Employee Stress, Reduced Productivity, and Interest in a Workplace Health Program: A Case Study from the Australian Mining Industry. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;16. [PMID: 30602664 PMCID: PMC6339264 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16010094]

How Do COVID-19 Risk, Life-Safety Risk, Job Insecurity, and Work-Family Conflict Affect Miner Performance? Health-Anxiety and Job-Anxiety Perspectives

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created challenging working conditions in coal-production activities. In addition to the massive loss of resources for miners, it has had a devastating impact on these individuals' mental health. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory and a resource-loss perspective, this study examined the impact of COVID-19 risk, life-safety risk, perceived job insecurity, and work-family conflict on miners' job performance. Moreover, this study investigated the mediating role of job anxiety (JA) and health anxiety (HA). The study data were collected through online structured questionnaires disseminated to 629 employees working in a coal mine in China. The data analysis and hypothesis generation were conducted using the structural equation modeling (partial least squares) method. The results demonstrated that the perception of COVID-19 risk, life-safety risk, job insecurity, and work-family conflict negatively and significantly impacted miners' job performance. In addition, JA and HA negatively mediated the relationships between the perception of COVID-19 risk, life-safety risk, perceived job insecurity, work-family conflict, and job performance. The findings of this study can give coal-mining companies and their staff useful insights into how to minimize the pandemic's effects on their operations.

The Influence of Sports Activities on Workplace Productivity in Vietnam: The Mediating Role of Stress Management and Work-life Balance

Objectives: Workplace productivity has always been affected by a high-stress level and lack of sports activities. This aspect requires the researchers' emphasis and the present research performs this role by examining the much neglected impact of sports activities, stress management, and work-life balance on workplace productivity of manufacturing firms in Vietnam. The study also investigated the mediating impact of stress management and work-life balance among sports activities and workplace productivity of manufacturing firms in Vietnam. Methods: The primary data was collected through survey questionnaires from the employees of manufacturing companies in Vietnam. The research also applied the PLS-SEM using Smart-PLS to check the reliability and association among variables. Results: The outcomes indicated that sports activities, stress management, and work-life balance have a positive linkage with the workplace productivity of manufacturing firms in Vietnam. The outcomes also revealed that stress management and work-life balance significantly mediate among sports activities and workplace productivity of manufacturing firms in Vietnam. Conclusion: This research guides the policymakers in making policies related to workplace productivity improvement using sports activities, work-life balance, and stress management.

Advancing the field of employee assistance programs research and practice: A systematic review of quantitative studies and future research agenda

The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the critical role of organizational support for the workforce. An employee assistance program (EAP) represents an inclusive strategy which organizations adopt to provide supportive and empathic care to help employees overcome undesirable situations. To date, we have limited knowledge of what EAP issues have been researched from the human resource management (HRM) perspective and what theoretical underpinning these studies have used. This article systematically reviews quantitative empirical studies on EAPs. Drawing upon 115 articles from 72 journals across 40 years (1981–2020), we trace the evolutionary trend of the construct of EAP and shed light on the internal link of EAP with HRM. After summarizing research themes, methods, theories, and approaches to the evaluation of EAPs, we identify pitfalls in the current research and contribute to extending the field by proposing several research agendas for future investigation.

Cost of Health-Related Work Productivity Loss among Fly-In Fly-Out Mining Workers in Australia

Sufficient knowledge on the work productivity impact of the health of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers in the mining sector in Australia is lacking. This study examined the impact of health and lifestyle behaviours on the work productivity of FIFO workers in the mining industry in Australia. FIFO workers completed an online questionnaire on health and work productivity loss measures. Linear regressions were used to model annual work productivity losses through absenteeism, presenteeism and total productivity loss. Workers with a high risk for health conditions were, on average, associated with 3.87% more productivity loss (absenteeism: 1.27% and presenteeism: 2.88%) than those with low risk. Workers who had multiple health risks classified as medium (3-4 health conditions) and high (5 or more health conditions) reported 1.75% and 7.46% more total productivity loss, respectively, than those with fewer multiple health risks (0-2 health conditions). Health conditions were estimated to account for an annual additional productivity cost due to absenteeism of AUD 8.82 million, presenteeism of AUD 14.08 million and a total productivity loss of AUD 20.96 million per 1000 workers. FIFO workers with high health risks experience more absenteeism, presenteeism and overall productivity loss. These measures provide strong economic justifications that could support the need for targeted workplace health interventions.

Effect of Dental Environment Stressors and Coping Mechanisms on Perceived Stress in Postgraduate Dental Students

Aim and objective

To investigate the effect of dental environment stressors and coping mechanisms on perceived stress in postgraduate dental students.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional study enrolled 250 postgraduate students from four dental colleges. Modified dental environment stress (DES) questionnaire was used to study the dental environment-related stressors, perceived stress score (PSS) to measure the extent of stress perception, and brief COPE (BC) scale to measure the use of various coping strategies deployed to combat stress. An independent T-test was used to determine the associations of these measures with gender and marital status and one-way ANOVA for associations with year of study. Hierarchical regression was used to determine the effect of demographic factors, career-related psychological background, health-related habits, DES, and BC score on PSS.

Results

“Synopsis, thesis, library dissertation” and “lack of adequate infrastructure” were reported as the highest stressors by the postgraduate students. Only 4.8% of respondents perceived low stress, while 65.2% perceived high stress. A high correlation between the DES score and PSS was observed. Active coping, acceptance, and positive reframing were the most commonly utilized coping strategies. Planning and use of emotional support were the only coping strategies that were significant negative predictors of PSS. Problem-focused coping strategies had a positive, but non-significant correlation with PSS, while emotion-focused coping strategies had a significant negative correlation with PSS.

Conclusion

Postgraduate dental environment causes a high-stress perception in students and reactive coping strategies have only a limited role in reducing stress perception.

How to cite this article

Sikka N, Juneja R, Kumar V, et al. Effect of Dental Environment Stressors and Coping Mechanisms on Perceived Stress in Postgraduate Dental Students. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2021;14(5):681–688.

Mental health in mine workers: a literature review

The mining environment is hazardous for worker's health. It can affect the mental health, triggering symptoms and diseases, such as anxiety, job stress, depression, sleep disorders, mental fatigue and other. The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the scientific literature about the mental health in mine workers and to summarize the findings. The method used was scoping review. The principal outcomes were the following: evidence in the last 12 years in the topic was focused in four themes 1) Psychological problems & personal factors (38.2%); 2) Psychosocial problems & health related factor (23.6%); 3) Well-being (21.1%) and 4) Physical problems & organization factors (17.1%). Several affections, symptoms, characteristics or disorders were inquired about mine worker's mental health, such as job strain, unsafety experiences, poor quality of sleep, non-subjective well-being, job unsatisfaction, social-relations conflict, risk of accidents and injuries, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), substance abuse, dangerous working conditions and demanding job organization, and so on. For those factors, Mining could expose to serious mental health problems to a part of their workers. It's necessary to deepen the elaboration of international policies and carry out more scientific research and suggestions to make programs on the topic.

Can Social Cognitive Theory Influence Breakfast Frequency in an Institutional Context: A Qualitative Study

Breakfast is considered an important meal, especially for people who are about to commence a long or demanding workday, and for roles that may involve physical tasks and a requirement to remain alert and vigilant in potentially high-risk situations. This study looks at breakfast consumption influences within two workplace institutional settings, namely military and mining. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with military personnel (n = 12) and mining employees (n = 12) to understand their breakfast consumption behaviour at work and at home, and the associated behavioural influences. The interview questions were framed by social cognitive theory. Overall, cognitive and environmental influences were the most prominent influences on breakfast consumption, less evident were behavioural influences. A negative stereotype of workplace institutional food services emerged as one of the most significant barriers to breakfast consumption for those already at work. Considerations of environmental influences on behaviour may need to be broadened beyond physical barriers and social influences, to include perceptions of the behavioural environment. Programs that aim to increase breakfast consumption must create areas where their employees want to go. Food systems need to ensure nutritious, quality, and appealing food is available. Interventions need to increase participants’ knowledge, improve their attitudes, and create positive expectations for breakfast.

Examining Effect of Green Transformational Leadership and Environmental Regulation through Emission Reduction Policy on Energy-Intensive Industry’s Employee Turnover Intention in China

This study explored a theoretical model of factors affecting employee turnover intentions in the energy-intensive industry from the perspective of environmental regulation through emission reduction policy. Moreover, we examined whether green transformational leadership has a negative effect on the perception of turnover risk of energy-intensive corporate employees and their turnover intentions; we collected data on 531 employees in the energy-intensive industries in China. Data analysis was conducted using exploratory factor analysis, reliability and validity analysis, stepwise regression model analysis, and a structural equation model to test the research hypothesis. The results revealed that environmental regulation through emission reduction policy has a significant impact on employee perception of turnover risk and turnover intention in energy-intensive industries in China. The perception of turnover risk has a greater effect on the turnover intention among employees than the emission reduction policy. Moreover, we found that the perceived risk of turnover has a mediating effect in the relationship between environmental regulation through carbon emission reduction policy and turnover intention. However, green transformational leadership has an inhibiting effect on the perception of turnover risk and turnover intention among employees. This research has crucial theoretical significance for the transformation of energy-intensive enterprises and promoting the sustainable development of energy-intensive enterprises in China.

Clinical benefits of rational-emotive stress management therapy for job burnout and dysfunctional distress of special education teachers

It has been observed that managing job burnout and dysfunctional distress constitute part of the major challenges among special educators, and that empirical data on the management of burnout and dysfunctional distress associated with the job of special education teachers are lacking in the literature. The current article discusses the clinical benefits of a rational-emotive stress-management therapy program in reducing the level of job burnout symptoms and dysfunctional distress in special education teachers, using evidence from a 2018 clinical trial study that reported the efficacy of this intervention. Results show the clinical benefits and implications of conducting a rational-emotive stress management intervention, and recommendations are made for future research.

Positioning Depression as a Critical Factor in Creating a Toxic Workplace Environment for Diminishing Worker Productivity

This study determined how a toxic workplace environment can influence worker productivity, directly and indirectly, using work depression as a mediating variable. A toxic workplace environment with multiple dimensions (harassment, bullying, ostracism, and incivility) was used in this study. We used a questionnaire survey approach to evaluate the data. A total of 53 items were used in the questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. The data were collected from 23 branches of five Chinese banks in the vicinity of Shanghai. The authors distributed 250 questionnaires among targeted employees (senior managers, middle managers, and administrative staff) and received 186 filled questionnaires, among which six were incomplete. Thus, the completed sample size of the research was 180, and the overall response rate was 72%. To estimate the proposed relationships in the research model, we used partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM 3.2). The outcomes of this study indicate that for direct and indirect relationships, a toxic workplace environment negatively influences worker productivity. Moreover, the outcomes of this study also show that work depression negatively impacts worker productivity. The study concludes with a discussion, limitations, and future research directions.