The World Health Organization recognizes burnout as an occupational issue. Nevertheless, accurately identifying employee burnout remains a challenging task. To complicate matters, current measures of burnout have demonstrated limitations, prompting the development of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT). Given these circumstances, conducting an in-depth examination of the BAT's construct-relevant multidimensionality is crucial. This study focuses on both the original 23-item BAT and the short 12-item version, using modern factor analytic methods to investigate reliability, validity, and measurement invariance in a representative sample from Norway (n = 493; 49.54% women). Our findings revealed that the bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling solution (burnout global factor and four specific burnout component factors) best explained the data for both BAT versions. All factors demonstrated adequate omega coefficients, with the global factor showing exceptional strength. Both BAT versions correlated highly with each other and with another burnout measure, suggesting convergent validity. Furthermore, both BAT versions achieved full (strict) measurement invariance based on gender. Finally, our results showed that burnout acts as a mediator in our proposed job demands–resources model as preliminary evidence of predictive validity. The study validates the Burnout Assessment Tool in the Norwegian context. The study supports the reliability, validity, and unbiased nature of the tool across genders. The findings also reinforce the importance of job demands and resources, along with burnout as a key mediator, in understanding workplace dynamics in accordance with job demands–resources theory.
Background: There are individual differences in shift work tolerance; however, we lack knowledge about how this is experienced across different occupations, sex and shift types. Aims: The aim was to describe and investigate shift work tolerance, and individual differences in shift work tolerance, in two occupations, between men and women and between day/evening workers and rotating shift workers. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. The sample was comprised of 315 retail workers and 410 police employees. Results Shift work tolerance was higher among police employees compared to retail workers, among men compared to women, and among day workers compared to evening/rotating shift workers. The difference was larger between occupations than between sex and shift type. Evening workers had more symptoms of shift work intolerance than rotating shift workers. Neuroticism and autonomy were related to all symptoms of shift work tolerance among retail workers, but not police employees. Conclusions: It is important to consider the type of occupation and the work context when tailoring work arrangements to the individual.
The aim was to investigate how neuroticism moderates the affective consequences of personalized mild-moderate partial sleep deprivation. A total of 52 healthy subjects aged 18–35 years completed the NEO PI-3 at baseline, before they completed an 11-day study protocol. After maintaining habitual sleep for seven days, the participants were asked to sleep 2 h less than their average sleep duration, the last three nights of the study protocol. Sleep patterns were observed using actigraphs and sleep diaries. The participants completed the PANAS questionnaire measuring positive and negative affect at 9 am (±90 min) at day 1, 4, 8 (habitual sleep), 9 and 11 (partial sleep deprived). We found that participants with higher scores on neuroticism experienced a decrease in negative affect following sleep deprivation. Participants with lower scores on neuroticism experienced an increase in negative affect after sleep deprivation. Positive affect was reduced following sleep deprivation, regardless of scores on neuroticism.
Police employees working from home during COVID-19 lockdown: Those with higher score on extraversion miss their colleagues more and are more likely to socialize with colleagues outside work
There is a general opinion that extraverted people suffer more than introverted people in home-office arrangement and the social distancing regulation imposed by the government during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19). However, scarce research exists concerning how extraversion is associated with satisfaction with home-office arrangement, to what extent individuals miss their colleagues, level of stress, and whether they meet colleagues outside work during lockdown.
Aim We aimed to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between sleep and work-related impaired cognitive and emotional functioning in police employees. Methods This study included 410 participants (52% men) employed in a police district in Norway at baseline, of which 50% also participated in the study at 6 months later follow-up. The questionnaires included items measuring work schedule, sleep length, insomnia, as well as impaired cognitive and emotional functioning at work. Results The results showed that insomnia was related to impaired work-related emotional functioning measured at baseline, and to impaired cognitive functioning measured at both baseline and follow-up. Sleep length and rotating shift work were not associated with future decline in cognitive or emotional functioning. Conclusion Our study indicates that the relationship between insomnia and emotional functioning at work may be transient, whereas insomnia can be related to both immediate and future impaired cognitive functioning. Replication of the findings in larger samples is advised. The findings call for an emphasis on the prevention and treatment of sleep problems among police employees as a mean of maintaining and improving cognitive and emotional functioning at work, and thereby reducing the risk for impaired performance and negative health and safety outcomes.
Langvik, Eva; Saksvik-Lehouillier, Ingvild, Kennair, Leif Edward Ottesen, Sørengaard, Torhild Anita & Bendixen, Mons (2019)
Gender differences in factors associated with symptoms of depression among high school students: an examination of the direct and indirect effects of insomnia symptoms and physical activity
The present study examines the relationship between the personality traits of the five-factor model and fatigue among shift workers. The participants were recruited from shift workers employed in a municipality in Norway. Questionnaires were administered at two times, once in January 2013 (T1) and again in June 2013 (T2). The results showed that neuroticism had a positive association with both physical and mental fatigue at T1, and was the only trait that could predict physical fatigue at T2. The study demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between physical and mental fatigue given the distinctive influence of personality traits on the two concepts.