Direct psychosocial health risk factors in hospital employees
A descriptive study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14528/snr.2022.56.4.3082Keywords:
psychophysical health, risks, nurses, work environmentAbstract
Introduction: In the work environment, employee health is influenced by indirect and direct psychosocial risk factors which determine employee productivity and efficiency. The aim of the study was to determine the strength of the association and the influence of direct risk factors in the workplace on the psychophysical health of hospital employees.
Method: A survey was conducted among a group of 112 out of 994 randomly selected general hospital employees. A standardised questionnaire on managing psychosocial risks and absenteeism (Cronbach α = 0.915) was used as the measurement instrument. We used quantitative data analysis to determine the correlations between the variables and regression analysis to determine the strength of the influence of the independent variables on the psychophysical health of hospital employees.
Results: Respondents most frequently reported pain in the muscles of the shoulders, neck and/or upper limbs (n = 44, 39.3%), and feeling overburdened and fatigued (n = 52, 46.6%). Four of the six direct psychosocial risk factors were significantly correlated with hospital employees'psychophysical health: work environment, work equipment and physical exertion (rs = 0.385, p < 0.01); stresss resulting from socio-demographic circumstances (rs = 0.401, p < 0.01); pace of work (rs = 0.319, p < 0.01); and work relationship with superiors (rs = 0.261, p < 0.01). Psychophysical health was found to be significantly associated with (R2 = 0.18, p < 0.01) work environment, work equipment and physical exertion (R2 = 0.15, p < 0.05), as well as stress resulting from socio-demographic circumstances (R2 = 0.08, p < 0.05).
Discussion and conclusion: Respondents need more direct supervision, consideration of their opinion in decisionmaking at the organisational level and more flexibility in terms of time constraints at work. It was found that the feelings of being overburdened and fatigued were mainly due to working night shifts, and that the most common health problem – neck, shoulder and arm pain – was due to heavy lifting and insufficient breaks from work.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Andersen, M., Lønning, K., Bjørnelv, G. M., & Fagerström, L. (2016). Nursing intensity and costs of nurse staffing demonstrated by the RAFAELA system: Liver vs. kidney transplant recipients. Journal of Nursing Management, 24(6), 798–805. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12384 PMid:27162168
Baljoon, R. A., Banjar, H. E., & Banakhar, M. A. (2018). Nurses'work motivation and the factors affecting it: A scoping review. International Journal of Nursing & Clinical Practices, 5(277), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15344/2394-4978/2018/277
Cho, S. H., Park, M., Jeon, S. H., Chang, H. E., & Hong, H. J. (2014). Average hospital length of stay, nurses' work demands, and their health and job outcomes. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 46(3), 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12066 PMid:24502556
Čehovin Zajc, J., & Kohont, A. (2017). Impacts of work intensity on employees' quality of work, life and health. Teorija in praksa, 54(2), 209–223.
D'Agostin, F., & Negro, C. (2016). Symptoms and musculoskeletal diseases in hospital nurses and in a group of university employees: A cross sectional study. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 23(2), 274–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2016.1198092 PMid:27277971
De Oliveira, L. B., Lopes de Sousa, A. F., da Cruz Silva, W., Silva, G.B., Guimaraes, M. S. O., & Batista Moura, M. E. (2014). Nurses health and safety: Ergonomic risks in critical hospital units. Journal of Nursing UFPE / Revista de Enfermagem, 8(8), 2633–2637.
Ellapen, T. J., & Narsigan, S. (2014). Work related musculoskeletal disorders among nurses: Systematic review. Journal of Ergonomics,4(2), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.4172/2165-7556.S4-003
Er, F., & Sokmen, S. (2018). Investigation of the working conditions of nurses in public hospitals on the basis of nursefriendly hospital criteria. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 5(2), 206–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.01.001 PMid:31406826; PMCid:PMC6626204
Fiedler, K. M., Weir, P. L., van Wyk, P. M. & Andrews, D. M. (2012). Analyzing what nurses do during work in a hospital setting: A feasibility study using video. Work, 43(4), 515–523. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-2012-1419 PMid:22927611
Freimann, T., Coggon, D., Merisalu, E., Animagi, L., & Paasuke, M. (2013). Risk factors for musculoskeletal pain amongst nurses in Estonia: A cross-sectional study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 14(1), pp. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-14-334 PMid:24289649; PMCid:PMC4219579
Galletta, M., Portoghese, I., Ciuffi, M., Sancassiani, F., D' Aloja, E., & Campagna, M. (2016). Working and environmental factors on job burnout: A cross-sectional study among nurses. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 12, 132–141. https://doi.org/10.2174/1745017901612010132 PMid:27990173; PMCid:PMC5120375
Kodeks etike v zdravstveni negi in oskrbi Slovenije in Kodeks etike za babice Slovenije. (2014). Ljubljana: Zbornica zdravstvene in babiške nege Slovenije – Zveza strokovnih društev medicinskih sester, babic in zdravstvenih tehnikov Slovenije.
Kralj, A., Sedmak, M., Kotnik, V., Medica, K., Sekloča, P., Medarič, Z., et al. (2011). Analiza stanja psihosocialnih tveganj na delovnih mestih v mikro, malih in srednje velikih podjetjih. Retreived May 14, 2018 from http://www.ir-rs.si/f/docs/Razvojni_projekti/Studija_MSP.pdf
Liira, J., Verbeek, J. H., Costa, G., Driscoll, T. R., Sallinen, M., Isotalo, L. K., & Ruotsalainen, J. H. (2014). Pharmacological interventions for sleepiness and sleep disturbances caused by shift work. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 12(8), 1–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009776.pub2 PMid:25113164
Mark, P. & Smith, A. P. (2011). Occupational stress, job characteristics, coping, and the mental health of nurses. British Journal of Health Psychology, 17(3), 505–521. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8287.2011.02051.x PMid:22107162
Martins Pereira, S., Teixeira, C. M., Carvalho, A. S., Hernandez-Marrero, P., & Null, N. (2016). Compared to palliative care, working in intensive care more than doubles the chances of burnout: Results from a nationwide comparative study. Plos One, 11(9), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162340 PMid:27612293; PMCid:PMC5017676
Min, A., Yoon, Y. S., & Hong, H. C. (2019). Association between nurses' breaks, missed nursing care and patient safety in Korean hospitals. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(8), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12831 PMid:31350775
Peršolja, M., Mišmaš, A., & Jurdana, M. (2018). Povezava med neprespanostjo in delazmožnostjo zaposlenih v zdravstveni negi. Obzornik zdravstvene nege, 5(1), 8–17. https://doi.org/10.14528/snr.2018.52.1.186
Portoghese, I., Galletta, M., Coppola, R. C., Finco, G., & Campagna, M. (2014). Burnout and workload among health care workers: The moderating role of job control. Safety and Health at Work, 5(3), 152–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2014.05.004 PMid:25379330; PMCid:PMC4213899
Raziq, A., & Maulabakhsh, R. (2015). Impact of working environment on job satisfaction. Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 717–725. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00524-9
Ritter, D. (2011). The relationship between healthy work environments and retention of nurses in a hospital setting. Journal of Nursing Management,19(1), 27–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01183.x PMid:21223402
Rollins, J. A. (2015). The 12-Hour Shift. Pedriatic nursing, 41(4), 162–164.
Šprah, L. & Dolenc, B. (2014). Orodje za obvladovanje psihosocialnih tveganj in absentizma (orodje OPSA). Retrieved February 21, 2018 from https://dmi.zrc-sazu.si/sites/default/files/opsa_vprasalnik.pdf
Witkoski, A., & Vaughan Dickson, V. (2010). Hospital staff nurses' work hours, meal periods, and rest breaks: A review from an occupational health nurse perspective. AAOHN Journal, 58(11), 489–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/216507991005801106 PMid:21053797
Yan, P., Yang, Y., Zhang, L., Li, F., Huang, A., Wang, Y., ... Yao, H. (2018). Correlation analysis between work-related musculoskeletal disorders and the nursing practice environment, quality of life, and social support in the nursing professionals. Medicine, 97(9), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000010026 PMid:29489648; PMCid:PMC5851758
World Medical Association. (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Journal of the American Medical Association, 310(20), 2191–2194. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.281053 PMid:24141714
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Slovenian Nursing Review
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
As the author undersigned hereby, I transfer, assign, or otherwise convey the following authorship rights as comprised in the Copyright and Related Rights Act (CRRA) to the Slovenian Nursing Review, Ob železnici 30A, 1000 Ljubljana: the right of reproduction - the exclusive right to fix the work in a material medium or in another copy directly or indirectly, temporarily or permanently, by any means and in any digital form, in whole or in part (CRRA, Article 23); the right of distribution (CRRA, Article 24); the right of making a work available and accessible through the internet (CRRA, Article 32a); the right of transformation, especially the exclusive right to translate a pre-existing work (CRRA, Article 33). The transfer of author rights applies to the article in its entirety, including pictorial and/or graphic works and possible supplements. The transfer of rights is exclusive and unlimited in duration or territory.
