Workshop in evaluation and applied research methods
Question 1
Occupational health psychology workshop
In the first workshop, Professor Semmer introduced Occupational health psychology in general. Because of its crucial role in work setting, more programs aiming at improving occupational health are flourishing. This is where evaluation is needed.
The purpose of Occupational health psychology is to improve the quality of work life, and to protect and promote safety, health and well-being of workers (“Occupational health psychology,” 2010). Initially, occupational health psychology was used to be called “occupational stress”, which indicates that stress is one of the most important sources of work-related injures and diseases. Individuals being in long-term stress tend to be influenced both psychologically and somatically. Psychologically, people in stress will be low self-esteem, lack of energy, more easily to burnout. Physically, it will be harder for them to go to sleep, and there is a higher risk for them to get cardiovascular problems and weaker immune system. Due to these outcomes, stressed-out individuals have a higher chance to turn to smoking, alcohol and drugs for avoidance from the reality, which further leads to poor performance at work and negative attitudes towards the organization. In addition to stress, the imbalances between demand and control, and effort and reward are threats to well-being as well.
In general, work is beneficial to individuals. Unemployed
At the psychological level, stressful and poor working conditions can cause continuing feelings of humiliation, insecurity and worthlessness. Not having a secure understanding of the future can cause large amounts of anxiety and futility that roots high levels of fatigue from day-to-day life, therefore making everyday coping difficult. Individuals who experience high levels of prolonged stress often attempt to relieve these pressures by adopting unhealthy coping behaviours; for example, the excessive use of alcohol, smoking, and
This link between occupation, health and well-being (i.e. the fact that people are occupational by nature and that engagement in meaningful occupation is essential to health) forms part of the core beliefs and values – the philosophy – of the occupational therapy (OT) profession (Kramer et al, 2003). OT has its foundations in both philosophy and science, but unlike other medical professions, it was the philosophy that came first
Introduction Stress affects millions of people. One of the most common forms of stress is that related to our careers and the workplace. In today 's economic difficulty, work related stress is even more pronounced than ever before. Everyone who has ever held a job has, felt the pressure of work-related stress. Any job can have stressful elements, even if you love what you do. According to the American Psychological Association 's (APA) annual Stress in America Survey. Only 37 percent of Americans surveyed said they were doing
Psychological stressors include interpersonal conflict, role stressors, work-family conflict, and emotional labor, which is the regulation of one’s emotions to meet job or organizational demands. Another psychological stressor that may have the most influence in determining an individual’s response to a situation is a lack of control or predictability, which is related to the amount of autonomy an employee perceives in controlling how and when they perform the tasks of their job. (Landy & Conte, 2009) Stress may result in negative behavioral, psychological, or physiological consequences and the effects of multiple stressors can be cumulative. Absenteeism, accidents,
Stress has been linked to hypertension, heart attacks, diabetes, asthma, chronic pain, allegeries, headaches, skin disorders, cancer, immune system weakness and decrease blood count (Cummings et al, 2005). It has also been linked to an increase risk of alcoholism and drug use. High levels of stress can lead to higher absenteeism, larger staff turnover and low productivity. The symptoms are evident in the quantitative data, with an
Issues such as the nature of the job and the kind of social life as well as the threatening situations to life often lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. If these situations are not managed at the source, then a person is likely to suffer dire consequences arising from such events. For instance, stress arising from job-related issues should be noted in advance. The management should take the necessary steps to ensure that their workers and colleagues work in the right environment to avoid stressful incidences (Melinda, Lawrence & Jeanne, 2015). On the other hand, individuals need to be open enough to talk out their sufferings and the situations that may cause stress in their line of
Currie, D (2010). Introduction to Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. 293
Work related stress has been emerging as one of the main causes of adverse symptoms of mental health in today’s industrial societies. The direct result of excessive pressures and/or demands placed on individuals at work, work-related stress has caused some people to develop symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other adverse mental health effects. While it might be possible that other co-factors contribute to the development of anxiety and depression in some population groups, evidence suggests that pressure from works is more likely to trigger adverse reactions in some people. In fact, positive correlations have been established between symptoms of work stress and mental health problems. That is, it is not uncommon to witness loss of
Many believe that stress is a simple problem, however it is often misunderstood and more complex than they believe (p. 181, Griffin & Moorhead, 2014). Stress is the physiological and psychological response to excessive and usually unpleasant stimulation as well as threatening events in the environment (p. 284, Schultz and Schultz, 2010). Stress appears in silent and subtle ways but this negative response affects millions of employees in all levels of all types of jobs (p. 284, Schultz and Schultz, 2010). If identified
In defining the concept of stress, occupational stress and role stress are examined based on the fact that people's lives are characterized with stressors that contribute to numerous threats to their well-being. Since the concept of role stress, which is related to occupational stress, is not found in the dictionary, the starting point in the definition and analysis of stress is the use of the term stress (Riahi, 2011, p.722). While stress was initially described as the experience of some form of strain by any living organisms, the description has been expanded to a phenomenon that contributes to severe and distressing experience,
Any work environment can have stressful aspects that can negatively affect the employees’ performance and may lead to burnout. Oftentimes when employees are stressed or burnout their commitment at the job may begin to weaken and they may lose satisfaction. Many organizations have recognized that workers burnout is the result of aggravated chronic work stressors and embodied by enervation and inefficacy. This author will discuss the impact of stress and worker burnout on organizations. Moreover, this author will consider the implication of stress and worker burnout on the employee, as well as the short- and long-term productivity of a business.
Stress is a common issue that faces every human being in different times. Stress can be caused by many factors, but one of the main reasons is work which is called occupational stress or work-related stress. Job stress does not only affect the employees’ performance within an organization, but also it affects their general health. Stress has become a challenge for employers now because high level stress results in low productivity, increased absenteeism and other problems like alcoholism, drug abuse and hypertension (Ahmad, Mohamed. 2017). It became a major problem for employers especially in developing countries where they don’t realize the importance of work-life balance and the impact of stress on the productivity level and the job
According to Elkin and Rosch (1990) workplace related stress in a major problem in the U.S. and it creates a major expense for corporations. Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske (1993) indicate that all jobs have some level of stress but jobs that are in the human services have additional stressors because they “derive from intense involvement in the lives of others”. (p.319). They also refer to the type of stress experienced by individuals working in human services as “burnout” (Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske, 1993, p.319). Another factor that can influence our stress level is how we handle life’s demands. There are different ways of reacting to the situations we face every day of our lives. We have all heard of expressions such as ‘road rage’ and ‘going postal’. These are terms that we have come to identified with violent reactions to stressors caused by situations all of us face every day. How many of us have experiences in the road that
It is critical to understand important stress management skills. If stress is not dealt with, it can result in a burnout, or perhaps worse, "People who experience high levels of anxiety are four to five times more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke" (Morrison
The type of research used in this exploration is qualitative data, Qualitative data utilizes the idea of multiple realities, this is that it rejects the positivist idea of one “real” certainty. To reflect the ideas of my research I will review several instances in which a Trump Presidency will impact the United States and the morale of the American people. As cases of President Trump’s, verbiage either reflects divisive language that is harmful to culture and the well-being of America or if his language reflects the progression of America for all, in spite of individual differences.