interventions.
de Ridder, Denise; Kroese, Floor; Evers, Catharine; Adriaanse, Marieke; Gillebaart, Marleen
2017-08-01
To discuss healthy diet from a psychological perspective by considering definitions of healthy diet in terms of consumer understanding; the health effects of specific dietary elements in terms of overweight and (chronic) illness; the prevalence of healthy diet; the psychological and environmental determinants of healthy diet; and the psychological interventions that have been designed to promote healthy diet. A systematic review of the psychological literature on healthy diet. Our findings suggest that consumers have a relatively poor understanding of a healthy diet. The literature also demonstrates that there is poor evidence on the health protective effects of single foods or nutrients. We further show that low SES is the single consistent risk factor for not adhering to a healthy diet. Our review of the literature on determinants demonstrates that intentions, habits, self-regulatory skills, and the social and physical environment are the most important determinants of a healthy diet, which are in turn amenable to change by intervention strategies with varying levels of effectiveness. Educational interventions generally show a limited effect on practising a healthy diet whereas interventions targeting habitual behaviour and/or the physical environment seem more promising. In view of the large number of people who are concerned about their diets and make attempts to change their dietary patterns, we conclude that it is crucial to gain a better understanding of both the automatic and environmental influences that are responsible for people not acting upon their good intentions for diet change.
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Promoting safety in the work environment: the role of internal marketing
2009-01-01
M.Comm. The process of creating a safe working environment for all has proved to be one of the most complex facets within an organisation. This may be attributed to the fact that there are so many elements involved in ensuring occupational safety. Not only has the individual employee a responsibility towards safety, including his or her attitude and risk-taking behaviour, but also does the organisation contribute towards this hazard-free environment in providing a culture where safety is r...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Annika Vänje
2015-12-01
Full Text Available The background to this article review is governmental interest in finding reasons why a majority of the employees in Sweden who are on sick leave are women. In order to find answers to these questions three issues will be discussed from a meso-level: (i recent changes in the Swedish health care sector’s working organization and their effects on gender, (ii what research says about work health and gender in the health care sector, and (iii the meaning of gender at work. The aim is to first discuss these three issues to give a picture of what gender research says concerning work organization and work health, and second to examine the theories behind the issue. In this article the female-dominated health care sector is in focus. This sector strives for efficiency relating to invisible job tasks and emotional work performed by women. In contemporary work organizations gender segregation has a tendency to take on new and subtler forms. One reason for this is today’s de-hierarchized and flexible organizations. A burning question connected to this is whether new constructions of masculinities and femininities really are ways of relating to the prevailing norm in a profession or are ways of deconstructing the gender order. To gain a deeper understanding of working life we need multidisciplinary research projects where gender-critical knowledge is interwoven into research not only on organizations, but also into research concerning the physical work environment, in order to be able to develop good and sustainable work environments, in this case in the health care sector
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Evaluation and comparison of health care Work Environment Scale in military settings.
Maloney, J P; Anderson, F D; Gladd, D L; Brown, D L; Hardy, M A
1996-05-01
The purpose of this study was to describe health care providers' perceptions of their work environment at a large U.S. Army medical center, and to compare the findings to other military medical centers. The sample (N = 112) consisted of the professional nursing staff working on the nine inpatient units. The Work Environmental Scale (WES) was used to measure perceptions of the workplace relative to gender, position (head nurses, staff nurses, and agency nurses), specialty nursing (intensive care unit [ICU] versus non-ICU), education (MSN, BSN, and ADN), and patterns of differences between the WES subscales of four military medical centers. Results of the study indicate that there were no significant gender differences. Head nurses, non-ICU nurses, and MSN nurses perceived their environment more positively. There were significant differences in the WES subscales between the military hospitals. Implications for nursing using the WES were recommended.
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Trends in the Danish work environment in 1990-2000 and their associations with labor-force changes.
Burr, Hermann; Bjorner, Jakob B; Kristensen, Tage S; Tüchsen, Finn; Bach, Elsa
2003-08-01
The aims of this study were (i) to describe the trends in the work environment in 1990-2000 among employees in Denmark and (ii) to establish whether these trends were attributable to labor-force changes. The split-panel design of the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study includes interviews with three cross-sections of 6067, 5454, and 5404 employees aged 18-59 years, each representative of the total Danish labor force in 1990, 1995 and 2000. In the cross-sections, the participation rate decreased over the period (90% in 1990, 80% in 1995, 76% in 2000). The relative differences in participation due to gender, age, and region did not change noticeably. Jobs with decreasing prevalence were clerks, cleaners, textile workers, and military personnel. Jobs with increasing prevalence were academics, computer professionals, and managers. Intense computer use, long workhours, and noise exposure increased. Job insecurity, part-time work, kneeling work posture, low job control, and skin contact with cleaning agents decreased. Labor-force changes fully explained the decline in low job control and skin contact to cleaning agents and half of the increase in long workhours, but not the other work environment changes. The work environment of Danish employees improved from 1990 to 2000, except for increases in long workhours and noise exposure. From a specific work environment intervention point of view, the development has been less encouraging because declines in low job control, as well as skin contact to cleaning agents, were explained by labor-force changes.
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Working in a demanding environment: employee wellbeing in secure forensic settings
Cooper, Amelia
2016-01-01
Introduction: Care professionals suffering with poor wellbeing is a phenomenon that has been found to have a damaging effect upon individual employees, service users and organisations. Employees working in forensic settings are believed to be at increased risk of damaged wellbeing due to the unique demands of their working environment, including exposure to violence and aggression. This issue was addressed in two ways. Firstly, a systematic review of the literature on the ef...
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Retail food environments research: Promising future with more work to be done.
Fuller, Daniel; Engler-Stringer, Rachel; Muhajarine, Nazeem
2016-06-09
As members of the scientific committee for the Food Environments in Canada conference, we reflect on the current state of food environments research in Canada. We are very encouraged that the field is growing and there have been many collaborative efforts to link researchers in Canada, including the 2015 Food Environments in Canada Symposium and Workshop. We believe there are 5 key challenges the field will need to collectively address: theory and causality; replication and extension; consideration of rural, northern and vulnerable populations; policy analysis; and intervention research. In addressing the challenges, we look forward to working together to conduct more sophisticated, complex and community-driven food environments research in the future.
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The Effects of Green Tea Extract on Working Memory in Healthy Women.
Liu, Y; Fly, A D; Wang, Z; Klaunig, J E
2018-01-01
This study aimed to examine the effects of green tea extract on working memory in healthy younger (21 - 29 y) and older (50 - 63 y) women. A single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design was used. A university laboratory. Twenty non-smoking Caucasian women were recruited in the younger (10) and older (10) age group. Subjects received 5.4 g green tea extract (at least 45% epigallocatechin-3-gallate) or placebo (cornstarch) within a 24-hour period. Working memory was measured by reading span and N-back task paradigm. Blood sample (20 mL) was collected and measured for plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TEAC) concentration. A 24-hour recall was conducted for each treatment period to ensure similar dietary patterns. Green tea extract significantly improved reading span performance in older women, indicated by higher absolute and partial scores of reading span. No significant changes were observed in the younger group. N-back latencies and accuracies were not significantly different after green tea treatment in either age group. Plasma concentration of MDA and TEAC were not different after green tea extract in either group. Acute supplementation of decaffeinated green tea extract may enhance working memory capacity of women between 50 to 63 years of age. This study provides preliminary evidence that consumption of green tea extract may enhance the cognitive performance in older adults and thus provide potential chemopreventive benefits in this group. The mechanism should be explored in future research.
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Obstacles of Saudi Woman Work in the Mixed Environment: A Field Study
AL-Hazmi, Mohammad Abdullah; Hammad, Mohammad Ahamd; AL-Shahrani, Hend Faye
2017-01-01
The study aimed to identify the obstacles facing Saudi woman while working in a mixed work environment. The main study sample consisted of (223) from the health sector female affiliates and were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of (129) participants from the health sector and workers in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)…
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Waszkowska, Małlgorzata; Andysz, Aleksandra; Merecz, Dorota
2014-01-01
Occupational stress of social workers is associated with various psychosocial hazards in the work environment. Some of them affect person-organization fit (P-O fit). The aim of the study was to verify a hypothesis on the mediating role of P-O fit in the relationship between work environment and stress. The research was based on a sample of 500 social workers directly involved in social work. The data were obtained using the Person-Organization Fit Questionnaire by Czarnota-Bojarska, the Work Environment Questionnaire developed by the Department of Occupational Psychology, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) by Cohen et al. As revealed by the regression analysis of the 4 analyzed work environment factors, only organizational politics was significantly related with perceived stress. Complementary and supplementary dimensions of P-O fit and identification with organization were the mediators of the relationship between organizational policies and stress, but only complementary fit proved to be a total mediator. The results of the study suggest that person-organization fit, especially its complementary aspect, is an essential determinant of accomplishing the core functions of social work and good practice among social workers.
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Nursing leadership in intensive care units and its relationship to the work environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alexandre Pazetto Balsanelli
2015-02-01
Full Text Available AIM: To establish whether there is any relationship between the work environment and nursing leadership at intensive care units (ICUs.METHOD: Correlational study conducted at four ICUs in southern São Paulo (SP, Brazil. The study population was comprised of 66 pairs (nurses and nursing technicians established by lottery. The nurses responded to three instruments: 1 characterization; 2 a validated Portuguese version of the Nursing Work Index Revised (B-NWI-R; and 3 Grid & Leadership in Nursing: ideal behavior. The nursing technicians responded to 1 characterization and to 2 Grid and Leadership in Nursing: actual behavior, relative to the corresponding randomly-assigned nurse. The data were analyzed by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA at p ≤ 0.05.RESULTS: The work environment was not associated with actual nursing leadership (p = 0.852. The public or private nature of the institutions where the investigated ICUs were located had no significant effect on leadership (p = 0.437. Only the nurse-physician relationship domain stood out (p = 0.001.CONCLUSION: The choice of leadership styles by nurses should match the ICU characteristics. Leadership skills could be developed, and the work environment did not exert any influence on the investigated population.
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A comparative study of the working memory multicomponent model in psychosis and healthy controls.
Sánchez-Torres, Ana M; Elosúa, M Rosa; Lorente-Omeñaca, Ruth; Moreno-Izco, Lucía; Cuesta, Manuel J
2015-08-01
Working memory deficits are considered nuclear deficits in psychotic disorders. However, research has not found a generalized impairment in all of the components of working memory. We aimed to assess the components of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model: the temporary systems-the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer (introduced later by Baddeley)-and the central executive system, which includes four executive functions: divided attention, updating, shifting and inhibition. We assessed working memory performance in a sample of 21 patients with a psychotic disorder and 21 healthy controls. Patients also underwent a clinical assessment. Both univariate and repeated measures ANOVAs were applied to analyze performance in the working memory components between groups. Patients with a psychotic disorder underperformed compared to the controls in all of the working memory tasks, but after controlling for age and premorbid IQ, we only found a difference in performance in the N-Back task. Repeated measures ANCOVAs showed that patients also underperformed compared to the controls in the Digit span test and the TMT task. Not all of the components of working memory were impaired in the patients. Specifically, patients' performance was impaired in the tasks selected to assess the phonological loop and the shifting executive function. Patients' also showed worse performance than controls in the N-Back task, representative of the updating executive function. However, we did not find higher impairment in the patients' performance respect to controls when increasing the loading of the task. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Oleksandr M. Korniiets
2012-12-01
Full Text Available The article deals with the application of social services WEB 2.0 for personal learning environment creation that is used for professional orientation work of social educator. The feedback is must be in personal learning environment for the effective professional orientation work. This feedback can be organized through statistical monitoring. The typical solution for organizing personal learning environment with built-in statistical surveys and statistical data processing is considered in the article. The possibilities of the statistical data collection and processing services on the example of Google Analytics are investigated.
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Radiological surveillance of airborne contaminants in the working environment
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1979-01-01
Contamination of the air of the working environment may result from incidental or accidental releases during the handling of radioactive materials. Representative sampling and measurement are complicated by a variety of factors, arising mainly from the physical and chemical properties of radioactive aerosols. The following topics are presented in detail: sources and types of airborne contaminants, sampling techniques and instruments, measurement techniques and instruments, interpretation of measurements, examples of air monitoring programmes
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How the Physical Work Environment Can Affect Individual Productivity
Johannsdottir, Thordis; Hansen, Rebecca
2017-01-01
Master's thesis in Strategic Management The topic of this thesis is about how the physical work environment affects individual productivity, and with focus on productivity through the well-being aspect of individuals. The thesis has a theoretical approach with a pilot-exercise including a pilot experiment and questionnaire. This approach was chosen as the research question is comprehensive, and with the timeframe to complete this thesis. A theoretical approach gives the possibility to furt...
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Ulhassan, Waqar; von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica; Thor, Johan; Westerlund, Hugo
2014-10-22
As health care struggles to meet increasing demands with limited resources, Lean has become a popular management approach. It has mainly been studied in relation to health care performance. The empirical evidence as to how Lean affects the psychosocial work environment has been contradictory. This study aims to study the interaction between Lean and the psychosocial work environment using a comprehensive model that takes Lean implementation information, as well as Lean theory and the particular context into consideration. The psychosocial work environment was measured twice with the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) employee survey during Lean implementations on May-June 2010 (T1) (n = 129) and November-December 2011 (T2) (n = 131) at three units (an Emergency Department (ED), Ward-I and Ward-II). Information based on qualitative data analysis of the Lean implementations and context from a previous paper was used to predict expected change patterns in the psychosocial work environment from T1 to T2 and subsequently compared with COPSOQ-data through linear regression analysis. Between T1 and T2, qualitative information showed a well-organized and steady Lean implementation on Ward-I with active employee participation, a partial Lean implementation on Ward-II with employees not seeing a clear need for such an intervention, and deterioration in already implemented Lean activities at ED, due to the declining interest of top management. Quantitative data analysis showed a significant relation between the expected and actual results regarding changes in the psychosocial work environment. Ward-I showed major improvements especially related to job control and social support, ED showed a major decline with some exceptions while Ward-II also showed improvements similar to Ward-I. The results suggest that Lean may have a positive impact on the psychosocial work environment given that it is properly implemented. Also, the psychosocial work environment may even
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Kraak, Vivica; Englund, Tessa; Misyak, Sarah; Serrano, Elena
2017-07-12
Consumption of restaurant food and beverage products high in fat, sugar and sodium contribute to obesity and non-communicable diseases. We evaluated restaurant-sector progress to promote healthy food environments for Americans. We conducted a desk review of seven electronic databases (January 2006-January 2017) to examine restaurant strategies used to promote healthful options in the United States (U.S.). Evidence selection ( n = 84) was guided by the LEAD principles (i.e., locate, evaluate, and assemble evidence to inform decisions) and verified by data and investigator triangulation. A marketing-mix and choice-architecture framework was used to examine eight voluntary strategies (i.e., place, profile, portion, pricing, promotion, healthy default picks, priming or prompting and proximity) to evaluate progress (i.e., no, limited, some or extensive) toward 12 performance metrics based on available published evidence. The U.S. restaurant sector has made limited progress to use pricing, profile (reformulation), healthy default picks (choices), promotion (responsible marketing) and priming and prompting (information and labeling); and some progress to reduce portions. No evidence was available to assess progress for place (ambience) and proximity (positioning) to promote healthy choices during the 10-year review period. Chain and non-chain restaurants can apply comprehensive marketing-mix and nudge strategies to promote healthy food environments for customers.
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SUPRANOWO
2017-01-01
This research aims to understand and analyse the influence of working environment conditions and career development towards the improvement of employees’ working motivation. This research is conducted at the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Ltd. Tulungagung Jawa Timur Office Branch. The sample amount counted by census technique and acquired 91 responses. The sampling method used was census technique. The data collection instrument is a questionnaire which is analysed by path analysis. Findings...
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Zhang, Li-feng; You, Li-ming; Liu, Ke; Zheng, Jing; Fang, Jin-bo; Lu, Min-min; Lv, Ai-li; Ma, Wei-guang; Wang, Jian; Wang, Shu-hong; Wu, Xue; Zhu, Xiao-wen; Bu, Xiu-qing
2014-01-01
The purpose of this study was to describe nurse burnout, job satisfaction, and intention to leave, and to explore the relationship of work environment to nurse outcomes in a sample of 9,698 nurses from 181 hospitals in China. Nurses reported moderate levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and high levels of reduced personal accomplishment. Nearly one fifth of the nurses reported high levels of burnout on all three dimensions. Forty-five percent of the nurses were dissatisfied with their current job; these nurses were most dissatisfied with their salary. Five percent of nurses reported intention to leave. Nurses reporting mixed and good work environments were less likely to report high burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave compared with those in poor work environments. The results suggest that high burnout and low job satisfaction are prominent problems for Chinese nurses, and improving work environment might be an effective strategy for better nurse outcomes in Chinese hospitals. PMID:24345617
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Zhang, Li-Feng; You, Li-Ming; Liu, Ke; Zheng, Jing; Fang, Jin-Bo; Lu, Min-Min; Lv, Ai-Li; Ma, Wei-Guang; Wang, Jian; Wang, Shu-Hong; Wu, Xue; Zhu, Xiao-Wen; Bu, Xiu-Qing
2014-01-01
The purpose of this study was to describe nurse burnout, job satisfaction, and intention to leave and to explore the relationship of work environment to nursing outcomes in a sample of 9,698 nurses from 181 hospitals in China. Nurses reported moderate levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and high levels of reduced personal accomplishment. Nearly one-fifth of the nurses reported high levels of burnout on all three dimensions. Forty-five percent of the nurses were dissatisfied with their current job; these nurses were most dissatisfied with their salary. Five percent of nurses reported an intention to leave. Nurses reporting mixed and good work environments were less likely to report high burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave compared with those in poor work environments. The results suggest that high burnout and low job satisfaction are prominent problems for Chinese nurses, and improving work environment might be an effective strategy for better nursing outcomes in Chinese hospitals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Impact of nurse work environment and staffing on hospital nurse and quality of care in Thailand.
Nantsupawat, Apiradee; Srisuphan, Wichit; Kunaviktikul, Wipada; Wichaikhum, Orn-Anong; Aungsuroch, Yupin; Aiken, Linda H
2011-12-01
To determine the impact of nurse work environment and staffing on nurse outcomes, including job satisfaction and burnout, and on quality of nursing care. Secondary data analysis of the 2007 Thai Nurse Survey. The sample consisted of 5,247 nurses who provided direct care for patients across 39 public hospitals in Thailand. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the impact of nurse work environment and staffing on nurse outcomes and quality of care. Nurses cared for an average of 10 patients each. Forty-one percent of nurses had a high burnout score as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory; 28% of nurses were dissatisfied with their job; and 27% rated quality of nursing care as fair or poor. At the hospital level, after controlling for nurse characteristics (age, years in unit), the addition of each patient to a nurse's workload was associated with a 2% increase in the odds on nurses reporting high emotional exhaustion (odds ratio [OR] 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00-1.03; p work environments were about 30% less likely to report fair to poor care quality (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.48-0.98; p work environments. The addition of each patient to a nurse's workload was associated with a 4% increase in the odds on nurses reporting quality of nursing care as fair or poor (OR 1.04; 95% CI 1.02-1.05; p work environments and nurse staffing in Thai hospitals holds promise for reducing nurse burnout, thus improving nurse retention at the hospital bedside as well as potentially improving the quality of care. Nurses should work with management and policymakers to achieve safe staffing levels and good work environments in hospitals throughout the world. © 2011 Sigma Theta Tau International.
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Work Environment and Workplace Bullying among Korean Intensive Care Unit Nurses
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Seonyoung Yun, MSN, RN
2014-09-01
Conclusion: These findings indicate that the better the nursing work environment, the less workplace bullying nurses will experience. Further research needs to be done to identify factors that influence bullying in the nurses and to develop an intervention that prevents workplace bullying.
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Influence of the residential and work environment on car use in dual-earner households
Maat, K.; Timmermans, H.J.P.
2009-01-01
This paper analyses whether the decision to commute by car is influenced by built environment characteristics of residential neighbourhoods and, more especially, of work locations, taking into account interdependencies between household partners. It shows that the residential environment only
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Lin, Chiou-Fen; Lu, Meei-Shiow; Huang, Hsiu-Ying
2016-03-01
The nursing shortage in medical institutions in Taiwan averaged 9% in 2012, considerably higher than the 5% indicated in the literature. As a result, many hospitals have been forced to close wards or reduce beds. Despite the acute need, the percentage of registered nurses who are employed as nurses in Taiwan (60.4%) is considerably lower than those in Canada or the United States. This low rate may be because of the poor working environment for nurses in Taiwan. This study aimed to develop a set of nursing work environment quality indicators for Taiwan and to test the reliability and validity of the resulting survey tool. Multiple methods were used in this study. In Phase 1, we organized an expert panel, reviewed the literature, and conducted seven rounds of expert panel discussion and six focus group discussions with nursing directors. The goal was to draft indicators representing a quality nursing work environment to fit current conditions in Taiwan. In Phase 2, we conducted an expert review for content validity, held three public hearings, and conducted a survey. Four hundred twenty-seven questionnaires were sent out, with 381 returned. The goal was to test the content validity, construct validity, and internal consistency reliability. The study produced a set of indicators of a quality nursing work environment with eight dimensions and 65 items. The content validity index for importance and suitability dimensions were 1.0, whereas the internal consistency was 0.91. The eight dimensions were safe practice environment (16 items), quality and quantity of staff (four items), salary and welfare (seven items), professional specialization and teamwork (seven items), work simplification (five items), informatics (five items), career development (nine items), and support and caring (12 items). The overall load for the indicators was 77.57%. The developed indicators may be used to evaluate the quality of nursing work environments. Furthermore, the indicators may be used
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Leadership strategies for a multicultural work environment in hotels in Helsinki
Fredriksson, Anna
2013-01-01
This research focuses on determining what kind of leadership strategies are used in hotels in Helsinki for managing a multicultural work environment. Do the hotels have multicultural leadership strategies on the management level or can some kind of overall strategy be found only at the corporate level? Also, this thesis examines how the strategies are implemented in the everyday work. Furthermore, do the managers think there is need for a more precise multicultural management strategy in orde...
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Fielding, J; Weaver, S M
1994-06-01
This study compares hospital- (n = 67) and community-based (n = 55) mental health nurses in relation to their perceptions of the work environment and also their psychological health. Measures include: the General Health Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Work Environment Scale. The data, obtained from self-returned questionnaires, show that community nurses rated their work environments higher for the dimensions of Involvement, Supervisor Support, Autonomy, Innovation and Work Pressure. Hospital nurses saw their environments as being higher in (managerial) Control. There were no differences between the groups for the dimensions of Peer Cohesion, Task Orientation, Clarity or (physical) Comfort. Furthermore, there were no overall differences between the two groups in relation to psychological health, although the pattern of factors associated with emotional well-being differed. Finally, analyses of the community data revealed that those nurses with 'flexitime' arrangements evaluated their work environments less positively and showed higher levels of psychological strain than did those working 'fixed-time' schedules. The findings suggest that the hospital and community environments make different demands on nursing staff, and that this should be considered when organizing nursing services if stress is to be avoided.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Guldborg Hansen, Pelle; Skov, Laurits Rohden; Lund Skov, Katrine
2016-01-01
. However, integration and testing of the nudge approach as part of more comprehensive public health strategies aimed at making healthy choices easier is being threatened by inadequate understandings of its scientific character, relationship with regulation and its ethical implications. This article reviews...... working with or incorporating the nudge approach into programs or policies aimed at making healthy choices easier...
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Employees' perceptions of the impact of work on health behaviours.
Payne, Nicola; Jones, Fiona; Harris, Peter R
2013-07-01
Research examining the impact of work on health behaviours has rarely provided a complete picture of the impact across health behaviours. Twenty-four employees were interviewed about their smoking, drinking, exercise and eating. Themes included the impact of the work environment, including policy, convenience and workplace cultural norms; business events effecting one's routine and again convenience and workplace cultural norms; being busy at work effecting time and energy for healthy behaviour; and work stress leading to health behaviours being used as coping responses on bad and good days. The impact of work is similar across health behaviours and is primarily detrimental.
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IGSCC in cold worked austenitic stainless steel in BWR environment
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Persson, B.; Lindblad, B.
1989-09-01
The survey shows that austenitic stainless steels in a cold worked condition can exhibit IGSCC in BWR environment. It is also found that IGSCC often is initiated as a transgranular crack. Local stresses and surface defects very often acts as starting points for IGSCC. IGSCC due to cold working requires a cold working magnitude of at leas 5%. During cold working a formation of mechanical martensite can take place. The transgranular corrosion occurs in the martensitic phase due to sensitation. The crack propagates integranularly due to anodic solvation of α'-martensite. Sensitation of the martensitic phase is fasten in BCC-structures than in a FCC-structures mainly due to faster diffusion of chromium and carbon which cause precipitation of chromium carbides. Experiments show that a carbon content as low as 0.008% is enough for the formation of 68% martensite and for sensitation. Hydrogen induced cracking is regarded as a mechanism which can accelerate IGSCC. Such cracking requires a hydrostatic stress near the crack tip. Since the oxide in the crack tip is relatively impermeable to hydrogen, cracks in the oxide layer are required for such embrittlement. Hydrogen induced embrittlement of the martensitic phase, at the crack tip, can cause crack propagation. Solution heat treated unstabilized stainless steels are regarded to have a good resistance to IGSCC if they have not undergone cold working. In general, though, Mo-alloyed steels have a better resistance to IGSCC in BWR environment. Regarding the causes for IGSCC, the present literature survey shows that many mechanisms are suggested. To provide a safer ground for the estimation of crack propagation rates, SA recommends SKI to finance a project with the aim to determine the crack propagation rate on proper material. (authors) (65 refs.)
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Tuvesson, Hanna; Wann-Hansson, Christine; Eklund, Mona
2011-06-16
The nursing staff working in psychiatric care have a demanding work situation, which may be reflected in how they view their psychosocial work environment and the ward atmosphere. The aims of the present study were to investigate in what way different aspects of the ward atmosphere were related to the psychosocial work environment, as perceived by nursing staff working in psychiatric in-patient care, and possible differences between nurses and nurse assistants. 93 nursing staff working at 12 general psychiatric in-patient wards in Sweden completed two questionnaires, the Ward Atmosphere Scale and the QPSNordic 34+. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman rank correlations and forward stepwise conditional logistic regression analyses. The data revealed that there were no differences between nurses and nurse assistants concerning perceptions of the psychosocial work environment and the ward atmosphere. The ward atmosphere subscales Personal Problem Orientation and Program Clarity were associated with a psychosocial work environment characterized by Empowering Leadership. Program Clarity was related to the staff's perceived Role Clarity, and Practical Orientation and Order and Organization were positively related to staff perceptions of the Organizational Climate. The results from the present study indicate that several ward atmosphere subscales were related to the nursing staff's perceptions of the psychosocial work environment in terms of Empowering Leadership, Role Clarity and Organizational Climate. Improvements in the ward atmosphere could be another way to accomplish improvements in the working conditions of the staff, and such improvements would affect nurses and nurse assistants in similar ways.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Wann-Hansson Christine
2011-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The nursing staff working in psychiatric care have a demanding work situation, which may be reflected in how they view their psychosocial work environment and the ward atmosphere. The aims of the present study were to investigate in what way different aspects of the ward atmosphere were related to the psychosocial work environment, as perceived by nursing staff working in psychiatric in-patient care, and possible differences between nurses and nurse assistants. Methods 93 nursing staff working at 12 general psychiatric in-patient wards in Sweden completed two questionnaires, the Ward Atmosphere Scale and the QPSNordic 34+. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman rank correlations and forward stepwise conditional logistic regression analyses. Results The data revealed that there were no differences between nurses and nurse assistants concerning perceptions of the psychosocial work environment and the ward atmosphere. The ward atmosphere subscales Personal Problem Orientation and Program Clarity were associated with a psychosocial work environment characterized by Empowering Leadership. Program Clarity was related to the staff's perceived Role Clarity, and Practical Orientation and Order and Organization were positively related to staff perceptions of the Organizational Climate. Conclusions The results from the present study indicate that several ward atmosphere subscales were related to the nursing staff's perceptions of the psychosocial work environment in terms of Empowering Leadership, Role Clarity and Organizational Climate. Improvements in the ward atmosphere could be another way to accomplish improvements in the working conditions of the staff, and such improvements would affect nurses and nurse assistants in similar ways.
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Gabbard, Ryan; Fendley, Mary; Dar, Irfaan A; Warren, Rik; Kashou, Nasser H
2017-10-01
Occupational noise frequently occurs in the work environment in military intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. This impacts cognitive performance by acting as a stressor, potentially interfering with the analysts' decision-making process. We investigated the effects of different noise stimuli on analysts' performance and workload in anomaly detection by simulating a noisy work environment. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to quantify oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), as well as behavioral measures, which include eye tracking, reaction time, and accuracy rate. We hypothesized that noisy environments would have a negative effect on the participant in terms of anomaly detection performance due to the increase in workload, which would be reflected by an increase in PFC activity. We found that HbO for some of the channels analyzed were significantly different across noise types ([Formula: see text]). Our results also indicated that HbO activation for short-intermittent noise stimuli was greater in the PFC compared to long-intermittent noises. These approaches using fNIRS in conjunction with an understanding of the impact on human analysts in anomaly detection could potentially lead to better performance by optimizing work environments.
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Enhanced evaluation data initiates a collaborative out-of-school time food sponsors work group.
Rifkin, Robin; Williams, Lauren A; Grode, Gabrielle M; Roberts-Johnson, Wendy-Anne
2015-01-01
Philadelphia's Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Out-of-School Time (OST) Initiative led by the Health Promotion Council developed 10 Healthy Living Guidelines for Out-of-School Time Programs to support a healthy environment for Philadelphia youth in 200 OST programs. Health Promotion Council participated in an enhanced cross-site evaluation with the national Robert Wood Johnson Foundation evaluator during the final year of funding to learn more about food and nutrition in the OST setting, and to share data and engage the OST food providers. A plate waste study measured the quantity and nutrition composition of meals served to youth compared to food not eaten. Staff interviews measured program adherence to the Healthy Living Guidelines, along with other facets of the food environment in 7 Philadelphia OST programs. Online surveys were sent to OST programs. Food providers (sponsors) were interviewed using Appreciative Inquiry methodology to gain insight into systems, goals, and common interests. Aggregated plate waste data from 7 observations showed an average of 42% of the food uneaten after meal/snack consumption, and high sodium content of the meals. Twenty-nine staff at OST programs completed the online survey, and 3 food sponsors were interviewed. Recommendations to improve the food included increasing variety, offering more salads, fruits and vegetables, and culturally appropriate foods. Food sponsor interviews showed a variety of meal production, distribution, service and training systems, and an interest in working together. The food sponsors met to review the data and prioritized common goals. They continue to work together to improve systems and meals for food service. A food sponsors work group formed and continues as a result of sharing enhanced cross-site data about food in OST settings. Food sponsors continue to work together to improve systems and nutritional offerings for Philadelphia OST programs.
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The Different Facets of Work Stress: A Latent Profile Analysis of Nurses' Work Demands.
Jenull, Brigitte B; Wiedermann, Wolfgang
2015-10-01
Work-related stress has been identified as a relevant problem leading to negative effects on health and quality of life. Using data from 844 nurses, latent profile analyses (LPA) were applied to identify distinct patterns of work stress. Several sociodemographic variables, including nurses' working and living conditions, as well as nurses' reactions to workload, were considered to predict respondents' profile membership. LPA revealed three distinct profiles that can be distinguished by a low, moderate, and higher stress level. Being financially secure is positively related to the low stress profile, whereas working in an urban area and having low job satisfaction increases the chance of belonging to the higher stress profile. Our results can be used as a basis to develop interventions to create a healthy nursing home environment by supporting the balance between family and work, providing access to job resources and optimizing recovery opportunities. © The Author(s) 2013.
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DEVELOPMENT OF CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS OF NEW PODOLOGISTS FOR WORK IN A MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mārīte Saulīte
2017-07-01
Full Text Available Because of the effects of globalization and because of the changes in social-political situation in world, the multicultural environment in Latvia is also changing. Latvia is becoming more and more attractive for foreign citizens from Europeand the same for citizens from elsewhere, that choose to settle here permanently or only for a period of time. That is a considerable challenge for education and healthcare. Workers in field of medicine, and also podology must guide their professional carreer development to the changing multicultural environment. That is why needs of young specialists are also changing , with knowledge, skills and competencies necessary in their profession, specialists must develop creativity and critical thinking, insight of values and culture, humanism and citizenship, decision-making and problem- solving skills as well as entrepreneurial abilities and communication skills. In the process of prepearing new podologists for work in a multicultural environment development of those personal attributes that are made of tact and diplomacy, as well as development of basic skill sets that include learning skill and skill to make compromises, career management skill set development as characterized by ability to collaborate , ability to notice changes in working environment and ability to give support become more important. The goal of this article is to describe, theoretically and empirically, the development of necessary carreer management skills for work in multicultural environment to new podologists
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Kim, Kyoung-Ja; Yoo, Moon Sook; Seo, Eun Ji
2018-04-20
This study aimed to explore the influence of nurse work environment and patient safety culture in hospital on instances of missed nursing care in South Korea. A cross-sectional design was used, in which a structured questionnaire was administered to 186 nurses working at a tertiary university hospital. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test or ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. Missed nursing care was found to be correlated with clinical career, nursing work environment and patient safety culture. The regression model explained approximately 30.3 % of missed nursing care. Meanwhile, staffing and resource adequacy (β = -.31, p = .001), nurse manager ability, leadership and support of nurses (β = -.26, p = .004), clinical career (β = -.21, p = .004), and perception on patient safety culture within unit (β = -.19, p = .041) were determined to be influencing factors on missed nursing care. This study has significance as it suggested that missed nursing care is affected by work environment factors within unit. This means that missed nursing care is a unit outcome affected by nurse work environment factors and patient safety culture. Therefore, missed nursing care can be managed through the implementation of interventions that promote a positive nursing work environment and patient safety culture. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Workplace Violence and Components of a Psychologically Healthy Workplace.
Hart, Rod; Heybrock, Denise
2017-01-01
As episodes of workplace-centered violence have increased in the United States, a focus on emotional and mental health matters is more essential than ever. It is imperative for organizations to be proactive about violence prevention and have a plan that is supported by top management and understood by all managers and employees. Employers can take a number of steps in collaboration with a comprehensive violence prevention plan to promote a supportive and safe work environment. This article addresses workplace violence, risk factors and the components of a violence prevention plan as well as the importance of building a psychologically healthy workplace.