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Copyright of BPA - Applied Psychology Bulletin (Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata) is the property of Giunti O.S. Organizzazioni Speciali and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Work ability (WA) is an important construct in Occupational Health. Over the years, various WA detection tools have been developed, and a new one is the Work Ability Personal Radar (WA-PR), capable of investigating all the dimensions that define the complexity of WA. In this new version, not only the physical dimensions are considered but also the psycho-social aspects of work capable of impacting WA. The WA-PR was born in the Finnish context. However, recently, it has also been validated elsewhere. In light of the literature on WA assessment tools, our goal is to contribute to validating the WA-PR in the Italian context. Methods: Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire administered to 405 workers in the chemical industrial sector. Results: Results show that the WA-PR correlate with WAI and other constructs conceptually related to work ability: the need for recovery, stress, and general health. Conclusions: Data analysis confirms that the WA-PR is a valuable and reliable tool for evaluating work ability in the Italian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities perform very demanding tasks within a workplace characterized by a critical psychosocial environment. Against this backdrop, the aim of this study is to extend the current literature on the job sustainability of faculty professors, examine the associations of certain job resources (meaningfulness of work, reward) and job demands (work overload, conflict among colleagues) with workaholism, burnout, engagement. A self-report questionnaire was administered within a public higher education institution in Italy to a sample constituted by 291 professors. The results of path analysis show that meaningfulness of work and reward positively correlate with work engagement, work satisfaction, and psychological wellbeing and ward off emotional exhaustion and intention to leave. Work overload correlates positively with workaholism, work-family conflict and intention to leave and negatively with job satisfaction. Finally, workaholism correlates with work engagement and mediates the relationship between work overload and work-family conflict, emotional exhaustion, and psychological discomfort. The study highlights that to support the work of academic workers and build healthy and sustainable universities, it is necessary to promote job resources and control job demands. Moreover, the study highlights that work engagement and workaholism can be respectively considered as the positive and negative sides of heavy work investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article assesses work ability in a sample of blue-collar workers who often perform physically demanding tasks., Method: The data collected resulted in 354 validly completed questionnaires from 426 participants (response rate: approximately 90%)., Results: In this sample, the average score on WAI of workers is 37.42 (SD = 6.62), indicating good work ability. Regression analyses revealed that work ability was significantly associated skill discretion (β = 0.365, P = 0.001), home-work conflict (β = -0.199, P = 0.001), and work-home conflict (β = -0.320, P = 0.001)., Conclusions: Of the psychosocial factors examined in this study, skill discretion was the most important factor associated with work ability. Therefore, it is necessary to develop measures that support this component., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None declared., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Background: One of the most difficult problems faced by health care professionals is experiencing verbal and physical abuse from patients and their family members. Some studies have shown that health care workers, especially nurses, are up to 16 times more likely to be subject to violence than other workers., Aims: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between exposure to violence, work ability and burnout., Methods: Data were collected through a questionnaire to investigate health care workers' exposure to violence (Violent Incident Form), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory) and work ability (Work Ability Index). A sample of 300 nurses was obtained for the study., Results: A total of 36% of nurses indicated that they had been a victim of violence in the past 12 months. The data analysis highlighted highly significant differences in work ability, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization between health care workers who had been victims of violence and those who had not experienced violence. Finally, work ability was shown to have a mediating effect on emotional exhaustion (indirect effect: b = 2.7, BCa CI: 1.37-4.33) and depersonalization (indirect effect: b = 1.1, BCa CI: 0.48-1.87)., Discussion: This study is one of the first to consider the mediation effect of work ability between workplace violence experienced and burnout in the healthcare sector; it reports the complexity and severity of the consequences of workplace violence in this sector.

Background: Nursery school teachers are subjected to unavoidable physical demands, such as picking up children, putting them in the cradle, changing diapers etc. The potential detrimental effects on the workers' musculoskeletal system are amplified by the aging of the working population observed in recent years., Objectives: To describe the psychophysical health of nursery school teachers employed in a North-Western Italy municipality and their age-related problems., Methods: Data were collected through a medical examination for the identification of musculoskeletal disorders, and a contextual self-administered questionnaire (for the identification of: awkward postures, work ability and depression)., Results: Nursery school teachers often adopt awkward positions during their working day, mainly lifting (93.6%) and squatting position (61.1%). Perceived musculoskeletal pain is common, especially cervical pain (63.3%) and lumbosacral pain (67.5%). Working ability was found to be good or mediocre, and inversely related with age. Depression had a fairly low prevalence (2%)., Conclusions: Findings highlight some critical issues inherent to the working conditions of nursery school teachers, underlining the need to introduce preventive measures that, in order to effectively support workers, should be adopted starting from the beginning of their career.

Introduction: Although well-being and psychophysical health of nursery school and kindergarten teachers have important implications also on the health and well-being of their recipients, studies dedicated to these workers are quite rare, particularly in Italy., Aim: The aim of the study was to observe psychophysical health conditions in a sample of nursery school and kindergarten teachers employed in the Education Services Division of the Municipality of Turin., Method: The study was cross-sectional; 884 self-reporting questionnaires were distributed and 734 teachers (representing 53% of those employed at the Education Services of the Municipality of Turin) correctly filled out the questionnaire., Results: Respectively 53.4% and 50% of participants reported medium or high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while 18.5% showed low levels of personal accomplishment. Responders reported moderate levels of work ability in 38.9% and poor levels in 5.6%. The majority of the respondents (98.7%) did not report depressive symptoms; 42.9% of the sample suffered moderate to severe limiting musculoskeletal pain. Age and profession were associated with emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and musculoskeletal pain. However, work ability and depression were only associated with age. No associations were found with depersonalization., Conclusions: The present study shows that health conditions of nursery school and kindergarten teachers were critical and that age contributed to the explanation of these conditions.