No description available.

No description available.

Author: Kadenic, Sanita. Stressed social secretaries in financial assistance. A qualitative study on how social secretaries experience their working situation linked to stress at a social office in Malmo. Degree project in social work, 15/30 högskolepoäng. Malmö University: Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Social Work, 2022.   The purpose of this study is to investigate how social secretaries who work in financial assistance experience their work situation in relation to stress. The empirical data was collected through nine semi-structured interviews with social secretaries working in financial assistance. Furthermore, coping and Karasek and Theorell’s demand-control model have been used as theoretical starting points. The Collected empirical evidence has been analyzed based on the selected theories and the state of knowledge. One of the central points of departure in this study was that social secretaries explained which factors contributed to stress in the workplace and which measures exist in the workplace to prevent stress, among other things. / Författare: Kadenic, Sanita. Stressade socialsekreterare i ekonomiskt bistånd. En kvalitativ studie om hur socialsekreterare upplever sin arbetssituation kopplad till stress på ett socialkontor i Malmö. Examensarbete i socialt arbete, 15/30 högskolepoäng. Malmö högskola: Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle, Institutionen för socialt arbete, 2022.   Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur socialsekreterare som arbetar inom ekonomiskt bistånd upplever sin arbetssituation i relation till stress. Empirin samlades in genom nio semistrukturerade intervjuer med socialsekreterare som arbetar inom ekonomiskt bistånd. Vidare har coping och Karasek och Theorells efterfrågestyrningsmodell använts som teoretiska utgångspunkter. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats utifrån de utvalda teorierna och kunskapsläget. En av de centrala utgångspunkterna i denna studie var att socialsekreterare förklarade vilka faktorer som bidrog till stress på arbetsplatsen och vilka åtgärder som finns på arbetsplatsen för att bland annat förebygga stress.

台灣在1989年開始引進外籍勞工，根據勞動部調查，截至104年3月底外籍勞工人數已達566,518人。台灣目前對外籍勞工已有一定程度的依賴，且未來對外籍勞工的需求將持續成長。人力仲介公司藉由翻譯人員為企業（雇主）和外籍勞工提供客務。身為第一線員工，翻譯員往往必須站在人力仲介公司角度，同時滿足企業（雇主）與外籍勞工之需求解決問題，如此想必翻譯人員將面臨嚴謹的工作壓力。過去研究發現，當員工感受到壓力時，工作績效會下降；改善員工績效的重要關鍵是在於降低工作壓力、提高員工工作滿意度。在競爭激烈的環境下，如何確保翻譯員之工作績效，是當前人力仲介公司重要課題。 本研究將探討人力仲介公司翻譯員工作壓力來源與工作滿意度現況，以及探討在不同人口特徵下，工作壓力來源及工作滿意度是否有差異。本文主要以量化研究方式，針對人力仲介公司翻譯員實施問卷調查，有效樣本共計93份。研究結果發現：（一）翻譯員的工作壓力屬於尚可接受程度，主要三大工作壓力來源為：「人際關係」、「工作負荷」及「個人責任」，（二）公司規模之不同，於工作壓力來源之「工作負荷」構面具有顯著差異，（三）翻譯員對其工作評價屬尚頗為滿意，其中「外在滿意」構面分數為最低，（四）公司規模之不同，於工作滿意度之三個構面存在顯著差異。接著，本文以質化研究方式為輔，透過訪談三家人力仲介公司之資深主管與翻譯員，由兩個不同角度瞭解第一階段研究結果之實務現象，以提供人力仲介公司實務管理建議，降低翻譯員的工作壓力，提升其工作滿意度，進而促進其工作績效。

Background: Occupational stress is a global and complex phenomenon, and workers in developing countries can be affected by it (International Labour Organisation 2001). Staff within maternity settings have been identified as being at risk of suffering from stress, resulting in adverse health outcomes (Evenden and Sharpe, 2002). However, MWAs’ perceptions of stress have not been captured and are not reflected in the literature. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore MWAs’ perceptions of occupational stress, possible cause(s), the impact and support available and the coping methods they adopted within maternity care settings (hospital) in Nigeria. Methodology: This study adopted a qualitative methodology. Husserl’s (1962) phenomenological approach was chosen as it enabled the researcher to collect rich, in-depth, descriptive accounts of the MWAs’ perceptions of the phenomenon under study through the use of semi-structured interviews. Findings: The major sources of stress for MWAs included work overload, long working hours, staff shortages, work exploitation and intensification and lack of support from senior staff. The stress levels MWAs experienced impacted on their health and well-being and resulted in related behavioural and physical reactions. Conclusion: This study confirmed that MWAs were exposed to similar stress factors experienced by other health workers and reported in the research literature. Additionally, it demonstrated the need for more qualitative studies to explore the perceptions of occupational stress among under-represented groups of healthcare workers. Importantly, this study created an opportunity to explore the experience of dedicated women facing challenging employment practices in hospital settings in Nigeria. Equally, it gave a voice to these unrecognised, almost invisible women, who were the MWAs that played a key role within the maternity services.

Background: Occupational stress is a global and complex phenomenon, and workers in developing countries can be affected by it (International Labour Organisation 2001). Staff within maternity settings have been identified as being at risk of suffering from stress, resulting in adverse health outcomes (Evenden and Sharpe, 2002). However, MWAs’ perceptions of stress have not been captured and are not reflected in the literature. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore MWAs’ perceptions of occupational stress, possible cause(s), the impact and support available and the coping methods they adopted within maternity care settings (hospital) in Nigeria. Methodology: This study adopted a qualitative methodology. Husserl’s (1962) phenomenological approach was chosen as it enabled the researcher to collect rich, in-depth, descriptive accounts of the MWAs’ perceptions of the phenomenon under study through the use of semi-structured interviews. Findings: The major sources of stress for MWAs included work overload, long working hours, staff shortages, work exploitation and intensification and lack of support from senior staff. The stress levels MWAs experienced impacted on their health and well-being and resulted in related behavioural and physical reactions. Conclusion: This study confirmed that MWAs were exposed to similar stress factors experienced by other health workers and reported in the research literature. Additionally, it demonstrated the need for more qualitative studies to explore the perceptions of occupational stress among under-represented groups of healthcare workers. Importantly, this study created an opportunity to explore the experience of dedicated women facing challenging employment practices in hospital settings in Nigeria. Equally, it gave a voice to these unrecognised, almost invisible women, who were the MWAs that played a key role within the maternity services.

In the financial industry, there is a high demand for employees to possess all the necessary skills and motivation to perform highly specialized functions, and handle demands that accompany increasing stress levels. The aim of the research was to determine whether there is a relationship between work and non-work stressors and work-life balance in the Global Market Trading industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with a sample of 72 global market trading professionals drawn from a financial institution in Gauteng. Two questionnaires and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The questionnaires proved to be reliable. The power of the study was calculated. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation was used to organise, summarise and describe the data. The findings of the study show that as global market trading professional’s intrinsic factors at work and stress regarding their personal time increases, their experience of negative WHI increase as well. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology )

In the financial industry, there is a high demand for employees to possess all the necessary skills and motivation to perform highly specialized functions, and handle demands that accompany increasing stress levels. The aim of the research was to determine whether there is a relationship between work and non-work stressors and work-life balance in the Global Market Trading industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with a sample of 72 global market trading professionals drawn from a financial institution in Gauteng. Two questionnaires and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The questionnaires proved to be reliable. The power of the study was calculated. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation was used to organise, summarise and describe the data. The findings of the study show that as global market trading professional’s intrinsic factors at work and stress regarding their personal time increases, their experience of negative WHI increase as well. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology )

Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) transactional stress-strain-coping theory provides the theoretical background for the present thesis. This theory proposes that strain (i.e., burnout) occurs when demands (i.e., work stressors) exceed coping resources (e.g., social support). The current thesis explores the influence of social support on the stress-burnout relationship in nurses. A sample of Australian nurses working across three public hospitals in Brisbane's metropolitan district were recruited to investigate the nature and level of burnout experienced by nurses. Burnout is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. The present research addresses gaps in the empirical literature by investigating the key work stressors experienced by Australian nurses and by establishing nurses' referent levels of work stress, social support, and burnout. In addition, the research explores the complex relationships between work stress, social support and burnout. The majority of nursing studies have failed to consider how support from within the nurses' work environment mitigates burnout. The present research builds upon previous nursing literature by examining the "main&qout; and "buffering" effect hypotheses. Studies have consistently found support for the main effect model, however the hypothesis that social support buffers the negative effects of stress has resulted in highly conflicting findings. Some theorists (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Cutrona & Russell, 1990) propose that the buffering effects of social support will only be found if there is an adequate match between the needs elicited by the stressful event and the type of support an individual receives. The present study extends the stress or support matching theory by exploring the matching between specific types of stressors to specific types (i.e., emotional and instrumental) and sources (i.e.,supervisor and coworkers) of support. Cutrona (1990) suggests that the controllability of a stressor is the primary dimension in determining an appropriate match between stressors and types of support. Cutrona proposes that controllable stressful events elicit needs for instrumental support and uncontrollable events elicit needs for emotional support. Heeding Cutrona's advice, independent raters classified nurses' work stressors as controllable or uncontrollable stressful events prior to investigating the stressor-support matching theory. Three sequential studies were undertaken to explore the variables of interest to this research program. In Study 1, focus groups were conducted with 68 nurses (11 males, 34 females) from two public hospitals. The qualitative data was subjected to content analysis. The findings revealed that Australian nurses are exposed to a range of job-specific stressors (i.e., Job Conditions, Job Uncertainty, Interpersonal Conflict and a Lack of Professional Recognition and Support) and generic role stressors (i.e., Role Overload, Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity). The findings prompted the research to utilise Wolfgang's (1988) Health Professions Stress Inventory to measure nurses' job-specific stressors and Osipow and Spokane's (1987) Occupational Roles Questionnaire to measure nurses' role stressors in Study 2. The findings from Study 1 also confirmed that the way nurses perceive work support is consistent with current social support literature. Nurses indicated that their two main sources of support were their coworkers and their supervisor. Furthermore, nurses discussed social support from a multidimensional perspective, recognising different types of support that were broadly classified as emotional and instrumental support. Based on these findings, the researcher developed a work support measure specifically for the purpose of this research. Items were taken from established social support scales and were slightly modified to ensure that they were contextually relevant to nurses. In Study 2, 273 nurses (38 males, 235 females) completed a multi-measure questionnaire. While there was sufficient research evidence to indicate that the Occupational Roles Questionnaire (Osipow & Spokane, 1987) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996) possess adequate levels of reliability and validity, less was known about Wolfgang's Health Professions Stress Inventory and the work support scales designed for this research program. Factor analysis of the Health Professions Stress Inventory revealed a four-factor solution: Lack of Professional Recognition and Support, Patient Care Uncertainty, Job Conditions, and Interpersonal Conflict. Cronbach's coefficient alphas ranged from .62 to .83. Factor analysis of the Coworker Support Scale revealed a two-factor solution, representing emotional and instrumental support. Cronbach's coefficient alphas for the Emotional Coworker Support and Instrumental Coworker Support were .92 and .88 respectively. Contrary to expectations, factor analysis of the Supervisor Support Scale revealed a one-factor solution. It was therefore deemed appropriate to examine Supervisor Support as a unidimensional construct in subsequent analyses. Cronbach's coefficient alpha for the Supervisor Support scale was .96. Overall, the results from Study 2 provided supporting evidence to suggest that the measures used in the current research program were psychometrically sound. In Study 3, the data collected in Study 2 was subjected to further statistical analysis. The findings from Study 3 indicated that overall, the sample of Australian nurses reported low to moderate levels of work stress, moderate levels of work support and moderately high levels of burnout. For Emotional Exhaustion, predictor variables accounted for 42.2% of the total variance. Sociodemographic factors explained a small but significant proportion of the variance (2.7%). Work stressors however, were the main predictors of Emotional Exhaustion, explaining 41.5% of the total variance. Role Overload, Job Conditions and Role Conflict were the main determinants of Emotional Exhaustion, with Role Overload explaining most of the variance. For Depersonalisation, the predictor variables accounted for 34.2% of the total variance. Sociodemographic factors (11.5%) and work stressors (33.6%) both explained a significant proportion of the variance. Role Conflict and Patient Care Uncertainty were the main determinants of Depersonalisation, with Role Conflict explaining most of the variance. For Personal Accomplishment, Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity explained 20.5% of the total variance, with Role Conflict explaining most of the variance. Sociodemographic factors and job-specific stressors were not significant Predictors of Personal Accomplishment. Evidence for main effects of work support on burnout were limited. There was no evidence to suggest that work support had significant main effects on Emotional Exhaustion. Supervisor Support had a small, but significant main effect on Depersonalisation (â = -.15, p < .05) and Personal Accomplishment (â = -.24, p < .01). There was no evidence of main effects for Emotional and Instrumental Coworker Support. Furthermore, the present research found no significant evidence to support the buffering effect of work support on burnout. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.