The Effect of the Benson Relaxation Technique on the Quality of Sleep and Working Life of Surgical Technologists in Shiraz

Background: This study evaluated the effect of the Benson relaxation method on the quality of sleep and working life of surgical technologists. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was done on 180 surgical technologists who worked in 9 hospitals in Shiraz. Before the beginning of the intervention, participants were randomly assigned to either experimental or control conditions (simple randomization). The experimental group listened to an audiotape of the Benson relaxation technique twenty minutes periods, two times a day for four weeks, while the control group did not receive any intervention at all. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index and Walton quality of working life (QWL) questionnaires were used to measure the sleep quality and working life of surgical technologists, respectively. Results: Independent t-tests indicated that after the intervention, there were significant improvements regarding the total mean scores of quality of sleep (Mean (SD) Intervention = 2.88 (1.36), Mean (SD) Control = 15.1 (3.41), P < 0.001), and working life (Mean (SD) Intervention = 133.78 (9.22), Mean (SD) Control = 62.18 (19.68, P < 0.001) and their domains in the intervention group compared to the control group. Conclusions: Our findings are an important contribution to the previous research regarding the Benson relaxation technique as a non-drug, economical method. The current results can help health professionals for determine which psychological techniques are needed to be emphasized for promoting sleep quality and quality of working life in surgical technologists.

Effects of an educational intervention to strengthen humanistic practice on haemodialysis nurses’ caring attitudes and behaviours and quality of working life: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background Nurses are trained to establish a trusting relationship with patients to create an environment promoting patients’ quality of life. However, in tech-heavy care settings, such as haemodialysis units, dehumanising practices may emerge and take root for various reasons to the potential detriment of both patients and nurses. For patients, this may lead to a deterioration of quality of life and, ultimately, of health status. For nurses, it may cause a deterioration of the work environment and, in turn, of quality of working life. Based on Watson’s Theory of Human Caring, we developed a brief educational intervention for haemodialysis nurses to strengthen their humanistic practice in the aim of improving the nurse-patient relationship and nurse quality of working life.. The intervention was tested by way of an experimental design. Methods One hundred and one haemodialysis nurses, recruited in ten hospitals in French-speaking Switzerland, were randomised into an experimental group that received the intervention and a control group. The nurse-patient relationship was measured with the Caring Nurse-Patient Interaction Scale (EIIP-70) and nurse quality of life at work was measured with the Quality of Work Life Questionnaire at four time points: pre-intervention, intervention completion, and six-month and one-year follow-ups. Random intercept regression analysis was used to evaluate change over time in the two variables under study. Results The intervention appeared to reinforce nurse attitudes and behaviours geared to a more humanistic practice. The effect seemed to fade over time but, 1 year post-intervention, six dimensions of the nurse-patient relationship (hope, sensibility, helping relationship, expression of emotions, problem solving, teaching) scored above baseline. Nurse quality of working life, too, seemed positively impacted. The cultural dimension of nurse quality of working life, that is, the degree to which everyday work activities attune with personal and cultural values, seemed positively impacted, as well, with improvement stable throughout the year following the intervention. Conclusions Results support a positive effect of the intervention over both the short term and the medium-to-long term. A brief intervention of the sort may constitute an effective means to improve the nurse-patient relationship by preventing or reducing dehumanising practices. Trial registration NCT03283891.

Corporate Social Policy as a Management Mechanism for the Level of Social Pollution Reducing

The article is devoted to the study of the role of corporate social policy as a managerial mechanism for reducing the level of social pollution on the manufacturing enterprise example. The concept of social pollution from the economic activity of economic entities is considered, the main factors of negative impact on the quality of working life and the employees’ well-being are outlined. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the social policy of the investigated enterprise was carried out using the author's methodology for analyzing the relevant socio-economic indicators. The authors studied data on the structure and volume of costs for social policy measures, the main socio-economic indicators of the enterprise and their ratio, calculated indicators of social policy parameters and identified directions for improving social policy and developing management decisions.

Intelligence augmentation: rethinking the future of work by leveraging human performance and abilities

Nowadays, digitalization has an immense impact on the landscape of jobs. This technological revolution creates new industries and professions, promises greater efficiency and improves the quality of working life. However, emerging technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are reducing human intervention, thus advancing automation and eliminating thousands of jobs and whole occupational images. To prepare employees for the changing demands of work, adequate and timely training of the workforce and real-time support of workers in new positions is necessary. Therefore, it is investigated whether user-oriented technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can be applied “on-the-job” for such training and support—also known as intelligence augmentation (IA). To address this problem, this work synthesizes results of a systematic literature review as well as a practically oriented search on augmented reality and virtual reality use cases within the IA context. A total of 150 papers and use cases are analyzed to identify suitable areas of application in which it is possible to enhance employees' capabilities. The results of both, theoretical and practical work, show that VR is primarily used to train employees without prior knowledge, whereas AR is used to expand the scope of competence of individuals in their field of expertise while on the job. Based on these results, a framework is derived which provides practitioners with guidelines as to how AR or VR can support workers at their job so that they can keep up with anticipated skill demands. Furthermore, it shows for which application areas AR or VR can provide workers with sufficient training to learn new job tasks. By that, this research provides practical recommendations in order to accompany the imminent distortions caused by AI and similar technologies and to alleviate associated negative effects on the German labor market.

Conflicts and Sustainability of Coexistence in Secondary Education: An Ethnographic Study in Spain

In the last two decades, school coexistence in Spain has suffered an important deterioration with consequences in the quality of working life and the health of teachers, as well as in the academic performance of students. Educational administrations have promoted actions to improve it; however, the results have not been positive. To give a more adequate answer we must know in depth the scope of the problem. The objective of this study was to analyze the most common types of conflicts, the degree of incidence of each one and how they are distributed among students, as well as to determine the most important underlying cause according to the teachers. The field work was carried out during the 2018/2019 academic year, in a Secondary School located in the south of the Valencian Community (Spain). The student population was 1040, 532 women and 508 men. The research followed a mixed, qualitative, and quantitative methodology, making use of in-depth interviews with the teaching staff, participant observation and a quantitative analysis of 1501 incidents that were reported throughout the academic year. The results show us differences by sex: 84% of the incidents are produced by male students and 16% by female students. Incident distribution is very uneven among the different courses. Of the center’s problems, 88.14% are concentrated in the first two years of Compulsory Secondary Education. It is remarkable that 51% of the problems are generated by only 3% of the students, mostly men and with a significant academic disinterest; therefore, it is a very small number of students, but with a great impact on coexistence

Qualidade de vida no trabalho

O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar a qualidade de vida no trabalho dos servidores públicos de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior (IES) de Minas Gerais. Foi realizada um survey com 103 docentes e técnicos administrativos de uma IES. A análise dos dados se deu a partir de estatísticas descritiva e multivariada com o auxílio do software SPSS. Mais especificamente, foi feita a Análise Fatorial Confirmatória para auferir o grau de satisfação dos colaboradores com relação a nove fatores de qualidade de vida no trabalho. Em seguida, foram feitas comparações de médias por meio dos Testes T e Anova. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que são superiores as médias de índices de QVT percebidas por diferentes grupos, tais como: as mulheres, os que ocupam cargos de gestão, aqueles que possuem menor nível de escolaridade, maior tempo de serviço na IES, e os docentes efetivos. Palavras-chave: Qualidade de vida no trabalho. Instituição de Ensino Superior. Estudo quantitativo. Quality of working life: perception of employees of a highereducation institution in Minas Gerais Abstract The objective of this research is to evaluate the quality of working life of public servants of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Minas Gerais. A survey was carried out with 103 professors and administrative technicians from an HEI. Data analysis was based on descriptive and multivariate statistics with the aid of the SPSS software. More specifically, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was carried out to measure the degree of employee satisfaction with respect to nine factors of quality of working life. Then, comparisons of means were made using the T and Anova tests. The results obtained showed that the averages of QWL indices perceived by different groups are higher, such as: women, those in management positions, those with a lower level of education, longer service time at the HEI, and permanent teachers. Keywords: Quality of working life. Higher Education Institution. Quantitative study.

Occupational Violence and Its Association with the Quality of Working Life of Nurses in Intensive Care Units of Educational-Medical Centers in 2019

Background: Violence is a critical phenomenon in clinical settings, which negatively affects the nurses’ quality of working life (QoWL). Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine occupational violence and its association with nurses’ QoWL in intensive care units. Methods: This was a descriptive, analytical, correlational study, the participants of which were 220 nurses working in the intensive care units of Mazandaran educational-medical centers. The participants were selected by using the stratified random sampling method in 2019. Data collection instruments were three questionnaires, namely Dumont Occupational Violence, Walton QoWL, and Demographic Information. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 24, and descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Overall, 63.2% of the participants rated their QoWL as average, and 68.3% of the nurses stated that they had experienced violent behaviors from their nursing colleagues. Also, people with higher incomes had significantly higher QoWL (P = 0.003). In general, there was a significant negative correlation between occupational violence and QoWL (P = 0.01, r = -0.173). Conclusions: By taking into account the various aspects of QoWL, nurse managers should adopt effective strategies to create favorable working conditions to improve the QoWL of nurses and reduce the incidence of violent behaviors.