Abstract Early theory and research on workplace aggression and sexual harassment generally focused on workers as both the source and the target of these behaviors. More recently, however, there has ...been a recognition that such behaviors are also exhibited by customers. This paper reviews research on customer aggression and sexual harassment in service contexts along the following lines: 1) Antecedents of customer misbehavior as reflected in organizational perceptions (e.g., denial of customer misbehavior, structure of service roles), customer motives (e.g., low level of perceived risk) and role-related risk factors (e.g., dependence on customer, working outside the organization, climate of informality); 2) The effect of customer aggression and sexual harassment on service provider well-being, work-related attitudes and behavior; 3) Coping strategies used by service providers in response to customer aggression and sexual harassment (i.e., problem-solving, escape-avoidance, support-seeking); and 4) A comparison between the main characteristics of aggression and sexual harassment by customers and by insiders.
Background: Significant proportions of burnout have been reported among both oncologists and oncology nurses. However, these groups have not been compared in a meta-analytic design. It is important ...to compare how burnout affects different types of health professionals to understand its individual implications and devise ways of minimizing and treating it. Objective: The current meta-analysis study aimed to systematically compare burnout prevalence between oncologists and oncology nurses. Method: Authors assessed 34 studies (four included nurses and oncologists and 30 focused either on oncologists or oncology nurses) that used the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to measure burnout. Both fixed- and random-effects models were used to calculate meta-analytic estimates of the burnout subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA). Results: The pooled sample size was 4,705 oncologists and 6,940 oncology nurses. The average proportions of EE, DP, and PA were 32%, 26%, and 25%, respectively, among oncologists and 32%, 21%, and 26%, respectively, among oncology nurses. Higher DP was found among oncologists compared with oncology nurses, only in the analysis of studies that included samples of both oncologists and oncology nurses. The subgroup analysis showed higher levels of DP in Europe and Asia and lower PA in Asia and Canada. No evidence of publication bias was found. Conclusions: Findings suggest differences in burnout between oncologists and oncology nurses and among geographic regions. This highlights the need for tailored interventions for different professions and regions. Hospitals should provide support and encourage teamwork to improve oncology professionals' well-being and provide optimal care for patients.
Background
Despite wide recognition of the necessity of an integrative maintenance and return to work (RTW) program for cancer survivors, no such program has been described in the literature.
Aims
To ...examine a working model of an integrative multidisciplinary health care approach for promoting RTW, using the Delphi method.
Methods
A working model for promoting cancer survivors’ RTW by oncology health professionals was subjected to two rounds of evaluation by an expert panel in accordance with the Delphi research method. Twenty-six international experts in oncology (social workers, nurses, psychologists, physicians, and cancer patients) participated in the first round and 16 participated in the second round.
Results
The mean score of the working model’s applicability was 6.07 (
SD
= 1.07, range = 1–7). The model outlines in detail an integrative approach for promotion of RTW according to two axes: the oncology health professionals’ role and the timeline axis featuring four stages of oncology treatment and follow-up.
Conclusions
Our proposed model addresses the need for an integrated program that may increase the rate of RTW and improve the quality of life of cancer survivors. The model should be subjected to further evaluation, especially its adaptability to different health systems in different countries.
This paper presents a moderation-mediation model suggesting that proactivity and job autonomy moderate the mediating effects of engagement on the relationship of servant leadership with job ...performance and lateness. Data were collected from a sample of 50 bank departments from three sources: managers (n = 50), employees (n = 165), and objective data provided by human resources departments. The results show that as expected, the association of servant leadership with work engagement was stronger for employees with low levels of proactivity and job autonomy. Proactivity moderated the mediating effect of engagement on the relationship of servant leadership with both job performance and lateness; autonomy moderated the mediating effect of engagement on the relationship between servant leadership and lateness. The results imply that placing employees with low levels of proactivity and job autonomy under the supervision of servant leaders can engender higher job engagement and better organizational outcomes.
Purpose
Returning to work is highly beneficial for many cancer survivors. While research has documented the significance of healthcare professionals in the process of return to work (RTW), very ...little is known about those professionals’ views regarding their responsibility for RTW. The purpose of the present study was to identify factors that predict the extent to which healthcare professionals view involvement in the RTW of cancer survivors as part of their role.
Methods
In a cross-sectional design, questionnaires measuring attitudes regarding personal role responsibility for RTW, team role responsibility for RTW and benefits of RTW were administered to 157 healthcare professionals who care for working-age cancer survivors: oncologists, occupational physicians, family physicians, oncology nurses, oncology social workers, and psychologists.
Results
Both belief in the benefits of RTW, and the view that RTW is the team responsibility of healthcare professionals working with cancer survivors, are positively related to viewing RTW as part of the responsibilities of one’s personal professional role. Moderation analysis indicated that perception of team responsibility for RTW moderates the effect of the perceived benefits of RTW, such that the perception of benefits is significantly associated with personal role responsibility only when there is a low level of perceived team responsibility.
Conclusions
Issues related to RTW should be routinely included in basic and advanced training of healthcare professionals involved in the treatment of working-age cancer survivors, to increase awareness of this aspect of cancer survivors’ well-being and position RTW as part of healthcare professionals’ role responsibilities.
Objective
Health care professionals play a significant role in cancer survivors' decisions regarding return to work (RTW). While there is ample research about cancer survivors' views on RTW, little ...is known about the views of the professionals who accompany them from diagnosis to recovery. The study explores professionals' perceptions of cancer survivors in the RTW context, as well as their views about their own role in the process.
Methods
In‐depth interviews (N = 26) with professionals specializing in physical or mental health working with working‐age cancer survivors: occupational physicians, oncologists, oncology nurses, social workers, and psychologists specializing in oncology.
Results
An analysis of the interviews revealed 2 prominent perceptual dimensions among professionals: the cancer survivor's motivation to RTW and understanding illness‐related implications upon returning to work. The 2 dimensions imply the following 4 groups of cancer survivors in the RTW context, as viewed by health professionals: the “realist,” the “enthusiast,” the “switcher,” and the “worrier.” The results also indicate that social workers and psychologists view their role in terms of jointly discussing options and implications with the cancer survivor, while physicians and nurses view their role more in terms of providing information and suggestions.
Conclusions
The training of professionals should increase awareness of the assumptions they make about cancer survivors in regard to RTW. Additionally, training might elaborate professionals' view of their role in the interaction with cancer survivors regarding RTW.
A common notion in emotional labor literature is that surface acting-the modification of external emotional expressions while internal emotions remain unchanged-inevitably engenders a sense of ...inauthenticity and distress. Underlying this view is the assumption that the outcomes of surface acting are determined by employees' accurate assessment of the congruence of external expression with inner state. However, an alternative perspective suggests that sense of authenticity might be subject to self-serving biases produced by self-enhancement motivation. This article presents a field study and a scenario study, testing the impact of contextual cues signaling the meaning of surface acting in relation to self-perception. The results of the field study, conducted with service employees, show that surface acting attributed to benevolent intentions toward customers is negatively related to employees' sense of inauthenticity, which mediates the relationship of surface acting with emotional exhaustion. The scenario study establishes causality, showing that surface acting attributed to compassion engenders a stronger sense of authenticity compared with the control condition, thereby supporting the notion that surface acting reflecting positively on self-view engenders a sense of authenticity.
Customer mistreatment is a daily experience of service employees, with a considerable accumulating adverse impact reflected in distress, reduced performance and withdrawal. This paper builds on ...research addressing the universality of customer aggression and the I3 model which is used to explain aggression, to describe how the combined impact of norms of perfectionism and intensified customer-employee power differentials engender prevalent customer aggression. It is suggested that constant violation of unrealistic expectations threatens customers' inflated sense of worth. Additionally, because service employees are prevented from both the 'fight' and the 'fight' reactions to customer aggression, social exchange in the service context does not involve any sanctions for customers. It is recommended that, similar to sexual harassment and organisational bullying, customer aggression should be addressed through legislation requiring organisations to protect their employees.
Chronic health conditions affect many individuals of working age, who cope with physical, psychological, and social difficulties that often involve limited work ability. This qualitative study ...explored experiences of self-employed individuals with chronic health conditions to advance our understanding of the effect of chronic illness on work. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 self-employed individuals coping with cancer, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lung disease, or asthma. Data were analyzed with thematic analysis. Analysis of the interviews revealed four themes: uncertainty in planning work and committing to customers, acceptance versus denial of reduced work abilities, disclosure of health status to workers and customers, and temporal substitutes as a source of both support and concern. The results indicate that self-employed workers with a chronic health condition cope with unique challenges due to the need to sustain their business in the face of illness and a sense of sole responsibility.
Continuity of care between the community and hospital is considered of prime importance for quality of care and patient satisfaction, and for trust in the medical system. In a unique model of ...continuity of care, cardiologists at our hospital serve as primary, community-based cardiologists one day a week. They refer patients from the community to our hospital for interventional procedures such as coronary angiography and angioplasty. We examined the hypotheses that patient anxiety during hospital-based coronary angiography is lower when a patient trusts the referring cardiologist and when the performing cardiologist also treated him/her in the community.
We administered questionnaires to 64 patients in our cardiology department within 90 min of completion of coronary angiography. The questions assessed anxiety, trust in the medical system and trust in the referring physician. Data were also collected regarding patients' demographic variables, the number of visits to the referring physician, and whether the physician who performed the coronary angiography was the physician who referred the patient to the hospital.
Mean levels (on 7-point Likert scales) were 2.1, 5.6 and 6.7 for patient anxiety, trust in the medical system and trust in the referring physician, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that trust in the referring physician was significantly and negatively correlated with anxiety level. The number of visits to referring physicians, patients' demographic characteristics and whether the physician who performed the angiography was the same physician who referred the patient from the community were not found to be associated with patient anxiety.
In this study, trusting the referring physician was associated with lower anxiety among patients who underwent coronary angiography. This trust seemed to have more positive impact than did previous contact with the physician who performed the procedure.
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