School Principals' Stress Profiles During COVID-19, Demands, and Resources

The present study examined latent profiles of school principals’ stress concerning students’, teachers’, parents’, and principals’ own ability to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the role of job demands (workload, remote work stress, difficulty to detach from work, COVID-19 crisis, COVID-19 infections at school, impact of COVID-19 on future teaching), resources (buoyancy, effective crisis leadership, social appreciation, successful transition to remote teaching), and occupational well-being (measured as job burnout and engagement) in predicting the latent profiles of stress sources was examined. The participants were 535 (59% women) school principals across Finland, who answered to a questionnaire concerning their sources of stress and occupational well-being during spring 2020. Three latent profiles were identified according to principals’ level of stress: high stress (41.4% of the school principals), altered stress (35.9%), and low stress (22.7%) profiles. Work burnout, workload, COVID-19 related concerns, and difficulty to detach from work increased the probability of principals belonging to the high or altered stress profile rather than to the low stress profile. Work engagement, buoyancy, and social appreciation increased the probability of principals belonging to the low rather than to the high or altered stress profile.

Psychosocial and Organizational Processes and Determinants of Health Care Workers' (HCW) Health at Work in French Public EHPAD (Assisted Living Residences): A Qualitative Approach Using Grounded Theory

In a context marked by negative health indicators that make structural aspects more salient, this paper aimed at understanding and explaining the processes and determinants at work that positively and negatively interfere with the professionals’ health in the French public nursing home environment. To this purpose, the qualitative approach by grounded theory was chosen. In total, 90 semi-structured interviews were recorded and 43 were transcribed; in addition, 10 observations of 46 participations in meetings and working groups were carried out in four public service and hospital establishments. Our results indicate that the role of health workers, its definition, and its execution are fundamental to the understanding of their health at work. Two protective and constructive processes are involved in the maintenance and development of the professionals’ health in this work, with considerable confrontations with death and suffering: individual and collective control of emotional and cognitive commitment, and the development of resources for formation, information, and cooperation. Nonetheless, they are jeopardized when a lasting imbalance is generated between the work’s demands and the available resources. This leads to a loss spiral in organizational, inter-individual, and individual resources that makes it difficult to sustain work.