Burnout among oncology care providers

Oncology can be an exciting and challenging specialty for those who work in it. Care providers generally give many important reasons for choosing to be involved in the direct care of cancer patients, e.g. a compassion for patients who face a life threat, a desire to be closely involved in the treatment of chronically ill patients, and the challenges presented by the complex tasks of diagnosis and clinical care. In a qualitative study by Haberman et al. (1994), an oncology nurse described the essence of her practice as follows: ‘We (i.e. the patient and herself; the authors) walk down the same road, but we wear different shoes.’ And in a study by Peteet et al. (1989) among staff members of a comprehensive cancer centre in the USA, the ideal described by the largest number of clinicians was to be ‘a friend within a professional relationship’. However, in their daily routines, oncology care providers are also faced with a host of psychosocial problems that may drain their excitement and damage their commitment to ideals that initially drew them to the specialty (Flint Sparks, 1989). Eventually, this may lead to burnout, a form of chronic job stress that is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach, 1982; Schaufeli and Enzmann, 1998). In the best light, burnout can be seen not as a condemnation of the professional activity per se but rather a reflection of the total quantity of the emotional stresses of practice, which dominate the majority of professional time in the practice of oncology (Whippen and Canellos, 1991). However, left untreated, burnout might reduce a person’s ability to use the excellent capabilities that may have taken years of training to develop (Flint Sparks, 1989), and eventually might result in the care provider leaving the profession. In this chapter, we would like to give a systematic overview of work-related factors which are associated with work stress in general, and burnout in particular, among oncology care providers. Next, the results of a national, questionnaire based survey among Dutch oncology care providers with respect to (de)motivating Occupational Stress in the Service Professions aspects of their working situation and their levels of burnout and psychiatric morbidity will be presented and discussed. The last part of this chapter will address interventions to combat work stress and burnout in these professions, including a brief description of team based burnout prevention training foroncology care providers, developed in continuation of our national survey

Amplition in the workplace: building a sustainable workforce through individual positive psychological interventions

Workforce sustainability is of vital utmost importance for the viability and competitive advantage of contemporary organizations. Therefore, and in parallel with the rise of positive organizational psychology, organizations have become increasingly interested in how to enhance their employees’ positive psychological well being. In this paper, amplition interventions – i.e. interventions aimed at enhancing positive work-related well being - are presented as a valuable tool to increase workforce sustainability. In the past decade, some work-related interventions focused on amplition have been developed and tested for their effectiveness. In this paper, we will first outline some important preconditions for successful interventions and briefly discuss the intervention process itself. Next, we will give an overview of empirical work on amplition interventions, focusing on interventions that are aimed at enhancing employee work engagement. Future research should focus on testing the effects of this type of interventions on outcomes at the team and organizational level.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3

On being grateful and kind : results of two randomized controlled trials on study-related emotions and academic engagement

Despite the large amount of research attention to engagement as well as positive psychology in a general context, there have been few attempts to increase academic well-being by means of positive psychological interventions. This article tests the potential of positive psychological interventions to enhance study-related positive emotions and academic engagement, and to reduce study-related negative emotions among university students. We modified two existing positive interventions that are aimed at increasing general happiness for use in an academic context. These interventions focused on thoughts of gratitude and acts of kindness, respectively. The present study consisted of two randomized controlled trials with experimental (thoughts of gratitude or acts of kindness) and control conditions in which participants were monitored on a daily basis during the one-week intervention, and additional pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments were carried out. Results revealed that the gratitude intervention had a significant positive effect on daily positive emotions only. The kindness intervention had a positive influence on both positive emotions and academic engagement, though not in the long run. The results showed no effects on negative emotions in either of the two interventions. Positive psychological interventions seem to foster positive emotions and academic engagement, but do not decrease negative emotions

Reemployment crafting:proactively shaping one's job search

This article introduces the concept of reemployment crafting: the proactive, self-initiated behaviors undertaken by the unemployed to shape the environmental conditions of their job search in a way that enhances the person-environment (P-E) fit during the job search process. Using 2 longitudinal studies (Study 1: 3-wave study over a 3-month period, N = 153; Study 2: 4-day diary study, N = 189, days = 627), we investigated whether the manner in which the unemployed craft their job search is similar to the way employees craft their job. We examined whether reemployment crafting was positively related to job search performance (i.e., environmental exploration and networking behavior) and reemployment chances. Moreover, we examined whether contingency factors (i.e., social support and subjective goal attainment) affected the effectiveness of reemployment crafting. Results from both samples confirmed that the way the unemployed craft their job searches is similar to the way that employees craft their jobs. Reemployment crafting was positively related to job search performance, both within a 3-month period and within days. Moreover, reemployment crafting was especially beneficial for environmental exploration on days when social support and goal attainment were low. Last, environmental exploration was related to networking behavior, which in turn was predictive of reemployment chances. Specifically, in the diary study networking quality was related to reemployment status, while within the 3-month period, networking intensity seemed more effective. We conclude that reemployment crafting seems a promising way to enhance job search performance and ultimately the chances of finding reemploymen

Job stress and health

This chapter focuses on job stress in relation to workers’ physical and psycho logical health. We begin with an outline of job stress as a social problem, fol lowed by a discussion of the main perspectives on (job) stress, resulting in a process model of job stress that will be used as a frame of reference in the remainder of the chapter. In the next section, several leading models on job stress and health are presented and discussed. The role of individual differences as well as workplace social support in the relationship between job stress and health is discussed. Finally, an overview of organizational and individual inter ventions to reduce job stress is given

Providing services during times of change:can employees maintain their levels of empowerment, work engagement and service quality through a job crafting intervention?

By means of a quasi-experimental study, the effects of a tailor-made job crafting intervention for employees of a Dutch unemployment agency were evaluated. The intervention was designed to prevent a decrease in employee empowerment, work engagement and employee performance (i.e., the provision of services) due to organizational changes. Seventy-four employees received a 1-day training in which they set four job crafting goals for the subsequent weeks. After 6 weeks a reflection session was organized. Repeated measures ANOVA’s showed that the intervention prevented a decrease in employees’ feelings of empowerment. Furthermore, pre-post comparison tests showed that the control group (N = 89) experienced a significant decrease in work engagement, whereas the intervention group did not. Results showed no effect on customer-rated employee service quality. However, 1 year after the intervention, customer ratings of employee service quality were significantly higher for the intervention group compared to the control group. Although further research is needed, our results demonstrate that a job crafting intervention may be a promising tool to combat a decline in employee empowerment and work engagement during times of organizational change

To leave or not to leave?:a multi-sample study on individual, job-related, and organizational antecedents of employability and retirement intentions

\u3cp\u3eIn view of the aging and dejuvenation of the working population and the expected shortages in employees' skills in the future, it is of utmost importance to focus on older workers' employability in order to prolong their working life until, or even beyond, their official retirement age. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between older workers' employability (self-)perceptions and their intention to continue working until their official retirement age. In addition, we studied the role of potential antecedents of their perceived employability at three different levels: training and education in current expertise area as well as in an adjacent expertise area (individual level factor), learning value of the job (job level factor), and organizational career management practices (organizational level factor). Data were collected by means of e-questionnaires that were distributed among two groups of Dutch older (45-plus) white collar workers. The samples consisted of 223 employees of an insurance company, and 325 university workers, respectively. Our research model was tested separately in each sample using Structural Equation Modeling. We controlled for effects of respondents' (self-)perceived health and (self-)perceived financial situation. Similar results were found for both samples. First, the relationship of perceived employability with the intention to continue working until one's retirement age was positive, whereas the relationship between a perceived good financial situation with the intention to continue working until one's retirement age was negative. Secondly, as regards the potential antecedents, results showed that the learning value of the job was positively related to perceived employability. In addition, an employee's perception of good health is a relevant correlate of perceived employability. So, whereas perceived employability contributes to the intention to continue working until one's retirement age, a good financial situation is a push factor to retire early. In order to promote the labor participation of older workers, this study indicates that organizations should focus on the learning possibilities that are inherent to one's job rather than on providing additional training or career management. Further research is needed to test the generalizability of our results to other samples.\u3c/p\u3

Do personal resources matter beyond job demands and job resources:main and interaction effects on health-related outcomes among women working within the welfare sector

BACKGROUND:\u3cbr/\u3eOverall, health-related correlates of job demands and job resources are well-known. However, in today's working life, personal resources are considered to be of increasing importance. Beyond general mental ability, knowledge regarding personal resources remains limited. This is particularly so among women working in the welfare sector, a sector mainly employing women and with the work typically involving clients.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3eOBJECTIVE:\u3cbr/\u3eThis study investigated the importance of job demands, job resources, and personal resources for health-related outcomes, as well as the mitigating effects of resources, among women working within the Swedish welfare sector.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3eMETHODS:\u3cbr/\u3eSelf-reports from 372 women employed within the welfare sector were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3eRESULTS:\u3cbr/\u3eOverall, increasing job demands were associated with poorer health outcomes while increasing job resources and personal resources were associated with better health. Additionally, lower control aggravated the effects of quantitative job demands on health outcomes while lower feedback mitigated the effect of qualitative demands. However, personal resources had no moderating effect.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3eCONCLUSIONS:\u3cbr/\u3eJob resources seem more pertinent to health than personal resources, at least among women working within the welfare sector in Sweden