Building capacity in the healthcare sector: A strengths-based approach for increasing employees' well-being and organisational resilience

Predictors of Perceived Healthcare Professionals' Well-Being in Work Design: A Cross-Sectional Study with Multigroup PLS Structural Equation Modeling

The growing attention paid to employee well-being in the healthcare system, along with the reinforcement of factors that drive change in the work environment, provides a strong foundation for studying the relationship between work design and its related outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the elements of work design and the overall well-being of healthcare professionals, particularly the differences across multiple groups of various genders and age brackets. A cross-sectional study design was employed, and a convenience sampling method was used. The study participants were healthcare professionals, and a total of 427 valid surveys were collected. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was deployed to test the relationship between the determinants of work design and the perceived well-being of healthcare professionals. The results indicate a strong positive relationship between the social characteristics of work and overall well-being, as well as a positive contribution of the work context to the perceived well-being of healthcare professionals. The findings validated that knowledge characteristics had no beneficial impacts on overall well-being; nor did the task characteristics of work design. Although the mentioned associations failed to demonstrate statistical significance, the results nonetheless have significant practical consequences that are comparable to those of the relationships that demonstrated statistical significance.

Self-efficacy, grit, and rural career aspirations among early career nurses: a repeated cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Global nursing workforce shortage represents an impediment to the delivery of safe, evidence-based healthcare. Despite collective efforts, a consistent stream of nurses leaving the profession remains, particularly within the first five years of practice, which is exacerbated in rural communities. The aim of the study was to compare self-efficacy, grit, and rural career aspirations among nursing graduates between their second and fourth year of their nursing profession.

METHODS

As part of a longitudinal investigation, a repeated cross-sectional design was utilised. Participants included, 117 (response rate 52.2%) who completed an online questionnaire 18-24 months after graduating, and 32 participants (response rate of 21.0%) who agree to repeat the questionnaire 36-48 months after graduating. The questionnaire included demographic, employment, and measures examining general and occupational self-efficacy, grit, and rural career aspirations.

RESULTS

No differences between general and occupational self-efficacy or grit were identified between second- and fourth-year nurses. In addition, the importance placed on undertaking rural career also remains unchanged. However, a higher proportion of fourth year nurses were more likely to be in management or were considering leaving the profession.

CONCLUSIONS

This examination of early career nurses, now in their second and fourth-year post-graduation highlights self-efficacy, grit, and rural career aspirations remains stable between two- and four-years following graduation, while nursing in their fourth year were more likely to consider leaving the profession. Nursing retention is a 'Wicked Problem' that is unavoidably a complex amalgam of macro, meso and micro factors that we are yet to fully appreciate.

A management perspective on resilience in healthcare: a framework and avenues for future research

Recent major health shocks, such as the 2014-16 Ebola, the Zika outbreak, and, last but not least, the COVID-19 pandemic, have strongly contributed to drawing attention to the issue of resilience in the healthcare domain. Nevertheless, the scientific literature appears fragmented, creating difficulties in developing incremental research in this relevant managerial field.To fill this gap, this systematic literature review aims to provide a clear state of the art of the literature dealing with resilience in healthcare. Specifically, from the analysis of the theoretical articles and reviews, the key dimensions of resilience are identified, and a novel classification framework is proposed. The classification framework is then used to systematize extant empirical contributions. Two main dimensions of resilience are identified: the approach to resilience (reactive vs. proactive) and the type of crisis to deal with (acute shocks vs. chronic stressors). Four main streams of research are thus identified: (i) proactive approaches to acute shocks; (ii) proactive approaches to chronic stressors; (iii) reactive approaches to acute shocks; and (iv) reactive approaches to chronic stressors. These are scrutinised considering three additional dimensions: the level of analysis, the resources to nurture resilience, and the country context. The classification framework and the associated mapping contribute to systematising the fragmented literature on resilience in healthcare, providing a clear picture of the state of the art in this field and drawing a research agenda that opens interesting paths for future research.

Influence mechanism and impacting boundary of workplace isolation on the employee's negative behaviors

Introduction

Based on social identity theory, by introducing organizational identification as mediating variable and identification orientation as moderating variable, this paper studies the influence mechanism and impacting boundary of workplace isolation on employee fatigue and turnover intention.

Methods

Based on logic relationship, seven basic hypotheses are put forward to construct the theoretical model of the problem. Based on the 300 effective questionnaires being obtained from employees in Mainland China, the empirical investigation adopts the three-phase lag time design. By regression analysis and bootstrap test.

Results

(1) Workplace isolation has a significant positive effect on employee's work fatigue; (2) Workplace isolation has a significant positive effect on employee's turnover intention; (3) Organizational identification plays a partial mediating role between workplace isolation and work fatigue; (4) Organizational identification plays a partial mediating role between workplace isolation and employee's turnover intention; (5) Employee identification orientation negatively moderates the relationship between workplace isolation and organizational identification, that is to say, the higher the degree of identification orientation, the more inhibited the negative impact of workplace isolation on organizational identification; (6) Employee identification orientation has a negative moderating effect, namely, compared with the low degree of employee identification orientation, the higher the employee identification orientation, the positive effect of workplace isolation on work fatigue and turnover intention through organizational identification become weaker.

Discussion

Understanding these influencing mechanisms will have a great influence on guiding managers to mitigate the negative effects of “workplace isolation” in practice and improve the work efficiency of employees.

Internal locus of control buffers the impact of daily stressors on Australian Farmers' well‐being: A cross‐sectional study

OBJECTIVE

Farmers are prone to poor well-being and are at higher risks of suicide than the general population. The aim of this study was to understand whether the negative impact of daily stressors on Australian farmers' well-being could be buffered through a strong internal locus of control - a strong sense of control over what happens in life.

METHODS

Australian farmers self-reported their well-being, daily stress, and locus of control.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional via pen-and-paper survey.

SETTING

Participants completed the surveys at the beginning of agricultural management training courses.

PARTICIPANTS

Australian farmers (N = 129, M age = 39 ± 12 years, 54.7% male).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Internal and external locus of control, daily stress, and subjective well-being.

RESULTS

More daily stressors were associated to poorer well-being, regardless of external locus of control; however, farmers with a stronger internal locus of control were buffered from the negative impacts of daily stressors. That is, daily stressors were not significantly associated with well-being for farmers with a strong internal locus of control.

CONCLUSIONS

Internal locus of control may be a significant factor in supporting good well-being for farmers. Further research should investigate how to enhance internal locus of control amongst this population. It may be that interventions to enhance internal locus of control in farmers could improve their well-being and productivity, good outcomes for the individual farmers, and global society overall.

Measuring Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results: Psychometric Properties of the 12-Item SOAR Scale

Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results (SOAR) is a strengths-based framework for strategic thinking, planning, conversations, and leading that focuses on strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results. The SOAR framework leverages and integrates Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to create a transformation process through generative questions and positive framing. While SOAR has been used by practitioners since 2000 as a framework for generating positive organizational change, its use in empirical research has been limited by the absence of reliable and valid measures. We report on the reliability, construct validity, and measurement invariance of the SOAR Scale, a 12-item self-report survey organized into four first-order factors (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results). Data from a sample of 285 U.S. professionals were analyzed in Mplus using confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling. The Four-Factor first-order exploratory structure equation modeling (ESEM) had the best model fit. Measurement invariance tests found the scalar invariance of the SOAR Scale across gender and education groups. Implications are discussed for using the SOAR Scale to build resilience at the individual, the team, and the organizational levels.

Positive Participatory Organizational Interventions: A Multilevel Approach for Creating Healthy Workplaces

In the following perspective paper, we argue for the importance of conducting research on positive participatory organizational interventions. We propose that these types of interventions are important because they not only focus on eliminating or reducing adverse job demands but focus also on developing job resources. To achieve the best effects, actions should be taken to address demands and resources at the individual, group, leader and organizational levels. We furthermore suggest that the participatory intervention process itself may also build resources at these four levels.

Associations Between Resilience, Psychological Well-Being, Work-Related Stress and Covid-19 Fear in Forensic Healthcare Workers Using a Network Analysis

Forensic healthcare workers deal with patients with severe psychiatric and behavioral problems that put them at an increased risk of developing work-related stress and burnout. Working with this target group of patients during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic with far-reaching restrictive measures can negatively affect the psychological well-being of forensic workers. Research suggests that resilience can buffer workplace stress and contribute positively to psychological well-being. However, research on resilience, psychological well-being and work-related stress among forensic healthcare workers is still lacking. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the interrelations between psychological well-being and resilience on the one hand and work-related stress and Covid-19 fear-related symptoms on the other hand. Self-report data were obtained from 318 healthcare workers (73.9% women) working in three Forensic Psychiatric Centers (M age = 44.20, SD = 14.31) and are in direct contact with forensic patients. The data were analyzed using network analysis. Consistent with previous research, the results showed that workplace stress and fear associated with the Covid-19 pandemic can be detrimental to workers' psychological well-being, while resilience can serve as a protective factor against being personally attacked or threatened by patients at the workplace. Last but not least, we identified highly central symptoms, namely tremors due to the fear of the coronavirus and anxiety when other people coughing, which would be the best candidates for future treatment targets. This knowledge can help clinicians optimize interventions to reduce workplace stress and fear due to the pandemic. Future studies should aim to replicate our findings in a larger and more representative sample of forensic healthcare workers.