Work & Health

Question 1

Workplace Stressors

• Physical
• Psychosocial
• Organzational
• Extra-organizational

Answer 1

Physical Work Environment
-Noise, temperature extremes, chemical hazards, physical hazards, ergonomics

Psychosocial Work Environment

• Job task characteristics: workload, deadlines, decision autonomy
• Structural characteristics: machine pacing, forced overtime, shift work

Organizational stressors
- job securities, discrimination, benefits

Extra-organizational Factors
- commuting, childcare

Question 2

Demands / Control Model of Job Stress

Answer 2

Low Strain = high decision latitude, low psychological demands

Active Jobs = high decision latitude, high psychological demands

Passive Jobs = low decision latitude, low psychological demands

High strain = low decision latitude, high psychological demands

*Psychological demands = job requires working fast, excessive amount of work, is/not enough time, free/not free from conflicting demands of others

*Decision Latitude = skill utilization (job requires learning new things or repetitive work, high level of skill, variety of tasks)
and decision authority (ability to make own decisions, amount of say about what happens on a job)

Question 3

Repeated job Strain + Depression

Answer 3

high job strain = increased OR of major depressive disorder

Question 4

Effort-Reward Imbalance Model

Answer 4

Mismatch between high workload (effort) and long-term rewards
*this mismatch has a negative impact on health

Extrinsic Effort = time pressure, interruptions, responsibility, pressure to work overtime, physical demands

Low Reward =

• -Esteem reward (respect, adequate support, unfair treatment);
• -Monetary reward (salary) ;
• -Status control (promotion prospects, job insecurity, status inconsistency, forced occupational change)

Question 5

Potential Mechanisms of Job Insecurity + Risk of CHD

Answer 5

• Direct stress response
• Changes in health behavior
• Increased job strain due to increased work hours

Question 6

Organizational Justice

Answer 6

Consists of two domains:

1. Distributive justice: degree to which a worker believes that she is fairly rewarded on the basis of effort and performance
2. Procedural justice: formal procedures in the workplace (fair and consistent decision making processes), interactional justice (extent to which supervisors treat subordinates with respect)

Question 7

Work Family Conflict

Answer 7

1. Conflicting demands shapes strains
2. Conflict can move from work to family, and from family to work
3. Spillovers can be both positive and negative

Question 8

Adverse Work Schedules

Answer 8

• -Shift work, rotating schedules, early and late starts

- -on the rise in much of the world (both service and manufacturing)