BackgroundThe Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the mainstream measure for burnout. However, its psychometric properties have been questioned, and alternative measurement models of the inventory have been suggested.AimsDifferent models for the number of items and factors of the MBI-HSS, the version of the Inventory for the Human Service sector, were tested in order to identify the most appropriate model for measuring burnout in Italy.MethodsThe study dataset consisted of a sample of 925 nurses. Ten alternative models of burnout were compared using confirmatory factor analysis. The psychometric properties of items and reliability of the MBI-HSS subscales were evaluated.ResultsItem malfunctioning may confound the MBI-HSS factor structure. The analysis confirmed the factorial structure of the MBI-HSS with a three-dimensional, 20-item assessment.ConclusionsThe factorial structure underlying the MBI-HSS follows Maslach’s definition when items are reduced from the original 22 to a 20-item set. Alternative models, either with fewer items or with an increased number of latent dimensions in the burnout structure, do not yield better results to justify redefining the item set or theoretically revising the syndrome construct.

Low Back Pain and Associated Presenteeism among Hospital Nursing Staff: Angelo d’ERRICO, et al. Department of Epidemiology, Local Health Unit TO3, Italy— Objectives In spite of the high prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and presenteeism previously observed among nurses, no study has assessed the risk of presenteeism specifically due to LBP in nursing staff. Therefore, aim of the present study was to assess prevalence and risk factors of presenteeism due to LBP among hospital nursing personnel. Methods 174 female nurses underwent a clinical interview and filled in a questionnaire on sociodemographics, LBP symptoms and associated sickness absence, mental symptoms, burnout and on exposure to workplace organizational, psychosocial and ergonomic factors; 111 subjects affected by LBP were included in the analysis. The effect of sociodemographic and workplace characteristics on presenteeism was examined through multivariate Poisson robust regression models. Results Prevalence of presenteeism due to LBP was 58%, with wide differences between registered nurses and nursing aides (p=0.001). Only a few workplace factors were significantly associated with presenteeism, including frequent stooping, which decreased the risk of presenteeism, and good working climate and procedural justice, which increased it. Conclusions Presenteeism due to LBP was very high among registered nurses and was influenced only by workplace, but not by sociodemographic characteristics. Presenteeism due to LBP among registered nurses should be closely monitored, and effort should be made to reduce it to prevent future work disability associated with LBP.

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.

Objective: Demographic changes involving western countries and later retirements due to the recent pension reforms induce a gradual aging of the workforce. This imply an increasing number of workers with health problems and a decreasing of ability to work. In this direction, the present study aims at examining the role of job and personal resources between age and work ability within nurses.Method: The study was cross-sectional and not randomized; data were collected by a self-report questionnaire during a multi-center survey conducted in two Italian hospitals in 2016. In this way, 333 nurses were reached.Results: Multiple linear regression showed that age is significantly and negatively associated to work ability, and that job resources (e.g., decision authority and meaning of work) and personal resources (e.g., hope and resilience) moderate the relationship between age and work ability.Discussion: These results highlight that investing in work and personal resources to support WA is even more relevant for those professions where high physical effort is required.

Background Past studies in the teaching context provided evidence of the role of mindfulness-based intervention in improving occupational wellbeing. This study aims to increase the extant knowledge by testing the mechanism that links teachers’ mindfulness at work to occupational wellbeing. Rooted in the job demand–resource model, the mindfulness trait is conceptualized as a personal resource that has the ability to impact and interact with job demands and resources, specifically workload stress appraisal and perceived meaningfulness of work, in affecting teachers’ burnout. Methods A sample of primary, middle, and secondary school teachers (N = 605) completed a questionnaire that aimed to assess teachers’ mindfulness trait and the measures of the quality of occupational life in the school context. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the model fit indices; further analyses were performed to test the hypotheses about mediation and moderation effects. Results The CFA showed good model fit indices. Further analyses highlighted that teachers’ mindfulness is negatively associated with workload stress appraisal and that positively influenced work meaning, in turn mediating the relationship between mindfulness and burnout. Finally, mindfulness moderated the effect of workload stress appraisal on burnout. Conclusions Rooted in the job demand–resource model, this study emphasizes an underrepresented personal resource, that is, the mindfulness trait at work, and the links that favor its impact on burnout. Practical and future research implications are also discussed.

Background: A growing number of studies reveal that there are significant associations between a patient's perception of quality of care and a health professional's perceived quality of work life. Previous studies focused on the patients or on the workers. Alternatively, they center the discussion on either the negative or the positive effects, both on patients and care workers. This research work focuses on the positive relationship with patients—a possible resource for care workers.Method: Study 1: A CFA was conducted to test the factorial structure and the tenure of the Italian version for patients of the Customer-initiated Support scale. Study 2: Using a multi-group path analysis, the effects of work characteristics and of the relationship with patients on burnout were tested in two different contexts: emergency and oncology ward.Results: Study 1: The one-factor instrument shows good reliability, convergent, and divergent validity. Study 2: for oncology nurses cognitive demands, job autonomy, and support from patients have direct effects on emotional exhaustion and job autonomy; interactions between cognitive demands and patients' support have an effect on depersonalization. For emergency nurses cognitive demands and interactions between job autonomy and support from patients have effects on emotional exhaustion; job autonomy, patients support and gratitude have direct effects on personal accomplishment.Conclusions: Results confirm expectations about the role of patients' support and gratitude in reducing nurses' burnout, with differences in the two contexts: emergency nurses show higher burnout and lower perception of positive relationship with patients, but present more intense protective effects of the interaction between job autonomy and support/gratitude. Suggestions can be offered to managers in developing interventions to promote “healthy organization” culture that consider jointly employees and patients' needs.

Among nursing staff, the risk of experiencing violence, especially verbal aggression, is particularly relevant. The present study, developed in the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R), has two main aims: (a) to examine the association between verbal aggression and job burnout in both nurses and nurse's aides and (b) to assess whether job content, social resources, and organizational resources lessen the negative impact of verbal aggression on burnout in the two professional groups. The cross-sectional study uses a dataset that consists of 630 workers (522 nurses and 108 nurse's aides) employed in emergency and medical units. High associations were found between verbal aggression and job burnout in both professional groups. Moderated hierarchical regressions showed that, among nurses, only the job content level resources moderated the effects of the verbal aggression on job burnout. Among nurse's aides, the opposite was found. Some resources on the social and organizational levels but none of the job content level resources buffered the effects of verbal aggression on workers burnout. The study highlights the crucial role of different types of resources in protecting nursing staff from the detrimental effects of verbal aggression on job burnout.

The study revealed some interesting findings, suggesting that skill discretion is not a resource in the pure sense, but that it also has some characteristics of a job demand. The study has relevant practical implications. Particularly, from a job design point of view, the present study suggests that job demands and skill discretion should be balanced carefully in order to sustain job well-being and worker retention.