Health, stress and technologies: integrating technology acceptance and health belief models for smartphone-based stress intervention

Work-related stress significantly jeopardizes employees’ physical and mental health due to the considerable time they spend at work. Smartphone-based interventions provide a promising solution, eliminating traditional face-to-face interventions’ barriers. However, the elements that influence workers’ intentions to use this still remain unexplored. This study explores the link between health belief model (HBM) and technology acceptance model (TAM) factors. In this study, 336 Italian workers (64% female) answered an online questionnaire. We employed a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the data. The results unveiled an indirect relationship: individuals perceiving health risks were more inclined to use stress-management apps, mediated by perceived utility (PU). This study underscores the significant potential of integrating the HBM with the TAM in predicting users’ preparedness for smartphone-based health interventions. These findings not only hold substantial value but also illuminate a path forward for professionals and organizations, offering insights to tailor and optimize smartphone tools for stress management and the promotion of workplace well-being. Ultimately, this research paves the way for the cultivation of healthier work environments, marking a noteworthy contribution to the field

Smartphone-based interventions for employees' well-being promotion: a systematic review

Occupational Psychology faces challenges concerning the promotion of employees' well-being and health. The use of emergent technologies (e.g. smartphone) has revealed new opportunities to deliver effective, cheap and early interventions. By following the international PRISMA statement guidelines, this systematic review aims to bring together workplace smartphone-based interventions, targeting employees' well-being and psycho-physical health, to address the lack of studies focused on workplace settings. Results were drawn from 31 quantitative and qualitative studies, testing smartphone applications. The authors extracted multiple information for each article: focus, target, theoretical background, users' engagement and study design. Findings show the lack of theoretical background, reliable study design and the prevalence of physical health interventions. Moreover, our review identifies the importance of users' engagement for an intervention's effectiveness. It is relevant to design specific mHealth interventions, to provide employees with the skills to cope with and manage work-stress and enhance their general health and well-being

Work inclusion of people with disabilities: arrangements for the presentation of candidates. A pilot study.

Purpose. Although some individuals with disabilities have normal intellectual abilities and high skill levels in specific areas, the unemployment rate of this population is alarming. This research aimed to create a form for the presentation of candidates with disabilities to match their needs and profile sought by recruiters. The form was articulated into: a) the description of personal and job-related skills, main personality traits, behavioural characteristics, reasonable workplace accommodations and supports; b) the assessment of candidate’s linguistic, mental and personal skills. Methodology. 62 recruiters evaluated the form comparing it with a traditional CV. Employees’ perspective on barriers to employment of people with disabilities were analysed. Interviews were conducted to investigate more in-depth recruiters’ attitudes toward employment of people with disabilities and their perspectives on the presence of obstacles to their employment. Results. The global format evaluation was positive. Results revealed that the main obstacle to work inclusion of people with disabilities was lack of knowledge and information. Limitations. Although this study used both quantitative and qualitative data, the sample dimension was limited, and the design was cross-sectional. Practical implications. Since this form provides a detailed skill profile of candidates suggesting possible practical solutions to overcome potential problems, it could be an effective tool to facilitate recruitment and work inclusion of people with disabilities. Value. To date, this is one of the few studies to examine disabled people’ work inclusion by using both quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide a practical tool for the presentation of candidates with disabilities

How Emotional Contagion among Teachers Affects the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Team Cohesion

Teachers and educators are experiencing turmoil under the drastic changes in educational practices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to research, transformational leaders effectively facilitate organizational change by fostering teachers’ sense of belonging and boosting social identity in their team members, which can result in better team well-being via higher team cohesion. Recently, research has increasingly explored the role of emotional contagion and its relationship with leadership. Accordingly, the current study aims to delve deeper into the role of emotional contagion in linking transformational leadership to cohesion among teachers in the school setting. To this purpose, 581 teachers from northern Italy filled out a self-report questionnaire (72.1% female, Mage = 47.06, and SDage = 11.42). A moderated mediation model was tested to assess the mediating role of organizational identification in the relationship between transformational leadership and team cohesion and how emotional contagion may moderate this association. The obtained results provided support to the hypothesized model. Overall, the present study corroborates the critical role of school principals’ behavior in fostering greater organizational identification among teachers, which is associated with better team cohesion. This study constitutes an early attempt to gain more insight into the role of emotional variables in explaining the influence of leadership behavior

La resilienza come fattore di protezione del benessere in azienda.

Introduzione. Sulla base della teoria della Conservazione delle Risorse (Hobfoll, 1989), la resilienza rappresenta un’importante risorsa personale poiché può aiutare i lavoratori a fronteggiare efficacemente le sfide professionali, favorendo il mantenimento del loro benessere psicologico. Studiare il ruolo di protezione di tale risorsa all’interno del contesto lavorativo è di particolare interesse poiché essa può essere rafforzata attraverso specifici training. Obiettivi. Questo studio si propone di indagare la presenza di differenze tra lavoratori aventi diversi livelli di resilienza nella percezione di possibili fonti di stress lavoro-correlato e il ruolo di protezione di tale caratteristica individuale rispetto allo sviluppo di esiti negativi di salute. Metodo. 179 lavoratori impiegati in diverse divisioni aziendali di una multinazionale italiana hanno compilato un questionario self-report che analizzava: resilienza (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale); fonti di stress-lavoro correlato (Questionario Strumento Indicatore; Occupational Checkup System); burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory); stato di salute psico-fisica (Occupational Stress Inventory). Le analisi dei dati hanno previsto statistiche descrittive, ANOVA e regressioni. Risultati. I lavoratori maggiormente resilienti tendono a percepire un maggiore controllo sul proprio lavoro e supporto da parte di colleghi e superiori, un minor conflitto di ruolo, una maggiore capacità di gestire i cambiamenti interni, una maggiore percezione di equità e sintonia con i valori aziendali. Inoltre, controllando per le variabili demografiche e le fonti di stress lavoro-correlato, la resilienza protegge i lavoratori dallo sviluppo di sintomi fisici (β = -.32; p<.001) e psicologici (β = -.48; p<.001), promuovendo l’efficacia professionale (β = .41; p < .001). Limiti. Questo studio trasversale utilizza soltanto misure self-report. Aspetti innovativi. Analizzando come lavoratori con diversi livelli di resilienza percepiscono molteplici potenziali fonti di stress lavoro-correlato e il ruolo di protezione di tale risorsa rispetto a svariati esiti di salute, questo studio fornisce ulteriore supporto circa l’importanza di fornire ai lavoratori training di resilienza psicologica

The Impact of Mental Health Leadership on Teamwork in Healthcare Organizations: A Serial Mediation Study

Background: There is compelling evidence to suggest that leadership behaviour and teamwork are critical success factors in healthcare organisations facing increasingly complex demands and limited resources. Effective teamwork is essential to deliver high-quality care, requiring integrating different professionals in the healthcare sector. Leaders play a significant role in facilitating teamwork by managing conflicts and promoting cooperation among team members. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of leadership in supporting the mental health and well-being of team members. Methods: A cross-lagged research design was used to examine the relationship between mental health-specific (MHS) leadership and teamwork. Participants were 118 healthcare professionals (76.3% female; 44.9% aged between 45 and 54 years old). Results: A serial mediation model was confirmed, showing an indirect effect of mental health leadership on teamwork through interpersonal conflict and cooperation. Conclusions: Effective (MHS) leadership can positively impact the teamwork of healthcare professionals, particularly during times of crisis

Industry 4.0 and Human Resource Management Processes: A Qualitative Study.

Industry 4.0 and Human Resource Management Processes: A Qualitative Study

A Cluster Analysis of the Acceptance of a Contact Tracing App—The Identification of Profiles for the Italian Immuni Contact Tracing App

Digital contact tracing apps have been introduced by governments as a strategy to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital contact tracking is an alternative to traditional contact tracing performed by human tracers who have to reconstruct each contact an infected person had in the recent past by means of interviews. The Italian government proposed the Immuni digital contact tracking app as a solution. Immuni uses Bluetooth technology to anonymously register all close contacts a person had: if she tests positive for COVID-19 then all registered contacts are notified. The main aim of the paper is to propose a cluster analysis of some factors concerning the possible acceptance of the Immuni app to build behaviour profiles that explain and predict the possible behaviours of the respondents. The factors considered referred to three different pillars: the technological pillar, investigated by considering factors from the technology acceptance models family; the health pillar, where variables of the health belief model were used; and the sociopolitical pillar, where some values of the respondents were considered as possible barriers to or facilitators of the acceptance of this technology. As a result of the cluster analysis, three behavioural profiles were built: the ProApp profile, the Hesitant profile, and the AntiApp profile. The first is the profile grouping the respondents who intend to use the contact tracing app; the second is more about people who are favourable of the use of the app, but some issues such as privacy reduce the strength of their intention; the last profile is about people who are less favourable to use the app. We are confident that the behaviour profiles found would be useful to build more tailored communication campaigns to help promote the use of the app by managing factors that could either be facilitators or barriers