Risk factors for digital stress in German public administrations

Abstract Objective As the digitization of the working world progresses, the demands on employees change. Not least, this is true for the setting of public administrations in Germany, which is currently affected by the transformation to E-Government. This study aims to identify and describe a risk cluster of digitally stressed employees in public administrations. Methods An online sample of 710 employees from three public administrations in North Rhine-Westphalia were surveyed about digital stress (7 items) and several potential risk factors (19 items) derived from the current research. In the first step, a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis is used to detect the risk cluster. This is followed by a comparison to the group of the remaining employees regarding their risk profiles. Results The analysis states that the digitally stressed cluster accounts for approximately ten percent of the public administration’s employees of the total sample. Employees in the risk cluster are less satisfied with on-site work overall, experience less collegial support on-site, experience less collegial support in the home office, resign more often, are more likely to feel overwhelmed, are less educated, are older in age and more often have relatives in need of care. Conclusion This work was able to identify and describe a group of digitally stressed rather than left-behind employees in public administrations to bring awareness to potentially destructive factors in the digital transformation process but eventually to social inequalities. The findings offer the basis for interventions to arise and evoke potential for further research.

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Risk Factors for Digital Stress in German Public Administrations

10.21203/rs.3.rs-645937/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sammy Joelle Shirley Wrede ◽

Dominique Rodil dos Anjos ◽

Jan Patrick Kettschau ◽

Kevin Claaßen

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Total Sample ◽

Transformation Process ◽

Home Office ◽

Left Behind ◽

Collegial Support ◽

Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster ◽

Potential Risk Factors ◽

Digital Stress

Abstract Objective: While the digitization of the working world progresses, the demands on employees are changing. Not least this is true for the setting of public administrations in Germany which is currently affected by the transformation to E-Government. This study aims at identifying and describing a risk cluster of digitally stressed employees in those public administrations. Methods: An online sample of 710 employees from three public administrations in North Rhine-Westphalia was asked about digital stress (7 items) and several potential risk factors (19 items) which were derived from current research. In a first step, a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis is used to detect the risk cluster. This is followed by a comparison to the group of the remaining employees regarding their risk profiles. Results: The analysis states, that the cluster of digitally stressed takes around ten percent of the public administration’s employees of the total sample. Employees in the risk cluster are less satisfied with on-site work overall, experience less collegial support on-site, experience less collegial support in the home office, resign more often, are more likely to feel overwhelmed, are less educated, are older in age and more often have relatives in need of care.Conclusion: This work managed to identify and describe a group of digitally stressed, rather than left-behind employees in public administrations to bring awareness to potentially destructive factors in the digital transformation process, but eventually to social inequalities as well. The findings offer the basis for interventions to arise as well as it evokes potential for further research.

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A Discordant Monozygotic-Twin Approach to Potential Risk Factors for Chronic Widespread Pain in Females

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1017/thg.2015.7 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 188-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Andrea Burri ◽

Genevieve Lachance ◽

Frances Williams

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Emotional Intelligence ◽

Potential Risk ◽

Monozygotic Twin ◽

Total Sample ◽

Chronic Widespread Pain ◽

Widespread Pain ◽

Individual Level ◽

Symptom Screening ◽

Potential Risk Factors

Chronic widespread pain (CWP) is a common disorder affecting up to 15% of the general population. The objective of the present study was to explore the role of previously reported psychosocial and interpersonal risk factors on variation in CWP by investigating CWP discordant monozygotic (MZ) twins. This approach allows separation of cause and effect relationships, albeit imperfectly, as well the control for critical confounding variables such as common environment or genetics. In a total sample of N = 3,266 female twins aged 18–89 years, MZ (113 full pairs) and DZ twins (180 full pairs) discordant for CWP were selected. Items from the London fibromyalgia symptom screening questionnaire were used to discriminate cases from controls. To assess potential risk factors, including body mass index, anxiety sensitivity (AS), emotional intelligence, personality, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and coping, validated questionnaires were used. A set of univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. Of the variables showing significant links with CWP in the univariate individual-level analyses, including age, AS, and emotional intelligence, only emotional intelligence turned out to an independent predictor to the pathogenesis of CWP in both the individual level and discordant MZ analyses. These data indicate that in women having identical genetic risk, emotional intelligence seems to play a key role, although of small effect, in the development and/or maintenance of CWP. It further seems that many of the previously reported risk factors for CWP suffer from genetic confounding.

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Premature Arterial Disease Associated with Familial Antithrombin III Deficiency

Thrombosis and Haemostasis ◽

10.1055/s-0038-1645677 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 63 (01) ◽

pp. 013-015 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

E J Johnson ◽

C R M Prentice ◽

L A Parapia

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Venous Thromboembolism ◽

Potential Risk ◽

Antithrombin Iii ◽

Arterial Disease ◽

Coagulation System ◽

Early Age ◽

Arterial Thromboembolism ◽

Potential Risk Factors ◽

Antithrombin Iii Deficiency

SummaryAntithrombin III (ATIII) deficiency is one of the few known abnormalities of the coagulation system known to predispose to venous thromboembolism but its relation to arterial disease is not established. We describe two related patients with this disorder, both of whom suffered arterial thrombotic events, at an early age. Both patients had other potential risk factors, though these would normally be considered unlikely to lead to such catastrophic events at such an age. Thrombosis due to ATIII deficiency is potentially preventable, and this diagnosis should be sought more frequently in patients with arterial thromboembolism, particularly if occurring at a young age. In addition, in patients with known ATIII deficiency, other risk factors for arterial disease should be eliminated, if possible. In particular, these patients should be counselled against smoking.

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Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization among Vietnamese adults: prevalence, risk factors and antibiotic susceptibility profile

MedPharmRes ◽

10.32895/ump.mpr.2.2.21 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 21-31

Author(s):

Nguyen Phan ◽

Hien Pham ◽

Thuc Nguyen ◽

Hoai Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Staphylococcus Aureus ◽

Antibiotic Susceptibility ◽

Nasal Carriage ◽

Resistance Rate ◽

High Rate ◽

Weight History ◽

Potential Risk Factors ◽

History Of ◽

Vietnamese Community

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has long been recognized as an important human pathogen causing many severe diseases. It is also a part of human normal flora with its ecological niche in the human anterior nares. This study focused on screening S. aureus nasal carriage in community and its relationship to human physiological and pathological factors which have not been studied in Vietnam previously. Two hundred and five volunteers in Ho Chi Minh City from 18 to 35 and over 59 years old both male and female participated in the study. Result showed that the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage in southern Vietnamese community was relatively low, only 11.2% (23/205), much lower than that in other international reports on human S. aureus. In addition, nasal carriage of the older age group (> 59 years old, 13.7%) was higher than that of younger age (18-35 years old, 10.4%). Other potential risk factors such as gender, career, height, weight, history of antibiotic usage, daily nasal wash, use of nasal medication sprays, acne problems, smoking and nasal problems showed no significant impact on S. aureus carriage. The obtained S. aureus nasal isolates were all sensitive to vancomycin. Lincomycin and tetracycline had low resistance rate with 4.3 % and 17.4 %, respectively. However, the isolates showed particularly high rate of multidrug resistance (54.2%) In summary, our data provided researchers an overview on S. aureus nasal carriage and antibiotic susceptibility profile of the community- isolated S. aureus in Vietnam. This would serve as valuable information on assessing risk of community-acquired S. aureus infections.

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