Mental Health in the workplace Flashcards
the psychologically healthy workplace
- Public Health England: defines good world as having a safe + secure job with good working hours + conditions / supportive management + opportunities for training + dev
- good work benefits health of the indiv, organisation + SOC
workplace mental health: The scope + stats
- MHI are one of the leading causes of disability, in the working population (wHO, 2019)
- 300,000 people with long term MHI lose their jobs each year
- £47 billion annual cost to employers lost productivity. absence + sickness
-15% of people at work have symptoms of a MHI
common MHI at work
-stress -> eMotional strain resulting from demanding circumstances (tight deadlines, heavy workload)
-Burnout -> response to chronic work stress that der progressively
-Anxiety-> excessive worry, nervousness (fear job loss)
-Depression -> persistent feeling of sadness + loss of interest
Early work-stress + burnout
- fight or flight
> cannon : deviation from normal processes in response to a threat - General Adaptation syndrome
> physiological charges in response to stress
> Selye : eustress (good stress) + distress
> more this occurs, greater risk of long term effects
causes of stress in workplace
- physical : work env
- Task-related : time, pressure
- Role : overload, conflict
- social: poor interactions
- schedule: overtime
- career-related
- Traumatic events
- organisational change
job-demand-resource model -stress
- If we don’t have resources to deal with demands = stress
- Demands + resources can trigger 2 processes:
> Health impairment - high demand + low resource =stress/burnout
> motivational - more job resources increase motivation + performance
treatment at work + stress
- getting Out What you put in:
> Balanced effert/reward- rewarded adequately for efforts
> social comparison: are my efforts rewarded as much as colleagues ( Equity theory) - organisational Justice:
1) Distributive - feel fairly rewarded
2) Procedural -organisational system determines how rewards are distributed but encompasses perceptions of fairness
3 ) Interpersonal- extent people feel treated with respect/dignity
4) Informational - ways decisions are communicated
How do we perceive/evaluate stressors
- Transactional model of stress + coping (Lazarus + Folkman)
- Effects of stressors depends on how we cog appraise them
-stress as transactional between person env - key stages:
1) Primary appraisal: HOw threatening the events are
2) secondary appraisal: do I have resource
3) coping strategies: problem, emotion or appraisal focused
4) Reappraisals: outcome of coping changes
Personal factors as moderaters
- Locus of control: internal (lower stress) vS external
- Resilience: reduces impact of stress
- emotional intelligence
- personality : Type A (achievement striving) VS Type B
- Neuroticism-> High = anxiety + stress
situational factors as moderators
- social support
-practical resources (time) - env itself (workplace)
HOw do stress manifest
- Physical: Short Term reactions = physiological , Long Term = physical illness
- Affective: ST distrubed mood, irritability, LT: poor mental health
-Beh: S T- job performance decreases , increased effert, LT: chronic performance issues
understanding work Stress: key factors
- The stressors: What causes stress
- stress appraisal: How do we perceive + evaluate stressor
- consequences of Stress: what happens when we are stressed
-moderators of stress: reduce or make stressors worse
Burnout
- Herbert Freudenberger dev Burnout term, describing it as physical + mental exhaustion from sustained stress + excessive demands
- Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) - 3 subscales.
1) emotional exhaustion
2) Depersonalisation
3) Personal accomplishment
Burnout in mental health professionals
- O’Connor et al (2018 )
-estimate level of burnout in MH professionals - Results:
> emotional exhaustion: 40%
> Depersonalisation: 22 %
> Personal accomplishment:19% - Increasing age Assoc with increased risk of depersonalisation but higher levels ofpersonal accomplishment
-workload + relationships at work determinants of burnout - fair treatment + supervision were protective
Working conditions + depressive disorder
-Rugulies et al
> exposure to adverse working conditions is ASSOC with increased risk of depression
> Adverse working conditions: job strain, effort-reward imbalance/ organisation issues, long hours,
- lack Of understanding biopsychosocial mechanisms that link working conditions + mental health
> Dysregulation of hypottalamic-pituitary- adrenal stress AXIs
3 aspects of MH
-Mental wellbeing -> pos construct, encompassing thriving + actualisations, pas feelings + social functioning
-Mental Health problems-> broader range of MH conditions
- Mental Disorders > phenomena that have an assigned code in diagnostic manuals
Work Stress- Anxiety/Depression
-Melchior et al (2008)
- ppts part of longitudinal health starting at birth
-Mental disorders recorded
- work stressors measured on several sub-scales
- in women high job demand Assoc with risk of MDD or GAD (75 % ) - lowest socio.ec had increased
- In men high job demand Assoc with increased MDD or GAD no Assoc between socio-economic position (80%)
mediating effect of job satisfaction
- Qiu et al
Relationship between job dissatisfaction, work stress + anxiety - Chinese employees
- High work stress + job dissat = increased depression, anxiety
-job satisfaction mediated 15.8% of relationship between stress + depression , 12.3 % for antiety
workplace -related anxiety + phobia
- within groups of persons with Clinically relevant anxiety there are : persons who have non- work anxiety, non-work anxiety + workplace phobia, only suffer workplace phobia
-workplace anxiety - = feeling uneasy - workplace phobia = phobia concerning workplaCe
workplace phobia: Haine et al (2010)
- Aim: determine if indiv who exhibit phobic avoidance of workplace could be identified as responses to stressful work events
- work-phobic showed sig elevated heart rate response + reports of fear
- All groups showed increase arousal + response to stressful work events
covid + workplace wellbeing
-lockdown had a neg impact on MH
- organisations changed how they function: transition to remote working
- social isolation from lack of interaction with coworners increased psychological suffering
working remotely
-people work when they should be on leave when ill
- increased loneliness, irritation + worry
- Figueirdo et al performed review of impact of remote working on MH - > increased stress, anxiety, depression
-Believe situation can be worsened by: social isolation, limited mobility
-represent imbalance between work requirement + capabilities of workers
-lack of delimitations between personal + professional life increases risk of burnout
Are stress + anxiety always bad?
-chronic stress is a problem but acute stress can be beneficial
- stress response is one of fundamental survival mechanism
- short term stress prepares brain for challenges- can enhance performance
Protecting + promoting worker wellbeing
-evidence varies
-workplace MH intervention covers: protection from harm, health + well-being and addressing needs of those with increased risk
- 3 clear action areas: protect MH by identifying + reducing risk factors, promote MH
