Organizational work stress interventions in a theoretical, methodological and practical context

Este artigo discute uma série de questões metodológicas e teóricas relacionadas à pesquisa no campo da intervenção em fatores psicossociais do trabalho. Essas intervenções podem ocorrer em diferentes níveis, do individual ao nível macro da sociedade. Além disso, as intervenções podem ser primárias (redução de estressores no trabalho), secundárias (redução de estresse, burnout etc.) e terciárias (redução das conseqüências de longo prazo do estresse relacionado ao trabalho). Até aqui, a maior parte das pesquisas nesse campo têm ocorrido no nível individual e costumam ser dos tipos secudário e terciário. Isso se explica pela preferência por esse tipo de intervenção que gestores e psicólogos tiveram no passado. A atividade de pesquisa nesse campo expandiu-se e aperfeiçoou-se nos últimos anos, mas alguns desafios ainda permanecem. Alguns dos problemas mais importantes são: 1) Falta de análise apropriada; 2) Desenhos de intervenção pobres; 3) Problemas com viés de seleção e com fatores de confusão; 4) Pouca distinção entre estudos etiológicos e de viabilidade. Os autores enfatizam que questões práticas relacionadas a fatores estruturais, econômicos, legais e psicológicos no local de trabalho freqüentemente impõem restrições aos pesquisadores, o que significa que são forçados a aceitar desenhos de intervenção e períodos de acompanhamento menos adequados do que aqueles que seriam desejáveis. Na conclusão, recomendam para a futura pesquisa em intervenção o uso de estudos de múltiplos casos.This article deals with a number of methodological and theoretical questions in connection with intervention research in the field of psychosocial factors at work. These interventions can take place at different levels from the individual to the macro level of society. Also, the interventions can be primary (reducing stressors at work), secondary (reducing stress, burnout, etc.) and tertiary (reducing the long term consequences of work-related stress). Most research in this field has so far has been at the individual level and of the secondary/tertiary type. This is explained by the fact that both managers and psychologists have preferred this type of intervention in the past. The research activity in the field has been expanding and improving during the last years, but a number of challenges still remain. Some of the important problems are: 1) Lack of a proper analysis; 2) Poor intervention designs; 3) Problems with selection and confounding factors; 4) Poor distinction between aetiological and feasibility studies. It is emphasized that practical issues relating to structural, economic, legal and psychological factors at the workplace often will put restrictions on the researcher, which means that less than optimal designs and follow-up periods has to be accepted. In the conclusion the authors recommend the use of multiple case studies in future intervention research

Dim light, sleep tight, and wake up bright:Sleep optimization in athletes by means of light regulation

Despite an elevated recovery need, research indicates that athletes often exhibit relatively poor sleep. Timing and consolidation of sleep is driven by the circadian system, which requires periodic light–dark exposure for stable entrainment to the 24-hour day, but is often disturbed due to underexposure to light in the morning (e.g. low-level indoor lighting) and overexposure to light in the evening (e.g. environmental and screen-light). This study examined whether combining fixed sleep schedules with light regulation leads to more consolidated sleep. Morning light exposure was increased using light-emitting goggles, whereas evening light exposure was reduced using amber-lens glasses. Using a within-subject crossover design, twenty-six athletes (14 female, 12 male) were randomly assigned to start the intervention with the light-regulation-week or the no light-regulation-week. Sleep was monitored by means of sleep diaries and actigraphy. Due to low protocol adherence regarding the fixed sleep-wake schedules, two datasets were constructed; one including athletes who kept a strict sleep-wake schedule (N = 8), and one that also included athletes with a more lenient sleep-wake schedule (N = 25). In case of a lenient sleep-wake schedule, light regulation improved self-reported sleep onset latency (Δ SOL = 8 min). This effect was stronger (Δ SOL = 17 min) and complemented by enhanced subjective sleep quality in case of a strict sleep-wake schedule. None of the actigraphy-based estimates differed significantly between conditions. To conclude, light regulation may be considered a potentially effective strategy to improve subjective sleep, but less obtrusive methods should be explored to increase protocol compliance.</p

Workdays, in-between workdays and the weekend: a diary study on effort and recovery

Contains fulltext : 55892.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)16 p

Investigating the Associations among Overtime Work, Health Behaviors, and Health: A Longitudinal Study among Full-time Employees

# The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Background It has often been suggested that high levels of overtime lead to adverse health outcomes. One mechanism that may account for this association is that working overtime leads to elevated levels of stress, which could affect worker’s behavioral decisions or habits (such as smoking and lack of physical activity). In turn, this could lead to adverse health. Purpose The present study examined this reasoning in a prospective longitudinal design. Data from the prospective 2-year Study on Health at Work (N=649) were used to test our hypotheses. Methods Structural equation analysis was used to examine the relationships among overtime, beneficial (exercising, intake of fruit and vegetables) and risky (smoking and drinking) health behaviors, and health indicators (BMI and subjective health). Results Working overtime was longitudinally related with adverse subjective health, but not with body mass

Fatigue, boredom, and objectively-measured smartphone use at work

Nowadays, many people take short breaks with their smartphone at work. The decision whether to continue working or to take a smartphone break is a so-called labor vs leisure decision. Motivational models predict that people are more likely to switch from labor (work) to leisure (smartphone) the more fatigue or boredom they experience. In turn, fatigue and boredom are expected to decrease after the smartphone was used. However, it is not yet clear how smartphone use at work relates to fatigue and boredom. In this study, we tested these relationships in both directions. Participants (N = 83) reported their current level of fatigue and boredom every hour at work while an application continuously logged their smartphone use. Results indicate that participants were more likely to interact with their smartphone the more fatigued or bored they were, but that they did not use it for longer when more fatigued or bored. Surprisingly, participants reported increased fatigue and boredom after having used the smartphone (more). While future research is necessary, our results a) provide real-life evidence for the notion that fatigue and boredom trigger task disengagement and b) suggest that taking a short break with the smartphone may have phenomenological costs

Labor/leisure decisions in their natural context: The case of the smartphone

In this research, we attempt to understand a common real-life labor/leisure decision, i.e., to perform cognitive work or to interact with one’s smartphone. In an ecologically valid experiment, participants (N = 112) could freely switch back and forth between a doing a 2-back task and interacting with their own smartphone. We manipulated the value of the 2-back task (by varying the value of monetary rewards; within-subjects) and of the smartphone (by switching on and off airplane mode; within-subjects) while we recorded incoming notifications, such as text messages. Our study produced three main findings: 1) the current value of the smartphone did not increase our statistical model’s ability to predict switches from labor to leisure when the current task value was also taken into account; 2) however, participants reacted strongly to naturally incoming notifications, which were the strongest predictor of labor-to-leisure switches; 3) there was no evidence that taking into account individual differences (in the value assigned to labor and leisure) improved the model’s ability to predict labor-leisure switches. In sum, using a situated approach to studying labor/leisure decisions, our findings highlight the importance of high task motivation, as well as the temporary distractive potential of smartphone notifications, when people face the challenge to stay focused on their productive tasks

The Impact of Cognitive and Physical Effort Exertion on Physical Effort Decisions: A Pilot Experiment

Materials, methods data and analyses (R) for the manuscrip

Sedentary Work and Participation in Leisure-Time Physical Activity

In this project we investigated the (longitudinal) associations between psychosocial work characteristics and LTPA. In addition, potential mediators and moderators of this relationship were tested