Work Engagement: A meta-Analysis Using the Job Demands-Resources Model

Although the construct of work engagement has been extensively explored, a systematic meta-analysis based on a consistent categorization of engagement antecedents, outcomes, and well-being correlates is still lacking. The results of prior research reporting 533 correlations from 113 independent samples ( k = 94, n = 119,420) were coded using a meta-analytic approach. The effect size for development resources ( r = .45) and personal resources ( r = .48) was higher than for social resources ( r = .36) and for job resources ( r = .37). Among the outcomes and well-being correlates explored, the effect size was highest for job satisfaction ( r = .60) and commitment ( r = .63). Furthermore, moderation analysis showed that (a) concerning the occupational role, work engagement finds a low association with turnover intention among civil servants, volunteer workers, and educators; (b) collectivist cultural environments reported a greater association of feedback with engagement than individualistic environments; (c) the relationship between personal resources and engagement was stronger among workers with university degrees than workers with high school diplomas. Furthermore, the absorption dimension showed a lower effect with all variables under investigation than vigor and dedication.

Trends in Burnout and Psychological Distress in Hospital Staff Over 12 Months of The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Longitudinal Survey

Background. The mental health effects of healthcare work during the COVID-19 pandemic have been substantial, but it is not known how long they will persist. This study aimed to determine if hospital workers’ burnout and psychological distress increased monotonically over one year, during which waves of case numbers and hospitalizations waxed and waned, or followed some other pattern.Methods. A prospective longitudinal survey was conducted at four time-points over one year in a cohort of 538 hospital workers and learners, which included validated measures of burnout (emotional exhaustion scale of Maslach Burnout Inventory) and psychological distress (K6). Repeated measures ANOVA tested changes over time and differences between subjects by occupational role and age. The direction and magnitude of changes over time were investigated by plotting rates of high scores (using cut-offs) at each time-point compared to case rates of COVID-19 in the city in which the study took place. Results. There were significant changes in emotional exhaustion over time (F = 4.6, p = .004) and significant effects of occupational role (F = 11.4, p < .001) and age (F = 12.3, p < .001). The rate of high burnout was highest in nurses, followed by other healthcare professionals, other clinical staff, and lowest in non-clinical staff. Peak rates of high burnout occurred at the second or third measurement point for each occupational group, with lower rates at the fourth measurement point. Similarly to the results for emotional exhaustion, rates of high psychological distress peaked at the winter 2021 or spring 2021 measurement point in each occupational group and were highest in nurses.Conclusions. Neither emotional exhaustion nor psychological distress was rising monotonically. Burnout and psychological distress were consistently related to occupational role and were highest in nurses. Although emotional exhaustion improved as the case rate of COVID-19 decreased, rates of high emotional exhaustion in nurses and other healthcare professionals remained higher than was typically measured in hospital-based healthcare workers prior to the pandemic. Ongoing monitoring of healthcare workers’ mental health is warranted. Organizational and individual interventions to support healthcare workers continue to be important.

Norms and Roles

This chapter presents an overview of literature on the function of social norms and roles in shaping emotions and beliefs, with particular attention to journalistic professional practice. Through the concepts of accountability, transparency, truth, and social responsibility, journalism is presented as a norm-driven socially constructed profession. For example, journalists’ intrinsic personal norms are shown to be stronger in predicting their behaviour compared with extrinsic influences, such as regulatory laws or organizational policies. This chapter also focusses on journalists’ changing concepts of their own occupational role. A case study is presented on the acceptance and use of digital technologies in journalism in Nigeria, which is discussed as a double-edged sword. Although broadcast journalists may be significantly empowered by the use of such technologies, there is also a perceived dumbing down effect on journalistic practice, such that certain normative roles (e.g., sourcing information and expertise) may be jeopardized and professional ethics violated.

Effectiveness of Covishield vaccine in preventing Covid–19 — A test–negative case–control study

Introduction: This study was aimed at assessing the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of Covishield, which is identical to the AstraZeneca vaccine, in preventing laboratory–confirmed Covid–19. Methods: Using a test–negative case–control design, information on vaccination status of cases with Covid–19 among healthcare workers in our institution in Puducherry, India, and an equal number of matched controls, i.e. positive and negative for SARS–CoV–2 by RT–PCR, was obtained. The cases and controls were matched for age (± 3 years) and date of testing (± 3 days). The groups were compared using multivariable conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (OR), with adjustment for gender, occupational role, presence of symptoms and presence of a comorbidity condition. Per cent vaccine effectiveness (VE) was calculated as 100×(1−adjusted odds ratio). Results: Using data from 360 case–control pairs, VE of one dose and of two doses, in providing protection against Covid–19 was 49% (95% CI: 17%–68%) and 54% (27%–71%), respectively. In view of a difference in the proportion of cases and controls who had symptoms, a separate analysis of data from 203 pairs where both the case and the control had symptoms was done, which showed, VE of 58% (28%–75%) and 64% (38%–78%) after one dose and two doses, respectively. Among cases with moderately severe disease that required oxygen therapy, VE following any number of vaccine doses was 95% (44%–100%). Conclusion: Covishield vaccine protected significantly against Covid–19, with the protection after two doses being slightly higher than after one dose, and a particularly high protection rate against severe forms of the disease. Keywords: Covishield, Vaccine effectiveness, Test–negative design

Specifying who delivers behaviour change interventions: development of an Intervention Source Ontology

Background: Identifying how behaviour change interventions are delivered, including by whom, is key to understanding intervention effectiveness. However, information about who delivers interventions is reported inconsistently in intervention evaluations, limiting communication and knowledge accumulation. This paper reports a method for consistent reporting: The Intervention Source Ontology. This forms one part of the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology, which aims to cover all aspects of behaviour change interventions. Methods: The Intervention Source Ontology was developed following methods for ontology development and maintenance used in the Human Behaviour-Change Project, with seven key steps: 1) define the scope of the ontology, 2) identify key entities and develop their preliminary definitions by reviewing existing classification systems (top-down) and reviewing 100 behaviour change intervention reports (bottom-up), 3) refine the ontology by piloting the preliminary ontology on 100 reports, 4) stakeholder review by 34 behavioural science and public health experts, 5) inter-rater reliability testing of annotating intervention reports using the ontology, 6) specify ontological relationships between entities and 7) disseminate and maintain the Intervention Source Ontology. Results: The Intervention Source Ontology consists of 140 entities. Key areas of the ontology include Occupational Role of Source, Relatedness between Person Source and the Target Population, Sociodemographic attributes and Expertise. Inter-rater reliability was found to be 0.60 for those familiar with the ontology and 0.59 for those unfamiliar with it, levels of agreement considered ‘acceptable’. Conclusions: Information about who delivers behaviour change interventions can be reliably specified using the Intervention Source Ontology. For human-delivered interventions, the ontology can be used to classify source characteristics in existing behaviour change reports and enable clearer specification of intervention sources in reporting.

Occupational Stress Faced by Doctors of Public and Private Sector of Pakistan: Comparative Study

The survey on comparative account of occupational role stress among doctor of public and private sectors was conducted by using the Occupational Role Stress Scale (ORS), devised by Pareek (1983). Sample comprised of doctors from public (n= 30) and from private sector (n= 30). The data obtained was statistically analyzed by taking the mean of scores obtained by the doctors of both sectors, for public doctors the arithmetic mean was (M= 27.13) and for private doctors the scores were (M= 48.8). So, it was clear that mean score for occupational stress in private sector was more as compared to the Public one and thus research hypothesis was accepted.

Exploring Differing Experiences of a Masculinity Contest Culture in Policing and the Impact on Individual and Organizational Outcomes

Despite increasing allegations of misconduct, police organizations continue to overlook the environmental factors that contribute to harassment and other forms of misconduct. Using secondary survey data collected from a Canadian police organization ( N = 488), this study explored the specific factors that might contribute to masculinity contest cultures (i.e., cultures akin to a zero-sum competition with rules defined by masculine norms; MCCs). This study also examined whether MCC norms are experienced differently based on level within the organization, occupational role, and employee sex. The study findings suggest that MCC norms may be amplified by a shortage of personnel, and certain policies and practices that pit members against each other. The study also found that MCC norms are not necessarily perceived in the same way. For instance, female and frontline police officers were more likely to perceive their workplace as a MCC. Female officers were also more likely to experience harassing behaviors. This study makes a significant contribution to research and practice as it advances our understanding of MCCs within policing and how they might be changed.