Long sedentary time is associated with worsened cardiometabolic risk markers among working adults in Eastern Ethiopia

This study aimed to examine the associations of sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk markers among working adults in Eastern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,200 participants. Data were collected using the World Health Organization NCD STEPS survey instrument, and the sedentary behavior questionnaire. The biochemical parameters were analyzed by using the Mindray BS-200 chemistry analyzer. STATA version 16.1 software was used for analysis. The associations between sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk markers controlling confounders were examined using linear regression models. An adjusted coefficient (β) with the 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to report the results. P-value < 0.05 was considered for statistical significance. One hour per day increases in total sedentary time increases the average body mass index (β = 0.61kg/m2: 95% CI: 0.49, 0.71), waist circumference (β = 1.48cm: 95% CI:1.14-1.82), diastolic blood pressure (β = 0.87mmHg: 95% CI: 0.56-1.18), systolic blood pressure (β = 0.95mmHg: 95% CI: 0.45, 1.48), triglycerides (β = 7.07mg/dl: 95% CI: 4.01-10.14), total cholesterol (β = 3.52mg/dl: 95% CI: 2.02-5.02), fasting plasma glucose (β = 4.15mg/dl: 95% CI: 5.31-4.98) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (β = 2.14mg/dl: 95% CI: 0.96-3.33). Long sedentary time is significantly associated with cardiometabolic risk markers. Interventions to reduce sedentary time to decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases among working adults.

Associations of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions with longer-term activity levels of working adults with type 2 diabetes (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Lockdown restrictions reduce COVID-19 community transmission; however, they may pose challenges for non-communicable disease management. A 112-day hard lockdown in Victoria, Australia (commencing March 23, 2020), which affected an intervention trial of reducing and breaking up sitting time in desk workers with type 2 diabetes who were using a provided consumer grade activity tracker (Fitbit). OBJECTIVE To compare continuously recorded activity levels preceding and during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions among working adults with type 2 diabetes participating in a sitting less and moving more intervention. METHODS Eleven participants (8/11 male; mean [SD] age 52.8 [5.0] years) in Melbourne, Australia had Fitbit activity tracked before (mean [SD]: 122.7 [47.9] days) and during (99.7 [62.5] days) city-wide COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Regression models compared device (Fitbit Inspire HR)-derived activity (steps; METs [metabolic equivalents], mean time in sedentary, lightly, fairly, and very active minutes, and usual bout durations) during restrictions, to pre-restriction. Relative rates (RR) <1.00 indicated a decline in activity levels following restrictions. RESULTS Total wear days were 2447. There was a decrease in steps (-1,584 steps; RR: 0.91; 95%CI: 0.89, 0.93), METs (-83 METs; RR: 0.95; 95%CI: 0.94, 0.95), lightly active (RR: 0.96; 95%CI: 0.92, 0.99), fairly active (RR: 0.82; 95%CI: 0.79, 0.85), very active (RR: 0.92; 95%CI: 0.89, 0.95) intensity minutes, and increases in sedentary minutes (RR: 1.03; 95%CI: 1.01, 1.06). Only very active (+5.1mins) and sedentary (+4.3mins) bout durations changed significantly. CONCLUSIONS In adults with type 2 diabetes, COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were associated with decreases in overall activity levels and increases in very active and sedentary bout durations. A Fitbit monitor provided meaningful continuous long term data in this context. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ANZCTRN12618001159246

Workplace Incivility and Job Satisfaction

Workplace incivility is common in organizations across the world and can have negative effects on individuals and organizations. The purpose of the reported study is to examine the effects of supervisor and coworker incivility on job satisfaction and examines emotion management as a mediator of these relationships. Data from 268 working adults were collected by survey battery and analyzed via a number of multivariate techniques. The model was supported in that both supervisor and coworker incivility had strong direct negative effects on emotion management and job satisfaction, and emotion management partially mediated the incivility-job satisfaction relationship. With supervisor and coworker incivility, the participants reported lower levels of job satisfaction. However, the participants' emotion management mitigated the negative effect of incivility on job satisfaction partially. The findings suggest that organizations need to be aware of the unfavorable consequences of incivility. Organizations need to discover ways to reduce incivility and implement efforts to help employees develop positive emotional management strategies. These actions may help reduce the negative influences of incivility on important organizational outcomes like job satisfaction.

Teleworking Research

A March 2021 survey is used to consider three hypotheses relating to working adults. Hypothesis 1 is that teleworking perceptions of leaders and employees are related in terms of promoting increased trust and improved performance. Hypothesis 2 is that a structured plan with associated resources to sustain long-term telework situations will be positively associated with program effectiveness. Hypothesis 3 is that a structured plan with associated resources to sustain long-term telework situations will be positively associated with improved performance. Presidents/CEOs (67%), upper managers (80%), and mid-level managers (75%) believe there is daily telework accountability, but the level of belief is different for those who are subordinate to them. Just 55% and 29% of supervisors and employees, respectively, share that belief. These differing viewpoints can make it difficult to manage the kind of work environment and work relationship issues that are crucial in addressing a pandemic or other crisis. In the search for shared understanding, one path to success is rules-based trust.

Integrating relational systems theory with ethical leadership: how ethical leadership relates to employee turnover intentions

PurposeAs ethical leadership has advanced as a construct, the degree to which healthy relational systems explain its effect on employee outcomes has been understudied. With this manuscript we conceptualize and test a model based on a Relational Systems approach to ethical leadership and its relationship with conflict and turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted to test our hypothesized first- and second-stage moderated mediation model. In Study 1, online surveys were completed by 168 working adults across two different time points. Study 2 extended Study 1 by surveying 115 working adults across three time points using the Mechanical Turk platform.FindingsThe indirect relationship between ethical leadership and turnover intentions via relationship conflict was conditional based on follower moral identity. The negative influence of ethical leadership on relationship conflict and, in turn, turnover intentions was stronger for followers who had higher moral identities. In addition, our findings suggest that leader holding behaviors strengthen the negative indirect effects of ethical leadership on turnover intentions.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the usefulness of a Relational Systems theoretical approach to understanding ethical leadership. Specifically, ethical leaders, through their desire and ability to help employees feel known and not alone at work, are better able to reduce relationship conflict and, in turn, reduce employees' desire to leave the organization.

Trends and correlates of hardcore smoking in India: findings from the Global Adult Tobacco Surveys 1 & 2

Background: Data on prevalence of hardcore smoking (HCS) among different socioeconomic status (SES) groups in low- and middle-income countries are limited. We looked at the prevalence and pattern of HCS in India with the following objectives: 1) to analyse the association between SES and HCS, 2) to find trends in HCS in different SES groups and 3) to find state-wide variations in hardcore smoking. Methods: Data of individuals aged ≥25 years from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) India 2009-10 (N= 9223) and 2016-17 (N= 7647) were used for this study. If an individual met all the following criteria: (1) current smoker, (2) smokes 10 or more cigarettes/day, (3) smokes first puff within 30 minutes after waking up, (4) no quit attempt in last 12 months, (5) no intention to quit at all or in the next 12 months, (6) lack of knowledge of harmful effect of smoking, s/he was identified as a hardcore smoker. Multiple regression analysis was done to find the factors associated with HCS. Results: Prevalence of HCS deceased from 2.5% in GATS 1 to 1.9% in GATS 2: males from 6.2% to 3.9% and females from 0.3% to 0.2%. Compared to the richest group the poorest, poor and those who belonged to the middle-income group were more likely to report HCS in GATS 1 and 2. However, only in the poorest SES group there was an increase in the proportion of hardcore smokers in GATS 2 compared to GATS 1. Other factors that were significantly associated with HCS in both surveys were male gender, working adults, those with lower education, early initiation of smoking and households without any rules for smoking inside the home. Conclusions: Tobacco control and cessation efforts need to focus on individuals of poor SES groups particularly in the high prevalence Indian states.

Burnout Risks of Filipino College Students during the Covid- 19 Pandemic: A Basis for Institutional Mental Health Program

Student burnout is a concept born out of the occupational syndrome of working adults. In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and shift of learning from face-to-face to online, people have experienced mental health issues in terms of burnout, especially among college students. With no mental health program in place in many higher education institutions, there is a need to find out students' burnout risks and status. This study used a modified survey questionnaire from the American Public Welfare Association to determine the burnout risks of the 245 student participants of a university in the northern Philippines. Results showed that the participants have moderate to high risks for burnout, especially the female students. These students already need interventional measures to combat their present mental health problems. It is thus recommended that future researchers be done on burnout that studies the different student constructs of burnout to formulate a more comprehensive mental health program specifically designed for students.

Stay Humble and Fly High: The Roles of Subordinate Voice and Competitive Work Context in the Linkage Between Leader Humility and Career Success

This study examines the relationship between leaders’ humility and their career success. We propose that humble leaders are more likely to occupy central positions in their subordinate teams’ voice networks where they improve their own performance and gain favorable reward recommendations. We also argue that in seemingly disadvantageous competitive work contexts, humble leaders become more central in the team voice network and increase their career prospects. We found support for these hypotheses in a multisource field study of 116 supervisors, 461 subordinates, and 34 shop managers from a Chinese company and in a vignette-based experiment with 233 working adults. Theoretical and practical implications for career success, leader humility, and voice literature are discussed.

Eldercare Responsibilities and Physical Health Symptoms Among Manufacturing Workers

Working adults responsible for providing care to older relatives at home (eldercare) have reported greater psychological health problems such as depressive symptoms and stress than workers without eldercare responsibilities. Less is known about how eldercare is associated with physical health symptoms such as sleep-related problems and pain. Among manufacturing workers, such physical health symptoms have the capacity to diminish productivity. Therefore, we explored associations between eldercare responsibilities and physical health symptoms that could affect work performance in a sample of 357 adult employees from five manufacturing companies in a northeastern US state. Research questions were: are workers with eldercare responsibilities more likely than those without eldercare responsibilities to report sleep-related and pain-related symptoms, and are the number of eldercare tasks associated with these physical health symptoms? Among sample members, 52 (14.6%) provided eldercare, 62% were male, mean(standard deviation) age=49.8(12.7), and 77% were non-Hispanic White; no demographic differences were found between those with and without eldercare responsibilities. In bivariate analyses, we found that providing eldercare was associated with lower sleep quality (p=.05), fewer hours of sleep during the workweek (p=.04), more pain interference at home and at work (p=.02), and more pain on average in the past week (p=.01). Providing more types of eldercare tasks ranging from personal care to providing transportation was associated with more pain on average in the past week (p = .04). We conclude that eldercare is associated with physical health symptoms that could directly affect job performance among manufacturing workers. Workplace policy implications will be discussed.

Financial Planning for Retirement: Developing an Integrated Model

With higher life expectancy of the aging population, retirees nowadays will spend a prolonged period of time after retirement. Yet, past studies have consistently revealed a lack of retirement savings among working adults, implying an inadequacy to maintain the quality of life in late adulthood. This study therefore aims to identify the factors influencing the working adults’ intention to purchase financial products for retirement (such as deferred annuity and voluntary contribution to retirement fund) and develop an integrated model of financial planning for retirement. A total of 598 Hong Kong Chinese working adults from diverse age and income groups completed an online survey on intentions to save and purchase specific financial products for retirement. The results of MANCOVA reveal that compared to older workers, younger workers had lower intentions to save and purchase financial products for their retirement even after controlling for their monthly income [F(16,1797)=2.24, p=.003, partial n2=.015]. An integrated model of financial planning for retirement is proposed by incorporating the concepts of the interdisciplinary psycho-motivation model and Theory of Reasoned Actions (χ2 = 40.42, p&lt;.001, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .02). In particular, the positive effects of financial literacy, subjective norms, social support, and future time perspective on intention to save and purchase financial products for retirement have been found to be mediated by retirement goal clarity but not attitudes towards retirement. Future direction on promoting younger and older workers’ retirement planning especially in the financial domain will also be discussed in the presentation.