Impact of Techno-Creators and Techno-Inhibitors on Techno-Stress Manifestations in Chilean Kindergarten Directors in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Teleworking

The research objective was to predict the impact of techno-creators and techno-inhibitors on the different manifestations of technostress in kindergarten directors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and telework. The participants were INTEGRA Foundation kindergarten directors, from a sample of 567 kindergartens in Chile. To measure the technostress manifestations, the RED-TIC questionnaire was used as an instrument, and concerning techno-creators and techno-inhibitors, those established in previous research were considered. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology was used, and the model estimation was performed using SmartPLS version 3.0 software. It was obtained that techno-creators correlate positively and significantly with the technostress manifestations. A negative correlation was found between techno-inhibitors and technostress manifestations and techno-creators, but not significant for skepticism and inefficacy manifestations. Therefore, it is concluded that techno-creators lead to technostress manifestations, however, techno-inhibitors did not show a significant effect in reducing these manifestations in the sample studied.

Technostress Dark Side of Technology in the Workplace: A Scientometric Analysis

This article aims to provide a critical review of the scientific research on technostress. As such, global references in this field are identified and highlighted in order to manage pre-existing knowledge and establish future 'bridges' among researchers, and to enhance the presently dispersed understanding of this subject. A scientometric meta-analysis of publications on technostress was conducted to achieve this objective. Mainstream journals from the Web of Science (WoS) were used to identify current topics, relevant journals, prolific authors, institutions, and countries, 'schools of thought' and the thematic areas around which current technostress debate revolves. In this article a significant contribution comes from the use of the scientific activity itself, together with scientometric meta-analysis techniques and the application of this scientific activity, its impact and relational character, to discover relevant countries, research organizations and authors which can constitute a global reference to demarcate this knowledge frontier, and who lead the 'critical mass' of global technostress researchers. This study also distinguishes between the relevant themes studied, with co-keywords plus bibliographic coupling citation, and examines the kind of stress the most prolific authors have considered and, therefore, to discover those topics which should be studied further to deepen this research field, in search of a post-disciplinary knowledge that allows unity of focus in technology and psychology.

Childbirth education at the crossroads

In this column, a reader expresses concern that attendance at childbirth classes is declining at the same time the cesarean rate is rising. The history of childbirth education is discussed in the context of both access to information and changes in maternity care since the introduction of formal childbirth education. Changing goals and contemporary challenges facing childbirth education are discussed. The need for a new model of educating and empowering women is identified, and ideas for changes are explored.