Secondary Traumatic Stress: Relationship With Symptoms, Exhaustion, and Emotions Among Cemetery Workers

Background: Cemeteries workers are deserving of attention because they are exposed to various psychosocial risks: these workers are subject to painful contacts and daily exposed to a work content linked to death experiences and the emotions associated with them. Secondary trauma develops from this continuous contact with others’ suffering; operators working with this type of traumatic content and dynamic could suffer from emotional disorders (Figley, 1995). Therefore, the secondary traumatic stress (STS) is seen as an occupational risk factor (Bride et al., 2004) and cemetery workers are subject to this risk. Studies on this topic have focused on the operators of emergencies, social, and health sectors; little attention has been given to cemetery workers.Aim: The present study considers the relations between the dimensions composing the STS and the psychological and physical symptoms, the perception of exhaustion, and the positive and negative emotions at work in a group of cemetery workers. Moreover, differences among occupational tasks are explored considering the different possibilities of contact with clients and trauma contagion.Methods: The study included a qualitative phase (interviews and focus groups) and subsequently a quantitative phase (self-report questionnaire) and involved 114 participants in a cemetery organization in northern Italy, divided into technicians employees (TE), technicians and specialists of decoration and garden (TS), gravediggers (GR) administrative and front office employees (AFO). Levels of secondary trauma and psychophysical symptoms were assessed, and correlations were calculated in the total sample and for the different job categories of employees.Results: AFO and TS showed the highest levels of STS and psychophysical symptoms, in particular for symptoms related to anxiety, sadness, insomnia, and gastric and musculoskeletal disorders.Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of considering the STS among also this category of workers, since they are exposed daily not only with death, but also with suffering people; grief and emotional skills are important to cope with these job characteristics cemetery workers are not trained on this. It is important to monitor symptomatic levels not only to avoid chronicity, but also to provide employees with psychological support and training about secondary trauma and its consequences

A two-steps study for the Italian adaptation of the Work-reLated Flow (WOLF) inventory: the I-WOLF

Flow at work is defined as a short-term peak experience characterized by absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation. This study tests the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the WOrk-reLated Flow (I-WOLF) inventory developed by Bakker (2008). In a first step, an exploratory factor analysis (N = 323) and a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (N = 977) were performed. The exploratory factor analysis showed a three-factor structure without cross-loadings, and the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this structure and the distinction between absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation, in line with the original scale. In the second step, the relationships between the three work-related flow dimensions and other constructs (such as personal and job characteristics, and cognitive/emotional indicators of well-being) were established. These results offer evidence of the validity of the I-WOLF by showing significant relationships with variables that are generally expected to be related with flow at work

“The Theater of the Mind”: The Effect of Radio Exposure on TV Advertising

Contemporary society requires communication strategies that integrate different media channels in order to improve advertising performance. Currently, there are not many scientific research studies of the various mass media, comparing the results of audiovisual advertising to purely audio or visual messages aimed at detecting the best combination of media, especially from a neurophysiological perspective. This study aims to investigate the effects of previous exposure to an advertisement via radio on the consumers’ response to the same advertisement shown on television (TV) or as a banner on a website. A total of seventy participants in a between-subjects experiment watched several television commercials during the advertising break of a documentary or saw some banners during a web surfing task. Half were first exposed to the same advertisements via radio. The results have shown that participants who previously listened to the radio advertisements spent a longer time looking at the brand and had a higher engagement when watching the same advertisements on television. Moreover, they had a different kind of visual attention to the website banners. This pattern of results indicates the effect of mere exposure—that is, the exposure to a radio advertisement enhances the effectiveness of the same advertisement via television or web, offering useful insights for media planning campaigns. Even if mere exposure has been extensively studied, cross-media research is scarcely explored, whereas this study detected the effects of mere exposure in a cross-media communication strategy, showing that it can be measured through psychophysiological methods

The Impact of Optimism and Internal Locus of Control on Workers’ Well-Being, A Multi-Group Model Analysis before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis led to changes in different areas of workers’ lives, as well as repercussions in stress management, social relationships, and perception of personal and professional growth. Considering this, well-being in the workplace is crucial to carrying out effective activities and performance, and it is also essential to verifying the impact of the pandemic on the current situation of workers’ overall well-being. The study investigates the mediation of Personal Growth (PG) between two personal resources at work, Internal Locus (LOCI) and Optimism (OPT), on the Pemberton Happiness Index (PHI), an important multi-faceted indicator of well-being. This study was conducted on respondents performing professions (n = 666), both before (2019, n = 410) and during the pandemic (2020, n = 256). The relationships were tested simultaneously using a multi-group structural equation model (MPLUS7). The estimated model shows that personal resources at work increase PG (LOCI mostly during the pandemic; OPT mostly before the pandemic); OPT directly increases PHI; PG increases PHI (mostly before the pandemic); and personal resources increase through PG and PHI (LOCI more during the pandemic; OPT more before the pandemic). The study is cross-sectional, as it was not possible to compare the same workers over two years. The research offers ideas for activation of training programs, support and development of individual resources, and personal growth aimed at improving well-being and the work experience for workers

The Role of Personal Resources in Buffering College Student Technostress during the Pandemic: A Study Using an Italian Sample

Given the upheavals that characterize the world of higher education and the recent literature on the subject, the examination of what can improve student well-being has become critical. The JD-R model, originally developed to explain the implementation of motivational processes and the simultaneous unfolding of mechanisms that impact health, is used to contextualize the processes that occur in higher education systems. Objective. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal resources such as optimism and self-efficacy in increasing academic engagement and as protective factors against technostress. Method. A SEM model was implemented using MPLUS 7 and Jamovi on a sample of 421 university Italian students. They completed an online self-report questionnaire during the height of COVID-19 (May–November 2021) while taking online courses and were predominantly female (64.4%) and full-time academic students (87.6%) with a mean age of 24.6 years. Direct and indirect effects were estimated, accounting for the mediating role of academic engagement. Results. The results indicate that both self-efficacy and optimism have direct and negative effects on technostress. Self-efficacy, in turn, significantly increases academic engagement, whereas optimism has no effect on it. Finally, academic engagement appears to reduce the impact of technostress on the lives of students involved in the study, confirming its mediating role in reducing technostress. Conclusions. This study provides numerous important clues and insights into improving academic performance and well-being, as the use of personal resources can have important implications for avoiding the negative consequences of technology

The Italian version of the Job Crafting Scale (JCS)

Job crafting refers to actions carried out by workers in order to bring their job demands and job resources at a preferred level. Crafting behaviors are measured by the Dutch Job Crafting Scale (JCS). The Italian version of the JCS includes the following three positive factors: increasing structural job resources, social job resources and challenging job demands. To assess the factorial validity of the scale, an exploratory factor analysis (N=311) and confirmatory factor analyses (N=410) were performed. Convergent and criterion validity were investigated through correlations with other variables. Factor analyses showed a good three-factor structure, in line with the literature. Moreover, as expected, job crafting behaviors were correlated with work self-efficacy, work engagement and job performance. Results suggest that the Italian version of the JCS can be reliably used to measure job crafting