Employee burnout and positive dimensions of well-being: A latent workplace spirituality profile analysis

A pathway to greater meaning in life and well-being for senior executives beset by anti-meaning

Introduction

Although work is a significant source of meaning for most people, the role of senior executive generates different meaning and well-being complexities than those experienced or faced by general employees. This study explored how meaning and anti-meaning components affect senior executives' experiences of meaning in life and well-being. The findings enabled devising a pathway to enhance senior executives' net experiences of meaning in life and well-being.

Methods

A cross-sectional, semi-structured interview study design was used to gather rich qualitative data. Eight participants from southern and eastern Africa, who had held the position of chief executive officer or managing director for at least five years, were interviewed.

Results

The findings demonstrated that senior executives' work roles provide a significant source of meaning. However, the roles are accompanied by unavoidable anti-meanings, which are likely to generate additional anti-meanings if not tempered sufficiently, thus reducing the net meaning experienced.

Discussion

From the findings, a practical pathway was devised to assist top executives to deal with the bipolar relationship between meaning and anti-meaning. Consulting and counseling practitioners can utilize the pathway to guide, support, and counsel senior executives towards improved meaning, temper anti-meaning and improve well-being.

Development of a scale for capturing psychological aspects of physical-digital integration: relationships with psychosocial functioning and facial emotion recognition

The present work aims at developing a scale for the assessment of a construct that we called "physical-digital integration", which refers to the tendency of some individuals not to perceive a clear differentiation between feelings and perceptions that pertain to the physical or digital environment. The construct is articulated in four facets: identity, social relationships, time-space perception, and sensory perception. Data from a sample of 369 participants were collected to evaluate factor structure (unidimensional model, bifactor model, correlated four-factor model), internal consistency (Cronbach's α, McDonald's ω), and correlations of the physical-digital integration scale with other measures. Results showed that the scale is valid and internally consistent, and that both the total score and the scores at its four subscales are worthy of consideration. The physical-digital integration scores were found to be differently associated with digital and non-digital behaviors, individuals' ability to read emotions in the facial expressions of others, and indicators of psychosocial functioning (anxiety, depression, and satisfaction with social relationships). The paper proposes a new measure whose scores are associated with several variables that may have relevant consequences at both individual and social levels.

Assessing how Spirituality Affects Resiliency in the Pediatric Healthcare Practitioner

A literature review was conducted to examine the role of spirituality with resiliency in the pediatric workplace. Two themes emerged from the literature review: healthcare practitioners desire to have a sense of belonging at work and the utilization of chaplains is helpful. This study aims to discover how practitioners experience spiritual health in the workplace and identify interventions that enhance resiliency with the challenges of pediatrics. Implications from this study are applied to chaplaincy and research.

Relationship between workplace bullying, spirituality, and job burnout in paediatric nurses: A cross-sectional study

AIMS

To investigate the relationships and pathways between workplace bullying, workplace spirituality, and job burnout in Chinese paediatric nurses.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted with paediatric nurses from six tertiary hospitals in Hubei Province, China.

METHODS

The study consisted of 402 paediatric nurses. The data were collected using a sociodemographic data questionnaire, Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and Workplace Spirituality Scale. The model was tested using path analysis techniques within structural equation modelling.

RESULTS

Workplace bullying had positive and direct effects on the job burnout of paediatric nurses. Workplace spirituality partially mediated the relationship between workplace bullying and burnout.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Workplace spirituality may reduce the incidence of work bullying and job burnout in paediatric nurses. Nursing managers need to consider and cultivate the workplace spirituality of paediatric nurses, with the aim of creating a healthy working environment and ensuring the stability of the nursing team.

Association Among Workplace Spirituality, Spiritual Well-Being, and Spiritual Care in Practice With Multiple Mediators for Clinical Nurses

BACKGROUND

Spiritual care helps individuals encounter the transcendent meaning of their crises. However, nurses report various barriers to providing spiritual care in clinical settings. To facilitate spiritual care among nurses, a more comprehensive understanding of this field is needed. This study was conducted to establish a path model for multiple factors predicting spiritual care among nurses working in hospitals.

METHOD

A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. The participants were 370 nurses with more than 6 months of experience working in general hospitals in South Korea. The measures used in this study were nursing workplace spirituality, a spiritual well-being scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel, a scale for compassionate care, a general self-efficacy scale, and spiritual care in practice. Path analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 24.0, and SPSS Amos, version 20.0.

RESULTS

Workplace spirituality and spiritual well-being predicted higher spiritual care in practice by sequentially mediating burnout and compassionate care.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that nurses' spiritual care can be increased via the development of specific strategies focused on enhancing the nursing work-place spirituality of hospital organizations, promoting individual spiritual well-being and compassionate behavior, and reducing burnout among nurses. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(2):89-96.].

Managing healthcare employees' burnout through micro aspects of corporate social responsibility: A public health perspective

Background

Globally, an increasing number of healthcare workers (HCW) suffer from the issue of burnout (BO) annually. The critical issue of BO undermines the capacity of HCW to deliver superior healthcare services on the one end, it negatively affects the mental health of HCW on the other hand. Although HCW in developed and developing countries face the risk of BO, however, this issue is more critical in developing countries due to poor infrastructure, resources and social inequalities. The BO syndrome has recently been recognized as a public health concern, and new approaches are required to manage this epic, especially in healthcare management, effectively. In this respect, past research recognizes the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in influencing employee outcomes. Especially the micro aspects of CSR (MCSR) have recently received growing attention from academicians and practitioners. However, most existing MCSR investigations relate to the positive aspects of individual psychology, leaving the terrain unattended on how MCSR can help employees in reducing negative work outcomes for example, BO. To close this critical gap, the basic aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between MCSR and BO. Further, to understand the underlying mechanism of how and why MCSR may reduce employees' BO, this study introduces two mediators, work engagement (WE) and intrinsic motivation (IM) and one moderator, compassion at work (CW).

Method

The data for the current study were gathered randomly from HCW serving in different hospitals of a developing country. Specifically, we collected the data in three separate waves. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument by following a paper-pencil methodology. The response rate in this study remained close to 64%. Both male and female HCW participated in this study. We validated the hypothesized relationships with the help of structural equation modeling in AMOS software.

Results

The results confirmed that MCSR negatively predicts BO, and WE and IM mediated this relationship. Moreover, the moderating effect of CW was also confirmed.

Conclusion

The findings of this study help healthcare administrators to mitigate the epic of BO among HCW by carefully planning and executing MCSR policies.

From Corporate Social Responsibility to Employee Well-Being: Navigating the Pathway to Sustainable Healthcare

Purpose

Despite extensive research on the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employee outcomes, only limited research has been conducted to investigate the impact of CSR on healthcare employees' burnout (BUO). Additionally, the underlying mechanism by which CSR may reduce BUO has not been fully understood. In order to fill these gaps, we explored the relationship between CSR and BUO, as well as the possible mediating effects of subjective wellbeing (SW) and compassion (CM). Also, employee admiration (AM) was examined as a moderating factor.

Methods

The study utilized a questionnaire to collect data, which was distributed using the paper-pencil method. A total of 335 healthcare employees, including nurses, doctors, paramedics, and general administration, participated in the study. Specifically, we focused on the healthcare segment of Pakistan. A survey was conducted to assess participants' perceptions of CSR practices, BUO, AM, SW, and CM within their organizations. The questionnaire consisted of several standardized scales validated in previous research.

Results

We investigated the relationship between CSR and BUO using the AMOS software. BUO was negatively associated with CSR, suggesting that organizations with strong CSR practices may be able to reduce employee burnout. Moreover, the relationship between CSR and BUO was mediated by both subjective wellbeing (SW) and compassion (CM), revealing how CSR may impact employee burnout. Furthermore, we found that employee admiration (AM) buffered the relationship between CSR and BUO.

Findings

BUO is a growing concern among healthcare professionals and has the potential to negatively impact the quality of patient care, staff morale, and, ultimately, the success of healthcare organizations. BUO in healthcare settings can be effectively addressed by implementing CSR strategies. Effective CSR strategies should be implemented in a meaningful way to employees and provide them with opportunities to engage in activities that align with their values and interests.

Pastors in Prisons and Correctional Settings, Resilience, and the Propensity for Social Entrepreneurship: Comparing two Continuing Education Programs

This article reports a study on the impact of two continuing education programs for pastors working in prisons and correctional settings. Pastors who did the spirituality refresher training sessions reported greater resilience and social entrepreneurship inclinations posttest compared to those who did the expressive writing sessions. Male pastors, with a postgraduate degree and chaplaincy-focused training, prison pastors, ever-singles, pastors living in religious institutions/seminaries, and with higher intervention compliance, reported higher benefits from spirituality refresher training.

Reducing Healthcare Employees' Burnout through Ethical Leadership: The Role of Altruism and Motivation

Globally, employee burnout (EBO) is a black swan in healthcare management. Previous organizational management literature shows that EBO was often misunderstood by assuming it as a personal issue. However, the new definition by the World Health Organization (WHO) clearly indicates that EBO is an occupational phenomenon that places responsibility on organizations to manage it. Although recent evidence suggests ethical leadership (ELP) style may be important to mitigate EBO, shockingly, such relationships were not tested in healthcare systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Filling this knowledge gap in the existing body of knowledge, this study aimed to investigate the ELP-EBO relationship. To explain the underlying mechanism of how ELP reduces EBO, this study included two psychological factors as a mediator and a moderator: altruism (AL) and intrinsic motivation (IM). The data were obtained from hospital employees via a self-administered questionnaire (n = 289, paper-pencil method). A hypothetical framework was designed and tested for empirical validation through structural equation modeling (SEM). Empirical evidence confirmed that ELP reduces the risk of burnout among hospital employees, and AL mediates this relationship. The results also confirmed the conditional indirect role of IM in the above proposed mediated relationship. This study's outcomes can help hospital administration deal with EBO's epidemic in an ELP framework. Other, different implications have also been discussed in detail.

The Perceived Risk of Being Infected with COVID-19 at Work, Communication, and Employee Health: A Longitudinal Application of the Job Demands–Resources Model

The perceived risk of being infected at work (PRIW) with COVID-19 represents a potential risk factor for workers during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In line with the job demands–resources (JD-R) model in the context of safety at work, in this longitudinal study we propose that PRIW can be conceptualized as a job demand (JD), whereas communication (i.e., the exchange of good-quality information across team members) can be conceived of as a job resource (JR). Accordingly, we hypothesize that PRIW at Time 1 (T1) would positively predict psychophysical strain at Time 2 (i.e., four months later), and that communication at T1 would negatively predict psychophysical strain at T2. Overall, 297 workers participated in the study. The hypothesized relationships were tested using multiple regression analysis. The results support our predictions: PRIW positively predicted psychophysical strain over time, whereas communication negatively predicted psychophysical strain over time. The results did not change after controlling for age, gender, and type of contract. Overall, this study suggests that PRIW and communication might be conceived of as a risk and a protective factor for work-related stress, respectively. Hence, to promote more sustainable working conditions, interventions should help organizations to promote an adequate balance between JDs and JRs related to COVID-19.

The Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale and the Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief: The Italian Validation of Two Instruments for Meaning-Focused Assessments of Bereavement

Background: Bereavement is an inevitable event that can cause pain, discomfort, and negative consequences in daily life. Spirituality and religiosity can help people cope with loss and bereavement. Sometimes, however, the death of a loved one can challenge core religious beliefs and faith, which has been found to be a risk factor for prolonged mourning. Objectives: (1) Determine whether the Italian versions of the Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES) and Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief (ICSG) are valid in translation; (2) Evaluate the impact of socio-demographic variables on ISLES and ICSG dimensions; (3) Test whether Complicated Spiritual Grief mediates the relation between meaning reconstruction after loss and integration of the loss experience; (4) Test whether the representation of death as a form of passage or annihilation further moderated the relation between Complicated Spiritual Grief and integration of the loss. Methods: The sample is composed of 348 participants who had lost a loved person in the prior two years. Results: The ISLES and ICSG were validated in Italian and are more appropriately interpreted as having a unifactorial structure. A greater spiritual crisis was manifested in participants with less education, who did not actively participate in religious life, and who had lost a friend rather than a close relative. As hypothesised, spiritual struggle in grief mediated the role of continuing bonds, Emptiness and Meaninglessness, and Sense of Peace in predicting integration of the loss. Furthermore, death representation moderated the impact of spiritual grief on loss, such that those participants who viewed death as a form of annihilation rather than passage reported greater integration of the loss. Conclusion: The role of meaning making in integrating significant loss is partly accounted for by spiritual struggle in a way that can be analysed in Italian contexts through the use of these newly validated instruments.

The Caregiving System Scale

Abstract. According to attachment theory, the propensity of human beings to care for others is governed by an inborn caregiving behavioral system that aims to promote welfare and reduce the distress of other people through effective provision of care. However, some individuals may develop non-optimal caregiving strategies, such as anxious hyperactivation and avoidant deactivation. These two non-optimal caregiving strategies can be evaluated in adults using the Caregiving System Scale (CSS). Recent findings suggested that the factor structure of the instrument may be more complex than was intended. The present work examines in-depth the factor structure of the CSS to provide a clearer understanding of the underlying dimensions. Gender invariance and the contribution of attachment orientations to CSS scores are also examined. Findings reveal that, whereas the CSS-deactivation subscale is unidimensional, the CSS-hyperactivation subscale is better represented by two distinct yet related constructs – caregiving-related worries/doubts and intrusive/coercive caregiving. Partial strict gender invariance is supported. The contribution of attachment orientations to non-optimal caregiving strategies is consistent with theoretical expectations. Results and future research directions are discussed in the final section.

The perceived risk of being infected at work: An application of the job demands-resources model to workplace safety during the COVID-19 outbreak

Safety at work, both physical and psychological, plays a central role for workers and organizations during the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19. Building on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model applied to safety at work, in this study we proposed that the perceived risk of being infected with COVID-19 at work can be conceptualized as a job demand (i.e., a risk factor for work-related stress), whereas those characteristics of the job (physical and psychosocial) that help workers to reduce or manage this risk can be conceived as job resources (i.e., protective factors). We hypothesized that the perceived risk of being infected at work is positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, we hypothesized that job resources, in terms of safety systems, communication, decision-making, situational awareness, fatigue management, and participation in decision-making, are negatively associated with emotional exhaustion. We also hypothesized that job resources buffer the association between perceived risk and emotional exhaustion. Overall, 358 workers (meanage = 36.3±12.2 years) completed a self-report questionnaire, and the hypothesized relationships were tested using moderated multiple regression. Results largely supported our predictions. The perceived risk of being infected at work was positively associated with emotional exhaustion, whereas all the job resources were negatively associated with it. Furthermore, safety systems, communication, decision-making, and participation in decision-making buffered the relationship between the perceived risk of being infected at work and emotional exhaustion. In a perspective of prevention and health promotion, this study suggested that organizations should reduce the potential risk of being infected at work, whenever possible. At same time, those characteristics of the job that can help workers to reduce or manage the risk of infection should be strengthened.