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Aims and objectives. To determine whether a specific training course will enhance empathic skills in student nurses during a 3-year degree course. The study considers levels of empathy in student nurses and assesses whether these can be increased. Background. Empathy is accepted as a critical component of supportive relationships. Many scholars have argued that empathy provides health professionals with the capacity to improve the health of patients, so it should ideally be taught to make health professionals more responsive to patient needs. Design. Cohort longitudinal study. Methods. Data were collected using the Italian version of the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). The study was designed to guarantee repeated measurements of levels of emotional empathy in the pre-and postintervention phases. This allowed us to evaluate the development and improvement of empathy and to measure the effects of extra training on the students' empathy skills. Two groups took part in the study: the Intervention and the Control Groups. Students in the Intervention Group attended additional seminars and laboratories in small groups with tutors to learn and develop communicative and empathic abilities. Results. One hundred and three participants (76% women) completed the study. Data showed that the training course was effective, especially for women: BEES scores 31AE60 at pre-intervention phase and 42AE91 at the end of the academic course. Results regarding men were less clear, and the study discusses these unexpected, anomalous findings. Conclusion. According to literature, men and women have different empathic traits, and we found that they show disparate empathic tendencies. More women than men took advantage of the training course. In any case, our data show that specific training courses are effective. Relevance to clinical practice. As our study shows, empathy is a skill that may be taught. So it would be advisable to introduce these into the traditional nursing curriculum.

Orientation: Organisations need energetic and dedicated employees to enhance the quality of their services and products continuously. According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, it is possible to increase work engagement of employees by improving their personal resources.Research purpose: The main aim of this study was to examine the extent to which an improvement in psychological capital, as a personal resource, might enhance work engagement of employees in the public sector.Motivation for the study: This study was developed to investigate how and to what extent interventions aiming at fostering higher work engagement through the enhancement of psychological capital were certainly effective.Research design, approach and method: To improve psychological capital, a new resource-based intervention programme (FAMILY intervention) was developed and applied, in which six dimensions – namely framing, attitudes, meaningfulness, identity, leading self and yoked together – were improved. A semi-experimental research design (pre-test and post-test) was used to conduct this study. Participants were 54 employees working in an Italian public health administration. In the pre-test and post-test stages, data were collected by using the psychological capital and work engagement scales.Main findings: Results showed that there is a positive relationship between psychological capital and work engagement in the pre-test and post-test stages, considered separately. In addition, comparing pre-test and post-test results revealed that the intervention programme significantly improved both psychological capital and work engagement. This shows that an improvement in psychological capital is consistent with an increase in work engagement.Conclusion: Together, these findings prove that psychological capital can be considered as a set of personal resources which lead to increased work engagement.Contribution/value-add: This study bridged the gap found in the literature between the role of psychological capital in fostering higher work engagement and the extent to which interventions are effective among employees working in public administration.

It is acknowledged that chronic job demands may be depleting workers’ stamina resulting in burnout conditions and ultimately causing further health problems. This relation, known as health impairment process, has recently been considered as a possible explanation for the emergence of counterproductive work behavior (CWB). The present work aims to examine the role of two personality traits (i.e., Grit and Honesty-Humility) in this process. The results, based on a sample of 208 private service sector employees, confirm the presence of a fully mediated process and show how Honesty-Humility positively moderates the relationship between job demands and exhaustion, whereas Grit has a negative effect on the relation between exhaustion and CWB. Implications for assessment procedure and hiring decisions are discussed.

Purpose In the current labour market, the competence to adapt is becoming significantly relevant for career development and career success. The construct of career adaptability, i.e. the capability to adapt to changing career-related circumstances and predict advancement in career development, seems to provide a fruitful scientific base for successful career intervention. The purpose of the study is exploratory, with the aim of providing new findings about the key predictors of this meta-competence that are relevant for career development. Design/methodology/approach Through a web-based survey, a convenience sample of 230 working participants completed an online questionnaire, including socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, education), professional status (role seniority, sector of employment, professional role), professional development-related features (training, new professional assignments, financial incentives) and psychological factors (work self-efficacy, search for work self-efficacy and job satisfaction). Four-step hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to understand which of these factors account for the most career adaptability variance. Findings Results highlight that work self-efficacy, search for work self-efficacy and education play a significant role in predicting career adaptability. Surprisingly, professional development-related features and professional status do not seem to have a relevant influence. Practical implications Training and career-development professionals can improve their understanding of which career-related skills and attitudes can increase one’s capability to cope with sudden changes and instability of the current labour market. Originality/value This study supports previous research, addressing the importance of career adaptability in times of dramatic change. It also provides some insight into the factors that could predict it.

Correlations between sensation-seeking (SS) personality dimension and plasma concentrations of norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine, and NE-dependent testosterone (T), cortisol and prolactin (PRL) were studied in 74 physically and psychologically healthy male volunteers, in order to see whether or not the noradrenergic system is involved in the modulation of this personality trait. Novelty-seeking scores by the Temperament and Character Inventory and SS scores on a Visual Analog Scale were positively correlated with plasma NE, T and PRL levels, suggesting that NE and the downstream cascade of NE-dependent hormones, together with other monoaminergic changes, might be responsible for the development and the degree of this temperamental character.

Aims:The study aims are (a) to test a model developed to estimate the impact of work engagement on work ability as it is perceived by nurses; (b) to test the parameters between work ability and job satisfaction and between job satisfaction and turnover intention.Design: Cross-sectional. Methods:This study involved 1,024 nurses from January -May 2018. The response rate was 70.7%. The Work Ability Index and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were used. Path analysis was performed, both in the whole sample and in age categories (<45yy-≥45yy). Model's parameters and fit indexes were estimated.Results: The comprehensive model was validated through the multi-group approach.Fit indexes were adequate in the general model and in the multi-group testing.Parameters confirmed the association between work engagement and work ability and between work ability and job satisfaction and turnover intention. Parameters highlighted different age-dependent patterns. Conclusion:This study states the contribution of work engagement to enhance work ability in nursing profession. Findings contribute in understanding motivational dynamics in nurses and they suggest the use of tailored strategies for different age categories. Further research could address the model to deepen generational patterns in work engagement, work ability, and organizational outcomes. Impact:The study highlights how to address nursing management to improve nurses' motivation and work ability and to improve organizational outcomes. Main findings point out different age-dependent patterns to tailor managerial strategies.Healthcare organizations have new elements to design human resources management and to improve job satisfaction and nurses' retention. K E Y W O R D Sjob satisfaction, nursing, turnover intention, work ability, work engagement

Consisting evidence in animal models has suggested that alterations in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) brain expression and release are involved in the pathogenesis of mental illnesses, such as, mood, anxiety, and eating disorders. This hypothesis is supported by data emerging from biochemical studies on serum BDNF levels and genetic studies on the functional polymorphism Val66Met in the BDNF gene in patients and control subjects. Anxiety-related personality traits are associated with several mental disorders. However, they are also measurable in non-affected subjects and, so, may represent a useful "endophenotype" to study the biological correlation of the vulnerability factors in the general population. In this study, we analyzed putative correlations in subjects unaffected by mental disorders between personality traits, serum BDNF levels (N = 107), and the BDNF Val66Met genotype (N = 217). Furthermore, we tested the possible interactions between these variables. A significant correlation has been observed between high scores of harm avoidance (HA) measured by the temperament and character inventory (TCI), and low BDNF serum concentration (r = -0.253, P = 0.009). In addition, an association has been evidenced between low BDNF levels in serum and the BDNF Val/Val genotype (P = 0.021). By analyzing putative concomitant effects of different variables on HA scores in a regression model, we observed a significant correlation only with BDNF serum concentrations (P = 0.022). The study results suggest that a decrease in serum BDNF concentrations may represent a biochemical marker associated with anxiety personality traits also retrievable in the general population.