Methodological issues in assessing job stress and burnout in psychosocial research.

In recent years, researchers identified a "reproducibility crisis" of scientific studies. In assessing job stress and burnout in psychosocial research two biases that prevent the results from being generalized are common: sample bias (included web survey) and common method bias using questionnaires. These issues are commented and remedies are proposed to prevent or contain biases.

[Preconceptuel evaluation and treatement of intercurrent diseases-follow up of pregnancies in the doctor's office].

Preconceptional evaluation should be extended to all women in reproductive age. It includes, among others, screening for infections, evaluation of immunity against infectious agents detrimental to the fetus and, in high risk cases, detection of genetically transmitted diseases. Furthermore, any medication needs to be evaluated for potential embryotoxicity and teratogenicity.

Context specificity in the assessment of psychosocial risk at work: an empirical study on Italian call centre workers.

Background: Following EU requirements, in recent years standard procedures for the assessment of work-related stress have been developed in Italy. However, while such standardization has facilitated the spread and use of these procedures, it has brought a lack of specificity in risk assessment.

Objectives: To exemplify a method for the assessment of work-related stress that was developed by the University of Milan to allow the definition of risk profiles tailored to the different organizational settings.

[Work stress, common mental disorders and Work Ability Index among call center workers of an Italian company].

Aim: To test three hypotheses in an Italian sample of call center workers: higher levels of perceived work stress are associated with more frequent common mental disorders (GHQ-12) and a lower Work Ability Index; combining the Job Strain (JS) and Effort/Reward Imbalance (ERI) models increases explained variance in health over and above either model when applied separately; compared with outbound operators, inbound call handlers are expected to report a lower health status,which is due to a more intense exposure to task-related work stress factors in the latter.

Design: A multi-center cross-sectional study, conducted by means of interviews and self-administered questionnaires.

Setting And Participants: Call handlers working in the Italian branch of a telecommunication multinational company.

[Workplace bullying and sickness absenteeism].

Aim: To assess the relationship between workplace bullying and sickness absenteeism in a large sample of Italian workers.

Design: A cross-sectional study conducted by means of questionnaires.

Setting And Participants: In all, 8,992 subjects filled in a questionnaire to detect workplace bullying, the presence of work stress factors and days of sickness absence in the last year.

[Job Demands-Resources, exhaustion and work engagement in a long-term care institution].

In this study, we aimed at testing the main hypotheses of the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) in a sample of employees (n = 205, mainly healthcare workers) of a long-term care institution located in Northern Italy. Hierarchical linear regression analyses show that almost all job demands considered were significantly associated with higher general psycho-physical exhaustion (beta ranging from 0.14 to 0.

[Work-related stress in nursery school educators in the Venice and Marghera districts].

Background: Based on an investigation on organizational well-being in the Municipality of Venice (2009), we examined 110 public nursery school and preschool teachers working in the Venice and Marghera districts.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and implement a procedure for work-related stress assessment and management in Municipality of Venice, in the light of Law 81/2008.

Methods: Occupational stress and its impact on teachers' well-being and health were assessed by means of self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.

Factors affecting work ability in day and shift-working nurses.

Satisfactory work ability is sustained and promoted by good physical and mental health and by favorable working conditions. This study examined whether favorable and rewarding work-related factors increased the work ability among European nurses. The study sample was drawn from the Nurses' Early Exit Study and consisted of 7,516 nursing staff from seven European countries working in state-owned and private hospitals.

Main and interactive effects of shiftwork, age and work stress on health in an Italian sample of healthcare workers.

Among healthcare workers, shiftwork (mostly if nightwork is also included), ageing and work-related stress may be factors leading to impaired health. Such risk factors may also operate in interaction, resulting in an even increased harm for health. The present study aims at evaluating these relationships in a sample of 1842 hospital workers in Northern Italy.

[Gender differences in workplace bullying].

Background: Despite the attention that international Agencies give to the gender issue in situations of workplace bullying, few investigations have been performed on this topic.

Objectives: The aim of the study is describe the gender differences in victims of workplace bullying observed in an Italian survey.

Methods: A total of 243 subjects (124 males and 119 females) were examined at the Centre for Occupational Stress and Harassment of the "Clinica del Lavoro Luigi Devoto" (University of Milan and IRCCS Foundation); they were selected among patients who met the criteria for being considered victims of negative actions at work leading to workplace bullying.

Emerging aspects of psychosocial risks: violence and harassment at work.

In the last twenty years, psychosocial risks have become crucial in Occupational Health. Particularly, there is an increasing interest about psychological and physical violence at the workplaces. Psychological violence (mobbing or workplace bullying) is described as a situation in which the person has been the victim of negative acts directed to the person and work, with offences, discriminations and isolation.

[Questionnaire for the mobbing risk: CDL2.0].

The aim of the study is to develop and validate a questionnaire able to evaluate the risk of mobbing at the workplace. A multiple-choice questionnaire has been developed which contains, among the different items, only one revealing a mobbing situation. The questionnaire has been administered to two groups (group A--243 subjects in a mobbing situation and group B--63 subjects without exposure to mobbing) and the differences in the scores obtained have been analysed.