scholarly journals Bullying at Workplace and Brain-Imaging Correlates

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Nolfe ◽  
Mario Cirillo ◽  
Alessandro Iavarone ◽  
Alberto Negro ◽  
Elisabetta Garofalo ◽  
...  

The relationship between psychosocial stress at work and mental health outcome is well-known. Brain-imaging studies hypothesize morphological brain modifications connected to work-related stress. To our knowledge this is the first study describing the link between work characteristics and brain imaging in a sample of work-related psychiatric patients assessed according to standardized clinical and diagnostic criteria. The aims of the study are: (1) to evaluate hippocampal and whole brain volumes in work-related psychiatric disturbances; (2) to verify the relationship between brain changes and the anxious and/or depressive symptoms; (3) to observe the relationship between the brain changes and the degree of the bullying at workplace. The hippocampus and whole brain volumes of 23 patients with work-related adjustment-disorders were compared with 15 controls by means of MRI. MR images highlight a smaller hippocampal volume in patients compared with controls. Significant reduction in the patients’ gray matter was found in three brain areas: right inferior temporal gyrus, left cuneus, left inferior occipital gyrus. The reduction of the hippocampi volumes was related to work distress and, above all, to bullying at workplace. The results confirm that the morphological brain abnormalities could be involved in work-related psychiatric disturbances.

Author(s):  
Marta Makara-Studzińska ◽  
Krystyna Golonka ◽  
Bernadetta Izydorczyk

The purpose of the study is to analyze the importance of individual resources in firefighting, one of the highest risk professions. Firefighters from 12 different Polish provinces (N = 580; men; M (mean age) = 35.26 year, SD = 6.74) were analyzed regarding the perceived stress at work, burnout, self-efficacy, and a broad range of sociodemographic variables. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Link Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ), and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) were used in the study. To explore the relationships between work-related stress, burnout, and self-efficacy, separate regression models for each burnout dimension were analyzed. The results revealed that self-efficacy is a significant moderator that changes the direction and strength of the relationships between perceived stress and psychophysical exhaustion, sense of professional inefficacy, and disillusion. However, self-efficacy did not moderate the relationship between stress and lack of engagement in relationships (relationship deterioration). The results indicate that self-efficacy in firefighters is a crucial personal resource that buffers the impact of perceived stress on most burnout symptoms. It may be concluded that in high risk professions, special attention should be paid to developing self-efficacy as an important part of burnout prevention programs, pro-health activities, and psychoeducation.


Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (9) ◽  
pp. e864-e878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilse A.C. Arnoldussen ◽  
Deborah R. Gustafson ◽  
Esther M.C. Leijsen ◽  
Frank-Erik de Leeuw ◽  
Amanda J. Kiliaan

ObjectiveAdiposity predictors, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and blood leptin and total adiponectin levels were associated with components of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and brain volumetry in 503 adults with CSVD who were ≥50 years of age and enrolled in the Radboud University Nijmegen Diffusion Tensor and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Cohort (RUN DMC).MethodsRUN DMC participants were followed up for 9 years (2006–2015). BMI, WC, brain imaging, and dementia diagnoses were evaluated at baseline and follow-up. Adipokines were measured at baseline. Brain imaging outcomes included CSVD components, white matter hyperintensities, lacunes, microbleeds, gray and white matter, hippocampal, total brain, and intracranial volumes.ResultsCross-sectionally among men at baseline, higher BMI, WC, and leptin were associated with lower gray matter and total brain volumes, and higher BMI and WC were associated with lower hippocampal volume. At follow-up 9 years later, higher BMI was cross-sectionally associated with lower gray matter volume, and an obese WC (>102 cm) was protective for ≥1 lacune or ≥1 microbleed in men. In women, increasing BMI and overweight or obesity (BMI ≥25 kg/m2 or WC >88 cm) were associated with ≥1 lacune. Longitudinally, over 9 years, a baseline obese WC was associated with decreasing hippocampal volume, particularly in men, and increasing white matter hyperintensity volume in women and men.ConclusionsAnthropometric and metabolic adiposity predictors were differentially associated with CSVD components and brain volumetry outcomes by sex. Higher adiposity is associated with a vascular-neurodegenerative spectrum among adults at risk for vascular forms of cognitive impairment and dementias.


Author(s):  
Małgorzata Wojciechowska ◽  
Aleksandra Jasielska ◽  
Michał Ziarko ◽  
Michał Sieński ◽  
Maciej Różewicki

Aim: The main purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia, stress at work, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in impact emergency call center operators working in Poland (province of Greater Poland). The risk of exposure to critical life events was also considered. Methods: Data were collected using self-report questionnaires administered after dispatchers’ shifts. The emergency call center operators (N = 66) completed the Impact of Event Scale—Revised, 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Workplace Perceived Stress Questionnaire, and a questionnaire measuring the frequency and intensity of potentially traumatic events faced by emergency operators (a questionnaire developed by the authors). Results: Twenty of the most frequent events (e.g., child sexual harassment, rape, etc.) were identified. Results indicated that post-traumatic stress positively correlated with (a) work-related stress and (b) one aspect of alexithymia: difficulty expressing feelings. Additionally, work-related stress was identified as a mediator for the relation between alexithymia and the intensity of post-traumatic stress. Conclusions: The results of this study confirm that emergency operators are a high-risk group for the development of PTSD. The study results suggest that performing the work of an emergency dispatcher is not only demanding but also inherently involves participation in potentially traumatic events (as encountered through emergency calls).


1974 ◽  
Vol 125 (587) ◽  
pp. 406-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur P. Schless ◽  
L. Schwartz ◽  
Christopher Goetz ◽  
J. Mendels

The role of a broad range of life events, especially those viewed as stressful, in the genesis of somatic illnesses or psychiatric disturbances is a subject of considerable interest. Recently attempts have been made to develop quantitative measures of life events and to explore the relationship between the ‘amount’ of life events and/or stress and illness in a general population (Rahe et al., 1968; Rahe et al., 1970): for example, The Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire (SRRQ) (Holmes and Rahe, 1967). In the development of this scale a list of 43 life events was presented to a sample of 394 subjects. Marriage was arbitrarily assigned a value of 500, and the subjects were asked to compare the amount of relative readjustment they would anticipate from the other events. Means and item rankings (Masuda and Holmes, 1967) have been reported to be relatively consistent in groups of different age, sex, marital status, education, social class, generation American, religion, race and cultural background (Holmes and Rahe, 1967). These findings have been found reliable with patients on our unit and in a group of medical students (Mendels and Weinstein, 1972). Paykel et al. (1971) performed a study of weightings of a list of life events and obtained weights which were highly significantly correlated for the 14 items that were identical to those found on the SRRQ. They tested a mixed group of psychiatric patients and found that in general those events defined as ‘exits’ were scaled high, whereas events defined as ‘entrances’ had lower values.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Misquitta ◽  
Mahsa Dadar ◽  
Apameh Tarazi ◽  
MW Hussain ◽  
MK Alatwi ◽  
...  

AbstractMultiple concussions, particularly in contact sports, have been associated with cognitive deficits, psychiatric impairment and neurodegenerative diseases like chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We used volumetric and deformation-based morphometric analyses to test the hypothesis that repeated concussions may be associated with smaller regional brain volumes, poorer cognitive performance and behavioural symptoms among former professional football players compared to healthy controls. This study included fifty-three retired Canadian Football League players, 25 age- and education-matched healthy controls, and controls from the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience database for validation. Volumetric analyses revealed greater hippocampal atrophy than expected for age in former athletes with multiple concussions than controls and smaller left hippocampal volume was associated with poorer verbal memory performance. Deformation-based morphometric confirmed smaller bilateral hippocampal volume that were associated with poorer verbal memory performance in athletes. Repeated concussions may lead to greater regional atrophy than expected for age.


Author(s):  
Haluk Tanrıverdi ◽  
Orhan Akova ◽  
Nurcan Türkoğlu Latifoğlu

This study aims to demonstrate the relationship between the qualifications of neonatal intensive care units of hospitals (physical conditions, standard applications, employee qualifications and use of personal protective equipment) and work related causes and risks, employee related causes and risks when occupational accidents occur. Accordingly, a survey was prepared and was made among 105 nurses working in 3 public and 3 private hospital's neonatal intensive care units, in the January of 2010. The survey consists of questions about the qualifications of neonatal intensive care units, work related causes and risks, and employee related causes and risks. From the regression analysis conducted, it has been found that confirmed hypotheses in several studies in the literature were not significant in this study. The sub-dimensions in which relationships has been found show that the improvement of the physical environment in workplace, the improvement of the employee qualifications and standard applications can reduce the rate of occupational accidents. According to the results of this study management should take care of the organizational factors besides to improvement of the physical environment in workplace, the improvement of the employee qualifications and standard applications.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunita ◽  
Urvashi Singh ◽  
Shalini Singh ◽  
Rajnee Sharma

The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between organisational stress and organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) in employees of call centers. The study also further explored as how stress at work set-up has negative impact on OCBs. A sample of 250 employees working in call centre of Gurgaon belonging to an age group of 25-30 years were selected on availability basis. All were working married couples living in nuclear families. Job stress survey (Spielberger & Vagg, 1999) and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (Bateman & Organ, 1983) were administered. Data was analysed by using simple correlation and multiple regression. Results showed the negative relationship between organisational stress and OCBs. Results of regression analysis also exhibited the negative impact of stress on OCBs. The implications for the employees are discussed.


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