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The present study uses a revised version of the Motivation–Hygiene theory as a theoretical framework to examine the cross-lagged associations in a sample of Italian pre-kindergarten (pre-k) teachers between job satisfaction and two types of psychosocial characteristics of the work environment: motivating factors (i.e., job demands, work meaning, and role clarity) and hygiene factors (i.e., work–family conflict, rewards, peer support, and superior support). In total, 349 pre-k teachers employed in a municipal early childhood education system of a city in Northwest Italy completed a questionnaire at two time points one year apart. Cross-lagged path analysis indicated a positive reciprocal relationship between job satisfaction and work meaning. The paths from job demands and superior support at Time 1 to job satisfaction at Time 2 were found to be significant. Finally, the path from job satisfaction at Time 1 to role clarity at Time 2 was positive and significant. The present study confirms the results of previous literature suggesting that motivating factors are more strictly associated than hygiene factors with job satisfaction. Moreover, it expands current knowledge by highlighting the importance of examining both the directionality of associations between the psychosocial characteristics of the work environment and job satisfaction. From a practical point of view, the study findings are important because they help identify possible interventions to promote the quality of work life and improve the quality of the service provided by Italian pre-k teachers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of humor in working environments in which professionals are constantly exposed to death, bereavement and to human suffering and its use in negotiating work experiences by workers. This study includes a qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews and focus groups as research tools. The sample involved 55 workers (54.5% males) who hold managerial, supervisorial and operatorial positions in four funeral industry sectors: morgues, cemeteries, funeral services and crematoria services. Template analysis technique was used to analyze the collected data. The study recognized different forms of humor which funeral professionals can use in facing daily contact with death. Nine themes were identified as humorous expressions in the workplace. Three sub-categories of the affiliative style (camaraderie, pranks and laughing along with other professionals) were identified, as well as six sub-themes of the self-enhancing humor style (cadaveric rhetoric, raw language, laughing along with clients, tragicomedy, context ambiguity and the undertaker’s humor) and one category (cynicism) of the aggressive style. A further theme labelled “behind the curtains” was identified as crosscutting to all four categories. The results of this study contribute to the functional and dysfunctional use of humor in work contexts, especially in those contexts where workers deal with death and bereavement on a daily basis. The peculiarity of this research concerns the work context studied, given that limited literature is found in regards.

Although previous evidence suggests an association between work ability and burnout, no study has been specifically dedicated at establishing which is the directionality of the relationship between these two important constructs either in educational or in other occupational contexts. Studies shedding light on the directionality of this relationship are essential, as their results may address organizational management and occupational health practitioners in choosing the most proper interventions capable of early interrupting a possible loss spiral initiated by decreased work ability or increased burnout. In view of that, the aim of the present study was to examine the cross-lagged association between work ability and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, enthusiasm toward the job, and cynicism) at a distance of one year. In total, 349 early childhood educators completed a self-report questionnaire at two-time points. Data analyses were performed employing cross-lagged structural equation model (SEM). The findings indicated that work ability positively predicts enthusiasm toward the job and negatively predicts exhaustion. Conversely, work ability did not significantly affect cynicism. Moreover, none of the three-burnout sub-dimensions were found to significantly affect work ability measured at one years of distance. The main contribution of the present study was to have clarified the directionality of the association between work ability and burnout and to have identified the burnout sub-dimensions specifically affected by work ability. From a practical point of view, the present study highlighted the importance of investing in promoting work ability in order to prevent job burnout.

University organizational contexts have been changing significantly in recent years, and academic staff are expected to manage larger workloads at an increased pace. This can threaten their well-being and exacerbate work-related stress—possibly creating negative impacts on their mental and physical states. Surprisingly, academic occupational psychological health is still rarely studied. By referring to the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) conceptual model, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between university teachers’ well-being and job demands and resources, with a particular focus on the role of the relationship with students. Specifically, 550 associate and full professors were studied to determine the impact of job characteristics, quality of relationships in the work environment, and negative and positive relations with students regarding emotional exhaustion and work engagement. Hierarchical multiple regression models allowed us to highlight the fact that emotional exhaustion was positively and significantly associated with workload, conflicts with colleagues, and requests from students, and it was negatively associated with work meaning. Work engagement was positively and significantly associated with work meaning and social support from students. Our study points out that the flexible and renowned JD-R model can successfully be used to analyze the occupational psychological health of academics. Further, our study underscores the fact that, among job demands and resources, the often-neglected relations with external users (the students) can play an important role in university teachers’ perceptions of exhaustion and engagement.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led the worldwide healthcare system to a severe crisis in which personnel paid the major costs. Many studies were promptly dedicated to the physical and psychological consequences of the COVID-19 exposure among healthcare employees, whereas the research on the other working populations has been substantially ignored. To bridge the current lack of knowledge about safe behaviors related to the risk of COVID-19 contagion at work, the aim of the study was to validate a new tool, the SAPH@W (Safety at Work), to assess workers’ perceptions of safety. Methods: A total of 1085 participants, employed in several organizations sited across areas with different levels of risk of contagion, completed an online questionnaire. To test the SAPH@W validity and measurement invariance, the research sample was randomly divided in two. Results: In the first sub-sample, Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated the adequacy of the SAPH@W factorial structure. In the second sub-sample, multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the SAPH@W was invariant across gender, ecological risk level, and type of occupation (in-person vs. remote working). Conclusions: The study evidenced the psychometric properties of the SAPH@W, a brief tool to monitor workers’ experiences and safety perceptions regarding the COVID-19 risk in any organisational setting.

Background The double role of caregiver-employee (CE) defines those workers who simultaneously serve as an informal, unpaid care provider for sick, disabled, or elderly relatives, and it is a situation that is on the increase in most western countries. Providing informal caregiving can lead to detrimental effects on emotional well-being and several physical and psychological diseases (e.g., caregiver-burden). CEs can suffer double discomfort (at work and at home), but, first of all, they can be exposed to a high level of home-to-work conflict (HWI). In this study, we analyzed the CE phenomenon in a typical Italian public company, where the mean age of workers is particularly high. Methods An online questionnaire related to the perception of HWI, well-being, and discomfort at work (depression, emotional exhaustion, job engagement) in relation to the family load (none, parents with

The school context is nowadays exposed to several demanding factors relating to students and family needs, external evaluative processes of students’ learning and process outcomes, such as the ability in planning training courses and learning environment. Therefore, in order to better accomplish these demands, assessing the different aspects of the organizational climate and teachers’ morale should represent a useful method to monitor what should be improve and, on the contrary, what resources are efficiently still working. Moreover, there is a need to develop tools that adequately support schools to make self-assessment evaluations of the internal organizational climate and teacher morale. The present study proposes an Italian version of the School Organizational Health Questionnaire, developed by Hart et al. (2000). Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, results highlight that the 56-item version presents satisfactory psychometric properties. Given the scarcity of adequate measurement tools to assess the quality of the school climate and morale, the present study gives further insight to increase the use of self-assessment tools in the development of good practices and monitor teacher morale within the school context.

The funeral and mortuary sector, including funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria, is a largely neglected sector in regard to the study of occupational factors that can affect the quality of working life. The present study aimed at overcoming this gap by investigating job demands and resources that may affect burnout levels. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire involving funeral industry employees (N = 229) from cemetery, morgues, crematoria and funeral agencies in a Northern Italian region. The survey was cross-sectional and non-randomized. Results reveal that among job demands, stigma consciousness, supervisor incivility and work-to-family negative spillover significantly affect levels of burnout, whereas meaningfulness of work and family-to-work positive spillover may represent relevant resources to counter the onset of burnout. The results of this study contribute to new insights into the psychosocial working conditions that affect occupational wellbeing among the funeral industry sector by also giving insight into how to promote resources to prevent burnout.

This study aimed at the assessment of psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI-Ita) in a sample of Italian teachers and the analysis of burnout profiles based on a model that includes four dimensions: Enthusiasm toward job, Psychological exhaustion, Indolence, and Guilt. A self-reported questionnaire was filled out by 689 Italian teachers. Data analyses performed Multi-sample Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Results confirmed the hypothesized four-factor structure and the discriminant role of Guilt in differentiating clusters. Results highlights the reliability of the SBI-Ita in the assessment of teachers’ burnout. Furthermore, results evidence for a new typology of burnout that differentiate guilty from non-guilty professionals.

In recent years, the average age of workers has risen. Because of that, work ability is reducing in many sectors, especially in a public context. Given the above, it is necessary to investigate the individual and organisational resources that can play a role in the protection of work ability. This study investigates the work ability of administrative workers, examines selection, optimisation, and compensation (SOC) as a form of mediation between job control and work ability, and explores the relationship of job control, age, work ability, and SOC strategies via moderated mediation models. The findings indicate that job control, SOC strategies, and age correlate to work ability, but the effect of these factors is different. Job control and SOC strategies are positively related to work ability, and job control positively relates to the use of optimisation and compensation. However, only optimisation and compensation strategies mediate the association between job control and work ability. Finally, age moderates the effect of job control on work ability. The findings suggest that interventions, such as SOC training, promotion, and job control, may help to sustain work ability among elderly administrative workers.

The aim of this study was to test a model including relationships among internal and external violence, workplace violence-prevention climate, exhaustion, and intention to leave (ITL) in a sample of nurses. Data were collected by a self-report questionnaire involving nurses (n = 313) from two multispecialist hospitals in Italy. The survey was cross-sectional and nonrandomized. Path analyses showed the presence of the mediating role of internal violence between workplace prevention climate and exhaustion, as well as the mediating function of both types of violence between workplace prevention climate and ITL. Moreover, an indirect effect through exhaustion between internal violence and ITL was highlighted. These findings suggested that organizations that invest in preventive measures may reduce incidents of violence and, in turn, prevent negative consequences on worker well-being.

BackgroundPast studies in the teaching context provided evidence of the role of mindfulness-based intervention in improving occupational wellbeing. This study aims to increase the extant knowledge by testing the mechanism that links teachers' mindfulness at work to occupational wellbeing. Rooted in the job demand-resource model, the mindfulness trait is conceptualized as a personal resource that has the ability to impact and interact with job demands and resources, specifically workload stress appraisal and perceived meaningfulness of work, in affecting teachers' burnout.MethodsA sample of primary, middle, and secondary school teachers (N = 605) completed a questionnaire that aimed to assess teachers' mindfulness trait and the measures of the quality of occupational life in the school context. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the model fit indices; further analyses were performed to test the hypotheses about mediation and moderation effects.ResultsThe CFA showed good model fit indices. Further analyses highlighted that teachers' mindfulness is negatively associated with workload stress appraisal and that positively influenced work meaning, in turn mediating the relationship between mindfulness and burnout. Finally, mindfulness moderated the effect of workload stress appraisal on burnout.ConclusionsRooted in the job demand-resource model, this study emphasizes an underrepresented personal resource, that is, the mindfulness trait at work, and the links that favor its impact on burnout. Practical and future research implications are also discussed.

Background: Relating to the macro-level changes and the increasing complexity of the academic system, a growing number of studies began to investigate the perceived working context impact on well-being and job satisfaction of academics. A unique duality characterizes this context: academics cannot be longer defined as stress-free, but at the same time they are still satisfied and engaged in their work. There is a need to evaluate the academic environment not only in terms of stressor and strain, but also in terms of which experiences are sources of fulfillment. The study aimed to explore psychometric properties of a new instrument (AQoLW) for assessing context-specific features of the academic work and environment that characterized academics' quality of life at work. Method: A 24 item scale was deployed to academics (full, associate, and assistant professors) in a public university in the north of Italy. Items were defined to represent the main academic activities in order to measure if respondents perceived each of it as a challenging or a hindrance demand. The scale was administered online to 1,012 academics, 443 females (48.7%), mean aged 51.1 years (SD = 8.2). In order to test three theoretical models underling AQoLW, a training sample was randomly extracted (242 participants) and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A validation sample with the remaining 668 participants was used to test the measurement invariance by role of the best model emerging from the training sample. Results: Model fit demonstrate the goodness of a latent structure composed by five intercorrelated factors (CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.07). Cronbach α of the five subscales was good, ranging from 0.76 to 0.88. The scale overtakes configural invariance, but not strong invariance by role. Conclusions: The scale is able to intercept the mainly dimensions of the academic work that contribute to the quality of life of academics' staff, namely: research and public engagement, didactic work and relationships with students, career development and competition, ordinary obligations, and fund raising. AQoLW is the first tool to evaluate the academic work and its environment, identifying which activities are stressful demands and which are engaging, and promote scholars' satisfaction.

Introduction The aging of workers generally implies an increased number of workers with health problems or psychological diseases because of the growing distance between personal resources and job demands; the first may decrease, while the second are stable. In the preschool setting, the demands remain constant because children are always aged 0-3 years, while the preschool teacher's personal resources decrease with age. It is, therefore, necessary to propose multilevel interventions aimed at supporting work sustainability and workers' resources. Method This study involved twenty-seven preschools (324 teachers with an average age of 48.7 years): the control group included seventeen schools (190 teachers with an average age of 48.5 years), five schools were assigned to experimental group one (69 teachers with an average age of 48.8), and five schools were assigned to experimental group two (65 teachers with an average age of 49.1). In this context, we proposed two protocols of multilevel intervention comprising three solutions; two of these were common to both experimental groups: psychological counseling and psychosocial intervention. The third solution differed between groups: environmental redefinition (for group one); gymnastic and vocal hygiene (for group two). We hypothesized that the interventions improve teachers' work abilities, increase well-being, and decrease stress and burnout. Furthermore we hypothesized that there would be an improvement in the organizational climate of trust and in social job resources. Results Data analysis showed that the interventions were effective. In particular, the experimental groups reported significant decreases in psychological exhaustion (EG2: s = -1.48; p = .00), indolence (EG1: s = -1.36; p = .00), and stress (EG2: s = -0.94; p = .00). Furthermore, the experimental groups significantly increased their enthusiasm towards work (EG2: s = 1.21; p = .01), vertical trust (EG1: s = 0.54; p = .01), and the perception of coworker social support (EG2: s = 0.54; p = .01). The protocol that involved the GC2 was particularly effective. Conclusions These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention in a particular job setting (preschool classroom), emphasizing the need for implementing solutions aimed at supporting workers' well-being, especially in light of an aging workforce.

Interpersonal relationship require sophisticated competences of cohabitation. However, the availability of training tools to develop conflict management skills is limited and problematic. The prisoner's dilemma game (PDG), the most widely known example of game theory, a nonzero-sum game, has been used, in higher education, to provide students with an opportunity of active learning and for understanding counterintuitive concepts. It creates a condition of emotive, moral and decisional conflict in and between agents. This paper presents a case-study in higher education in which PDG was proposed to enhance organizational competences for conflict management, according to the psychoanalytic approach to organizational studies. The study aims to explore: (1) the significant characteristics of PDG used in an affective-emotional key in higher education; (2) the learning outcomes that PDG enables to activate in the participants in relation to the development of organizational skills for conflict management. Twenty students' reflective journals were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that PDG is perceived as a useful device in students' learning experience, which is appreciated in relation to its concreteness, intensity and debriefing phase. Learning outcomes allow new meanings about conflict, by emphasizing its defensive, automatic and interpersonal dimension. This paper contributes to the understanding of PDG as a tool to develop competences in dealing with the challenges of conflict management, since it seems to favor the overcoming of the individualistic stereotype in conflict representation by highlighting the interdependence of social interaction.

AIM: To examine the relationship of co-worker incivility with organisational efficiency, workload and intention to leave in nursing samples from two different countries, the USA and Italy. BACKGROUND: Organisational efficiency has received little attention as a possible correlate of co-worker incivility in the nursing management literature. Studies on co-worker incivility have primarily been carried out in North America and no cross- national studies are available. METHOD: Data were collected by a self-report questionnaire involving nurses from the USA (n = 341) and Italy (n = 313). FINDINGS: Organisational efficiency was negatively associated with workload, co-worker incivility and intention to leave in both samples. The path from co-worker incivility to intention to leave was also positive and significant in both samples. Workload was positively associated with co-worker incivility and intention to leave in the US sample, but not in the Italian sample. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that organisational efficiency is central to understanding both co-worker incivility and intention to leave among nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse administrators should adopt interventions aimed at fostering organisational efficiency in an effort to reduce nurse co-worker incivility.

Purpose Concerns about change, a measure of the perception about future losses owing to organizational change, have received scarce attention within the organizational change literature. This study aims to address some relevant questions still unexplored regarding, the relationship between concerns about change and employees’ burnout and work engagement. Moreover, it evaluates the buffering role of social support namely, that of colleagues and superiors, during the anticipation stage of an organizational change process. Design/methodology/approach Six hundred and thirty-two employees of an administrative public sector filled out a self-reporting questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using hierarchical moderated regression to show direct and moderating effects. Findings Results suggest that concerns about change, measured during the anticipation stage of an organizational change process, relate to higher burnout and lower work engagement. Social support significantly affects the relationship between concerns and outcomes. Originality/value Overall, the study shows the role exerted from concerns about change in affecting employees’ wellbeing as the early stage of the organizational change process, providing scholars and practitioners in human resources management with new insight regarding the importance of support from colleagues and supervisor to sustain successful change implementation and employees’ wellbeing.

Objective: Demographic changes involving western countries and later retirements due to the recent pension reforms induce a gradual aging of the workforce. This imply an increasing number of workers with health problems and a decreasing of ability to work. In this direction, the present study aims at examining the role of job and personal resources between age and work ability within nurses. Method: The study was cross-sectional and not randomized; data were collected by a self-report questionnaire during a multi-center survey conducted in two Italian hospitals in 2016. In this way, 333 nurses were reached. Results: Multiple linear regression showed that age is significantly and negatively associated to work ability, and that job resources (e.g., decision authority and meaning of work) and personal resources (e.g., hope and resilience) moderate the relationship between age and work ability. Discussion: These results highlight that investing in work and personal resources to support WA is even more relevant for those professions where high physical effort is required.

Background Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory by Hobfoll, the aim of the present study was to test whether the relationships among relational demands, work meaning, and intention to leave vary as a function of the presence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Method The study was cross-sectional and non-randomized. Analyses were carried out on a dataset consisting of 429 preschool teachers, who filled out a self-report questionnaire. Of them, 238 reported a MSD diagnosis and 191 were free form MSDs. Results As expected, among those who reported MSDs, relational demands were significantly associated to intention to leave, and this relationship was mediated by work meaning; moreover, among those free from MSDs, no significant paths among the three variables were found. Conclusion In general, results showed that suffering from MSDs impairs workers’ ability to face to relational demands, thus activating a spiral that encompasses diminished work meaning and intention to leave. Practical implications of results will be discussed in the paper.

Introduzione. Il burnout rappresenta un rischio psicosociale rilevante nel contesto sanitario. La disponibilita di strumenti di valutazione del burnout di cui sono note le qualita psicometriche specificatamente riferite al contesto sanitario italiano e dunque importante al fine dell’affidabilita della misurazione del fenomeno. Obiettivo. Scopo del presente lavoro e quello di fornire evidenze empiriche circa le caratteristiche psicometriche della versione italiana dello Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI-Ita) in riferimento al contesto sanitario. Metodo. Il presente lavoro si basa su dataset provenienti da due studi distinti. Lo Studio I ha coinvolto 318 lavoratori del comparto sanitario impiegati in due presidi. Lo Studio II ha coinvolto 695 medici e infermieri di una azienda sanitaria. Risultati. Dall’analisi dei dati provenienti dallo Studio I, in cui sono stati messi in competizione differenti modelli, emerge che il modello quadri-fattoriale ipotizzato da Gil-Monte (Entusiasmo per il lavoro, Esaurimento psicologico, Indolenza, Colpa) e quello che meglio intercetta la struttura soggiacente ai dati. Le analisi sui dati dello Studio II evidenziano che la struttura fattoriale e invariante tra i sottogruppi di medici e infermieri. Discussione e Conclusioni. I risultati indicano che lo SBI-Ita riporta caratteristiche psicometriche soddisfacenti rappresentando uno strumento adeguato per la misurazione del burnout nei contesti sanitari in Italia. Puo essere utilizzato proficuamente nell’ambito di rilevazioni volte alla valutazione dei rischi psicosociali in intere popolazioni lavorative (es., valutazione stress-lavoro correlato in adempimento alla L.81/08), e in fase di approfondimento diagnostico nell’ambito di interventi volti al sostegno individuale del lavoratore.