Measuring psychosocial factors and predicting work ability among cemetery workers

Funeral and Mortuary Operators: The Role of Stigma, Incivility, Work Meaningfulness and Work–Family Relation to Explain Occupational Burnout

“…The aim of the present study was to help expand current research in regard to the context of funeral and mortuary jobs, since they are significantly overlooked especially regarding the study of workplace psychosocial factors that may affect wellbeing [ 1 , 72 ]. To achieve that goal, the JD-R model [ 20 , 21 ] was used as a theoretical framework as it accounts for both the role of job demands and of resources.…”

“…The funeral and mortuary sector, including funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria, is a largely neglected sector in regard to the study of occupational factors that can affect the quality of working life and mental health [ 1 ]. Unlike other occupational categories, such as health care and social workers, firefighters and police officers, who are exposed to death and suffering, funeral and mortuary workers are very often confronted with the social invisibility that permeates these professions [ 2 ], reflecting the widespread social taboos that surround death and the manipulation of dead bodies [ 3 , 4 ].…”

“…Among the few studies that have been interested in assessing the quality of working life of this peculiar working population, only a small number have assessed how the psychosocial factors of the funeral context can specifically impact burnout levels [ 8 ]. This is surprising since, among other mental health issues such as depression, death anxiety and post- and secondary-traumatic stress disorder that have been more extensively analyzed [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], funeral and mortuary workers, due to their work environment, are more likely to suffer from compassion fatigue and burnout [ 15 , 16 , 17 ], which in turn may leave to deleterious consequences for their health-related behaviors and impaired work ability [ 1 , 15 ]. This would be in line with the abovementioned health and care professions, which have in common these suffering dynamics in their daily working life.…”

“…Workers of the funeral and mortuary sector often produce group and work cultures based on complicity, solidarity and on the production of jokes and funny stories regarding their work as forms of renegotiation and resignification of their work identity [ 4 , 45 , 46 ] especially when faced with emotionally charged situations [ 47 ]. Since group cohesion is a fundamental social resource in the context of dirty work, it has also been noted that the role of supervisor support is a salient psychosocial factor that can help reconcile positive occupational identities in the face of continuous exposure to dirty tasks [ 48 , 49 ] as well as preserve functional personal resources such as work ability [ 1 ]. In this vein, among helping professions, it has been evidenced that the supervisor is the most important source of social support in relation to burnout dimensions [ 50 , 51 ].…”

Work ability index and occupational Fatigue in the Workers of a Large Automotive company in Iran

“…Several studies have discussed variables affecting work ability in various occupational settings. Sociodemographic and psychosocial factors were related to work ability among 168 cemetery workers, and the main factor was the quality of leadership [21]. In a study in Iran on 280 workers, occupational injuries were the strongest predictors of WAI scores and was a strong association between WAI scores and supervisor support, skill discretion, occupational training, sleep quality, work nature, and educational level [20].…”