Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) at middle management level in the healthcare sector: A contribution to the Italian validation of psychosocial safety climate-4

Abstract

IntroductionPsychosocial safety climate (PSC) refers to workers’ shared perceptions of organizational policies, practices and procedures for the protection of psychological health and safety. PSC offers a multilevel organizational approach that expands traditional models of workplace stress, giving a more comprehensive understanding of occupational health and safety issues. Although considerable research on psychosocial risks in the healthcare sector has been conducted, few studies have explored the role of PSC among healthcare workers at middle management level. Additionally, no validated version of PSC is available in Italian language. The aim of this study is to contribute to the validation of the Italian 4-item version of the PSC and to explore this theory within the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) among a sample of Italian healthcare workers by testing PSC at the middle management level.MethodsWe used cross-sectional data from 276 employees working in 17 different wards in a large Italian hospital. Intra-class coefficient (ICC) coefficient and agreement index were used to test PSC as a climate construct (data nested to hospital ward level). We performed hierarchical linear models to test mediation and moderation effects.ResultsThe Italian version of PSC-4 proved to have good psychometric properties and confirmed its role as a group-level construct (α = 0.84; ICC = 0.16). Multilevel random coefficient models showed PSC was associated with Job demands (Effort: B = −0.36, SE = 0.07; Emotional demands: B = −0.03, SE = 0.01) and Job resources (Reward: B = 1.16, SE = 0.01; Physical work environment: B = 0.06, SE = 0.01). Results confirmed the indirect effect of PSC on Psychological (Burnout) and Occupational health (Job satisfaction) outcomes supporting the role of Job resources and Job demands as mediators. The multilevel analysis did not find a significant interaction terms between PSC and Job demands on Burnout therefore the moderation hypothesis was not supported.DiscussionThe Italian version of PSC-4 is a valid tool to evaluate PSC. These findings sustain the multilevel framework of PSC and the significant role played by mid-leaders in both the health impairment and motivational path. Further studies should explore the buffering effect of PSC at higher baseline levels as well as the adoption of PSC as a target for occupational health intervention the Italian context.

Assessment of Psychosocial Risks in Workers in the Health Sector: Evidence in the Peruvian Population

“…Finally, this study shows the reality of the prevalence of psychosocial risks of health workers, also identifying the sociodemographic factors that are associated with it; in this way, it is important that health managers can take action on the matter and mitigate these risks in a timely manner. Under this framework, Fattori et al (2022) indicate that there is a need to investigate health personnel because their working conditions are challenging and they are exposed to high-pressure situations, intense work hours, and high emotional burden due to exposure to serious illnesses, human suffering, or difficult decisions that have a significant and detrimental impact on individual and organizational health, and this special interest is because organizations depend largely on the mental prosperity of workers, so every leader must ensure that working conditions are conducive to the mental, emotional and social well-being of workers and that enjoying optimal conditions at work allows them to have greater productivity, thus avoiding psychological vulnerabilities and instability of workers that could lead to bad behavior, job dissatisfaction, emotional exhaustion and other negative feelings, the same ones that have emerged with greater emphasis after the arrival of the pandemic (Dalgaard et al, 2023a;Kasireddy et al, 2023;Xue et al, 2022). Even more so knowing that there are precedents that establish that working conditions, professional category and the place where health professionals work can be vulnerable to psychosocial risks (Cañadas et al, 2019).…”

“…Finally, this study shows the reality of the prevalence of psychosocial risks of workers in the health area, thus identifying the indicators that should be treated in a timely manner; under this framework. Fattori et al (2022) indicate that there is a need to investigate health personnel because their working conditions are challenging and they are exposed to high-pressure situations, intense workdays, and a high emotional burden due to exposure to serious illnesses, human suffering, or difficult decisions that have a significant impact detrimental to individual and organizational health, and this special interest is due to the fact that organizations are highly dependent on the mental prosperity of workers, so every leader must ensure that working conditions are conducive to the mental, emotional and social well-being of the workers and it is that enjoying optimal conditions at work allows them to have greater productivity, thus avoiding, psychological vulnerabilities and instability of workers that could lead to misbehavior, job dissatisfaction, emotional exhaustion and other negative feelings (Dalgaard et al, 2023;Xue et al, 2022).…”