Doctor, how can we help you? Qualitative interview study to identify key interventions to target burnout in hospital doctors

Objective To identify priority interventions for the prevention and reduction of work stress and burnout in hospital doctors through analysis of (1) doctors’ experiences of work stress and burnout and (2) their preferences with respect to interventions. Design Qualitative design using semistructured interviews analysed with deductive thematic analysis. Setting Hospitals in Ireland. Participants 32 hospital doctors (16 practising consultants and 16 doctors in training) from a range of specialties, career stages, hospital types and locations. Results Practical, system-focused interventions were found to be most needed. Challenges with basic entitlements, that is, accessing statutory leave, knowing in advance when leave can be taken and being adequately covered when on leave were identified as requiring urgent attention. Other priority interventions identified were the integration of psychological support in the everyday working environment, time and training for clinical line managers to perform key management activities such as debriefing and education interventions which highlight work stress risks and care pathways, teach self-care and train doctors in how to support one another. Conclusions Hospital doctors are feeling the effects of greater demand and fewer resources. What they most urgently need is adequate staffing levels, access to statutory leave and adequate cover when on leave. Doctors do not receive the support they need from their clinical line managers, who lack the skills and time to excel as people managers. Organisations should focus on developing clinical management skills across the system. The culture of medicine needs to change from stigmatisation and competitiveness to compassion and collaboration. Organisations, medical schools and professional bodies can steer this change through education

A trait-state model of trust propensity: Evidence from two career transitions

Trust propensity is typically conceptualized as a stable, trait-like, exogenous variable. Drawing on the social investment principle of personality change, we argue that trust propensity has situationally specific components and is likely to be less stable during periods of career transition. Using a latent curve-latent state-trait model, we present evidence that suggests that trust propensity has stable (trait) and unstable (state) components during career transition periods and that it has the potential to change over time. Our results are replicated across two, transitional workplace populations during a process of (re)socialization into an organization. In our second study, we also expand our focus to examine correlates of trust propensity and demonstrate the relationship between state and trait trust propensity and cognitive depletion. Our paper significantly extends knowledge of the nature of trust propensity and raises questions about the stability of this construct, one of the core tenets of trust theory

I left Venus and came back to Mars: temporal focus congruence in Dyadic relationships following maternity leave

Temporal focus on past, present, and future of contributions to work is critical to understanding how employees and their line managers navigate career disruptions and minimize their potential for negative impact. This paper reframes temporal focus using a dyadic, relational perspective to explore how temporal focus (in)congruence shapes resocialization experiences for returners and their line managers following maternity leave disruption. Our qualitative study draws on 54 interviews across 27 organizations and demonstrates that a congruent, broader temporal focus—that embraces the past, present, and future—is associated with more positive relational and career outcomes than an incongruent focus, where one dyadic partner holds a narrow temporal focus. Our findings explicate how the adoption of a broad versus narrow temporal focus creates a perception of maternity leave as either a brief interlude or a major disruption. A congruent, broader temporal focus allows returners and their line managers to reduce their reliance on typical motherhood biases and instead, consider the woman’s past, present, and potential future contributions over the course of her career. We highlight the importance of temporal focus congruence at a dyadic level and the value of adopting a broader temporal focus on careers while offering new insights regarding the temporal dynamics inherent to maternity leave transitions for both returners and their managers

Revisiting the effect of emotional labor: a multi-level investigation in front-line service teams

The main purpose of this study is to consider individuals in teams and to reexamine how emotional labor affects the performance of front-line service team and team members through emotional exhaustion. Multi-source data collection and a time-lagged research design was adopted to collect data from matched team members and customers nested in 82 front-line service teams in a large electronics provider based in China. The findings show that surface acting increases emotional exhaustion which reduces customer loyalty at the team level and individual task performance at the individual level, supporting a full mediation model. While, deep acting is not associated with emotional exhaustion, it is positively linked with team member’s task performance. This study provides evidence for the nested nature of emotional labor and exhaustion in teams

Employee Engagement: An overview of the literature on the proposed antithesis to burnout.

Two trends have emerged in burnout research that have resulted in a broadening of the topic. First, the concept of burnout has been expanded to embrace all professions, whereas it was previously considered to exist only in the human services. Second, in line with the growth of positive psychology, there has been a shift in focus toward its antithesis, namely engagement, which can be defined as a positive affective-motivational state of fulfilment in employees. As a new construct, the body of literature on this subject is limited. However, this paper offers a comprehensive review of the empirical findings that are available to date. It examines the origins of research on engagement and goes on to explore the likely antecedents and consequences of this construct. In doing so it highlights the value of engagement not only as a state of well-being but also as a predictor of high performance

Predictors of early school-leaving

Early school-leaving exerts substantial costs on the individual and society. The literature indicates that quitting school early is predicted by an enmeshed group of indicators including academic and behavioural difficulties in school, deprived economic background and disengagement with the educational process. The beliefs and background of a main sample of 1,311 Junior Certificate students and a sub-sample of 188 fifth year students were assessed. Data were gathered on Intention to leave school early, constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour around Leaving Certificate completion, students’ academic attainment, cognitive ability, willingness to defer gratification, along with socio-demographic data. Modelling indicated that positive attitudes about the potential of the Leaving Certificate, and parents, and teachers perceived to be strongly pro-school completion are key to the intention to stay on. Performing well intellectually is a contributing factor. Economic deprivation does not exert a direct influence on intention, but it strongly shapes intellectual performance.Other funderCombat Poverty AgencyUCD seed funding schemeti,ke,sp.kpw29/9/1

Doctor, how can we help you? Qualitative interview study to identify key interventions to target burnout in hospital doctors

Objective To identify priority interventions for the prevention and reduction of work stress and burnout in hospital doctors through analysis of (1) doctors’ experiences of work stress and burnout and (2) their preferences with respect to interventions. Design Qualitative design using semistructured interviews analysed with deductive thematic analysis. Setting Hospitals in Ireland. Participants 32 hospital doctors (16 practising consultants and 16 doctors in training) from a range of specialties, career stages, hospital types and locations. Results Practical, system-focused interventions were found to be most needed. Challenges with basic entitlements, that is, accessing statutory leave, knowing in advance when leave can be taken and being adequately covered when on leave were identified as requiring urgent attention. Other priority interventions identified were the integration of psychological support in the everyday working environment, time and training for clinical line managers to perform key management activities such as debriefing and education interventions which highlight work stress risks and care pathways, teach self-care and train doctors in how to support one another. Conclusions Hospital doctors are feeling the effects of greater demand and fewer resources. What they most urgently need is adequate staffing levels, access to statutory leave and adequate cover when on leave. Doctors do not receive the support they need from their clinical line managers, who lack the skills and time to excel as people managers. Organisations should focus on developing clinical management skills across the system. The culture of medicine needs to change from stigmatisation and competitiveness to compassion and collaboration. Organisations, medical schools and professional bodies can steer this change through education

Is ability-job fit important for work engagement? Evidence from the Irish civil service.

Few studies of work engagement have been undertaken within a civil service context. This study draws on data from an employee survey of the Irish civil service to explore the relationship between perceptions of ability-job fit and engagement and whether this relationship is mediated by meaningful work. It also examines whether the relationship between perceived ability-job fit and meaningful work is moderated by prosocial impact. The hypotheses for mediation are supported, but the findings for moderation suggest a tension between the ideals of doing public service work and those associated with making a difference to the lives of others

A trait-state model of trust propensity: evidence from two career transitions

Trust propensity is typically conceptualized as a stable, trait-like, exogenous variable. Drawing on the social investment principle of personality change, we argue that trust propensity has situationally specific components and is likely to be less stable during periods of career transition. Using a latent curve-latent state-trait model, we present evidence that suggests that trust propensity has stable (trait) and unstable (state) components during career transition periods and that it has the potential to change over time. Our results are replicated across two, transitional workplace populations during a process of (re)socialization into an organization. In our second study, we also expand our focus to examine correlates of trust propensity and demonstrate the relationship between state and trait trust propensity and cognitive depletion. Our paper significantly extends knowledge of the nature of trust propensity and raises questions about the stability of this construct, one of the core tenets of trust theory