Background Nurses experience high, and often chronic, levels of occupational stress. As high-quality care requires a healthy workforce, individualized stress-alleviating interventions for nurses are needed. This study explored barriers and resources associated with health behaviors in nurses with different stress levels and work-related behavioral tendencies and identified health behavior determinants based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model. Methods Applying a mixed methods transformative triangulation design, n = 43 nurses filled out chronic stress (SSCS) and work-related behavior and experience patterns (German acronym AVEM) questionnaires, and participated in semi-structured interviews. With content analysis, categories of health behavior-related barriers and resources emerged. Behavior determinants (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), health behavior, and barriers and resources were quantified via frequency and magnitude coding and interrelated with SSCS and AVEM scores to link level of health behavior with potential influencing factors. Nonparametric tests explored differences in quantified variables for SSCS and AVEM scores and 4-step-hierarchical regression analysis identified predictors for health behavior. Results Eighty-four percent of the nurses were chronically stressed while 49% exhibited unhealthy behavioral tendencies at the workplace. 16 personal and organizational themes (six resources, ten barriers) influenced health behaviors. Stress was associated with resource frequency (p = .027) and current health behaviors (p = .07). Self-efficacy significantly explained variance in health behaviors (p = .003). Conclusion Health promotion related barriers and resources should be considered in designing nurse health promotion campaigns. Practitioners need to individualize and tailor interventions toward stress and behavioral experiences for sustainable effects on adherence and health.

Even though gossip is a ubiquitous organizational behavior that fulfils important social functions (e.g., social bonding or emotion venting), little is known about how workplace gossip and its functions unfold in situ. To explore the dynamic nature and social embeddedness of workplace gossip, we develop a behavioral annotation system that captures the manifold characteristics of verbal gossip behavior, including its valence and underlying functions. We apply this system to eight elderly care team meetings audio- and videotaped in the field, yielding a sample of N = 4,804 annotated behaviors. On this empirical basis, we provide first insights into the different facets and functions of workplace gossip in real-life team interactions. By means of lag sequential analysis, we quantify gossip patterns that point to the temporal and structural embeddedness of different types of workplace gossip expressions. Though exploratory, these findings help establish workplace gossip as a dynamic conversational event. We discuss future interdisciplinary research collaborations that behavioral observation approaches offer.

Background Demographic changes and medical advances require a highly professionalized nursing sector while nurses experience high, and often chronic, levels of stress. As high-quality care can only be sustained with a healthy workforce, individualized stress-alleviating interventions for nurses are needed. This study explored barriers and resources associated with health promoting activities in nurses with different stress levels (and work-related behavioral tendencies) and identified health behavior determinants based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model. Methods Applying a cross-sectional mixed methods design, 43 nurses first filled out questionnaires assessing chronic stress (SSCS) and work-related behavior patterns (AVEM). Subsequently, interviews were conducted. With content analysis, categories of health promotion-related barriers and resources emerged. behavior determinants (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), current health behavior, and B&Rs were quantified with magnitude and frequency coding. Finally, stress and AVEM patterns were triangulated with behavioral determinants and barriers and resources. Results Of the included nurses, 84% were chronically stressed while 49% exhibited unhealthy behavioral tendencies at the workplace. 16 personal and organizational themes (six resources, ten barriers) were identified that influence health promotion behaviors. Stress was associated with resource frequency (p = .027) and current health promotion activities (p = .07) whereas results concerning AVEM patterns were not easily interpretable. Self-efficacy significantly explained variance in health behaviors (p = .003). Implications for future health behavior change interventions in nursing populations are discussed. Conclusion Health promotion related barriers & resources affect health promotion in nurses. Practitioners need to design interventions that address population specific barriers for sustainable health promotion.

Purpose: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees suddenly had to work remotely and realize all work-related social interaction in virtual formats. The sudden shift to the virtual format came with new workplace stressors. To understand the stressors of remote work and videoconferences, we present two qualitative studies. The aim of this study is to better understand the stress associated with remote work and videoconferencing, with an emphasis on how workers cope with the added stress. Methodology: We applied thematic analysis to open-ended survey data from employees in the US (n = 349) and in-depth telephone interviews of 50 meeting leaders from the US and Germany. Findings: We identified the work–home interface, technology, and communication issues as key challenges of remote work. Further, we found camera usage, early meeting phases, and multitasking to be central stressors of videoconferences. Finally, we identified individual- and team-level coping strategies to reduce the impacts of virtual meeting stressors on employees. Originality: Our research contributes to the emerging field studying the effects of virtual work and videoconferences on employees. We provide an overview of the challenges of remote work at the early stages of the pandemic, and we present an overview of the stressors that emerge in virtual meeting environments. We discuss insights into why videoconferences may fatigue employees. Including German and US samples, our research allows a cross-cultural comparison of videoconferencing stressors. Finally, we present actionable practical recommendations to improve videoconferences.

No abstract