The Relationship between Emotional Labor and Job Stress among Hospital Workers

Effectiveness of mobile-based intervention Self-care for Pregnant Women at Work: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES

While the number of employed women has increased worldwide, they still have difficulties in practicing prenatal care at work. Previous studies have found that smartphone-based prenatal education has increased access to healthcare and contributed to improving pregnant women's health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile-based intervention-Self-care for Pregnant Women at Work (SPWW)-in enhancing the self-care practices of pregnant women who work.

METHODS

A randomized repeated measures design was used in the study. The 126 women were randomly assigned to either an intervention group that used the SPWW mobile application for 4 weeks or a control group that used an application that only had surveys. Both groups completed surveys at preintervention, week 2, and week 4 of their participation in the study. The primary study variables were work stress, pregnancy stress, fear of childbirth, pregnancy experience, and health practices in pregnancy.

RESULTS

A total of 116 participants' data (60 in the intervention group and 56 in the control group) were analyzed. Significant group-by-time interaction effects were noted for pregnancy stress, pregnancy hassles, and health practices in pregnancy. The effect size of the intervention was small to medium for pregnancy stress (d = -0.425), pregnancy uplifts (d = 0.333), pregnancy hassles (d = -0.599), and health practices in pregnancy (d = 0.490).

CONCLUSIONS

A mobile-based intervention using a comprehensive health application is effective in pregnant women at work. Developing educational content and methods targeted at this population would be helpful.

Factors Influencing Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged South Korean Workers by Job Type: A Population-Based Study

Depressive symptoms can be influenced by different factors, including job types. In this study, we identified factors that affect depressive symptoms among South Korean workers by job type using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Examined respondents were between 40 and 69 years (N = 9375). A complex sample linear regression analysis revealed various significant factors based on job type. For office workers, the number of household members, health-related quality of life, diabetes, sitting time, subjective health, and stress were significant influencing factors for depressive symptoms (explanatory power of 23.2%) (p < 0.001). For service workers, gender, health-related quality of life, food intake, aerobic exercise, sitting time, subjective health, and stress were significant influencing factors for depressive symptoms (explanatory power of 49.6%) (p < 0.001). For labor workers, gender, type of living, health-related quality of life, BMI, weight change, weight control, aerobic exercise, diabetes, subjective health, and stress were significant influencing factors for depressive symptoms (explanatory power of 35.8%) (p < 0.001). These differences highlight the need for customized programs targeted at each job type to maintain and promote mental health among workers.

Association of Depression With Susceptibility and Adaptation to Seasickness in the Military Seafarers

BACKGROUND

Although depression and motion sickness are prevalent in military personnel and seafarers, the association between depression and seasickness has been not yet elucidated. We aimed to evaluate the relationship of depression with initial susceptibility and adaptation to seasickness amongst military seafarers.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort enrolled Navy seafarers who started seafaring between 2017 and 2019. Three groups were established according to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score: no depression (BDI score of 0), minimal depression (BDI score 1-9), and mild-to-moderate depression (BDI score 10-29). The occurrence of seasickness requiring treatment was observed as the prescription of medication for the first 30 distant seafaring days. Considering adjustment period, the two different outcomes were defined. The susceptibility to seasickness was evaluated via at least one day suffered from seasickness requiring treatment during the early period (the first 5 seafaring days), and adaptation ability to seasickness was defined by more than 10% of the ratio, calculated days suffered from seasickness requiring treatment/days of seafaring during the late period (the 6-30th seafaring days). Binary logistic regression was further evaluated to estimate the odds of BDI groups and BDI score adjusted for age and workplace whether outside visual perception was possible.

RESULTS

Among the 185 recruits, 179 participants (97%) sailed for more than 5 days were included in the study. Of the participants, 36% was susceptible to seasickness in the early and 17% was poorly adapted to seasickness in the late period. Multivariable model revealed that mild-to-moderate depression had elevated risk of poor adaptation (odds ratio [OR], 4.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-16.98) whereas the results were not statistically significant for susceptibility to seasickness in the early period BDI score was independently associated with increased odds of poor adaptation (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.04-1.18).

CONCLUSION

The present study suggests that depression is associated with poor adaptation to seasickness in Navy seafarers. Depression screening tool might be helpful for providing preventable strategies for population at risk.

High Emotional Demands at Work and Poor Mental Health in Client-Facing Workers

This study investigated the association between emotional demands and depression or anxiety in a wide range of jobs. We used data from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (n = 50,032) for all occupational classifications, with no limitations placed on job title or employment type. Among the full set of regular paid workers in addition to self-employed, unpaid family workers, and informal employees such as independent contractors, 23,989 respondents worked with “customers, passengers, students, or patients” (i.e., clients). Emotional demands were evaluated using two questions: handling angry clients and needing to hide feelings for work performance. Any depression or anxiety over the last 12 months was taken to indicate poor mental health. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was performed to calculate adjusted ORs with 95% confidence intervals for the influence of emotional demands on mental health, adjusting for demographic factors (age, gender, education, income), occupational psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, weekly work hours and job insecurity. The prevalence of emotional demands was higher in self-employed and informal employees than in regular paid employees. The more frequent the exposure to the two emotional demands combined was, the higher the risk of depression or anxiety. High psychological demands, low social support, and low job security each further increased the risk of poor mental health. Emotional demands turned out to be widespread in the entire economy, were not limited to service or sales occupations, and were more evident in precarious work. The contribution of emotional demands and other preventable job stressors to the burden of depression or anxiety in society may be substantial.

Work-Related Stress, Health Status, and Status of Health Apps Use in Korean Adult Workers

Although health apps have been developed and utilized in many countries, there is no baseline study about what percentage of Korean workers use these types of health apps. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the work-related stress, health status, and utilization of health apps of Korean adult workers. This descriptive study included 95 adults in South Korea. Demographic variables, work-related stress, health status, and utilization of health apps were obtained using an online self-reported survey. Descriptive analyses were used to explore prevalence of each variable. This study found that almost 65% of the participants fell into the higher work-related stress group. About 41.6% of the participants in this sample evaluated their general health status as fair to poor with 26.8% being overweight to obese and 11.6% having hypertension. However, only about 33.7% of the sample have used health apps. Therefore, utilization of health apps as health and stress management tools should be encouraged at a public health level.

Emotional Labor and Burnout of Public Health Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Effects of Perceived Health Status and Perceived Organizational Support

The purpose of this study was to identify the mediating effects of perceived health status (PHS) and perceived organizational support (POS) in the association between emotional labor and burnout in public health nurses (PHNs). The participants were 207 PHNs convenience sampled from 30 public health centers and offices in Jeju, Korea. Data regarding emotional labor, PHS, POS, and burnout were collected between February and March 2021 using a structured questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Burnout of PHNs was positively correlated with emotional labor (r = 0.64, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with PHS (r = −0.51, p < 0.001) and POS (r = −0.51, p < 0.001). In the association between emotional labor and burnout, PHS (B = −1.36, p < 0.001) and POS (B = −0.42, p = 0.001) had a partial mediating effect. Reduction of burnout among PHNs requires not only effective management of emotional labor but also personal and organizational efforts to improve PHS and POS.

Surface-acting emotional labor predicts depressive symptoms among health care workers over a 2-year prospective study

OBJECTIVE

Surface-acting emotional labor (SaEL) is the requirement to hide or suppress felt emotions to achieve acceptable job performance. It is a common feature of jobs featuring interactions with the public, such as customers or patients. Resulting emotional inauthenticity is associated with psychological strain, but there have been few prospective studies of mental health outcomes.

METHODS

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in 24 skilled nursing facilities at baseline and 23 facilities 2 years later. Permanent full-time and part-time employees in all jobs were eligible to participate. Respondents in these analyses provided survey information on the frequency of SaEL at baseline and depressive symptoms on both occasions. Those without depression at baseline were deemed at risk. Multivariable logistic regression modeling estimated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for SaEL, other job features, and demographic characteristics.

RESULTS

A total of 939 eligible participants had no depression at baseline; 15% developed depressive symptoms. About two-thirds were direct care providers, including 38% nursing and medical assistants. Adjusted for potential confounders, workers with intermediate and high SaEL had a higher risk (aORs around 2). Symptom onset was also predicted by high work-family conflict, younger age and low decision latitude at work.

CONCLUSIONS

In this prospective study of long-term care workers, those who reported experiencing high SaEL at the time of the baseline survey were at higher risk of developing depressive symptoms 2 years later. Both exposure and outcome could have suffered some misclassification. Future studies should examine a broader range of strategies for coping with emotional labor demands.

Effects of Emotional Labor Factors and Working Environment on the Risk of Depression in Pink-Collar Workers

Analyzing men and women separately, we examined the associations between six key elements of the psychosocial work environment of pink-collar workers (n = 7633) and the risk of depression, using logistic regression analysis with data from the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) conducted in 2017. We assessed the risk of depression according to the presence of emotional display rules (EDR), health and safety information (HSI), and emotional labor. In males, the risk of depression increased when there were no EDR and they had to interact with angry customers (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.14–3.30). For women, the risk of depression increased if they had to interact with angry customers and EDR were present (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.00–3.00), and if they did not receive HSI but had to interact with angry customers (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.02–2.71), or hid their emotions and did not receive HSI (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.50–2.40). The risk of depression increased more in the presence of EDR among women who hid their emotions (OR 1.80, 95% CI, 1.40–2.31) compared to women who did not hide their emotions and in the absence of EDR. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the effects of gender-specific factors on the risk of depression and revise current guidelines accordingly.

Factors playing a role in the development of emotional labor behavior of clinical nurses

PURPOSE

This study aimed to investigate spirituality, sociodemographic features, and occupational features as predictors of nurses' emotional labor.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The study is descriptive cross-sectional and correlational research.

FINDINGS

The results demonstrated that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between the nurses' spirituality and the subdimension of intimate behavior (r = .545) (P < .05). Regarding the nurses' in-depth behaviors, the study found that spirituality (β = .550) and the number of patients that the nurses were responsible for (β = -.154) were statistically significant predictors (P < .05). The subdimensions of superficial behavior, spirituality (β = .498), and rechoosing the profession (β = -.142) were statistically significant predictors as well (P < .05).

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

For the development of emotional labor in clinical nurses, administrators should be sensitive to nurses' spiritual values.