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This study aims to describe nurse leaders’ experiences of work-related well-being and its association with background variables, working conditions, work engagement, sense of coherence and burnout.

An electronic survey design was used. Data was collected between December 2015 and May 2016 with an instrument that included demographic questions and four internationally validated scales: the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, QPS Nordic 34+, the shortened Sense of Coherence scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Data was analysed using statistical methods.

A total of 155 nurse leaders completed the questionnaire, giving a 44% response rate. Most of them worked as nurse managers (89%). Participants’ work-related well-being scores ranged from 8 to 10. Statistically significant relationships were found between participants’ work-related well-being and their leadership skills, current position, sense of coherence and levels of burnout. In addition, there were statistically significant relationships between work-related well-being and all dimensions of working conditions.

This study underlines the fact that work-related well-being should not be evaluated based on a single factor. The participants’ perceived work-related well-being was high, although almost half of them reported always or often experiencing stress. The results suggest that nurse leaders may have resources such as good leadership and problem-solving skills, supportive working conditions and a high sense of coherence that prevent the experienced stress from adversely affecting their work-related well-being.

The purpose of this paper is to examine associations between career commitment, job stress, and work-related dimensions of work routinization, role clarity, social support, and promotional opportunity.

In all, 408 employees holding supervisor or above level job positions in Sri Lanka responded to the survey. For the data analysis, structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation was performed.

Job stress fully mediates the relationship between role clarity and career commitment while partially mediates the relationships between work routinization, social support, and the lack of promotional opportunity and career commitment.

An investigation into relationships between work-related dimensions and career commitment holds a number of implications in the current business environment where employee commitment may be shifting from the organization to one’s career.

In the context of a staff development programme, the relationships between work‐related stress, staff support and job satisfaction were explored among staff groups in two residential assessment and treatment facilities for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Although overall support was relatively high for both formal and informal supports, only the informal supports from colleagues were negatively correlated with ratings of work‐related stress. Work‐related stress and job satisfaction were shown to be independent factors, and thus levels of stress could not be inferred from overall ratings of job satisfaction, or vice versa. The study identified a potentially vulnerable group of staff who reported relatively high job satisfaction but also some degree of stress.

This study aims to explore what causes stress to day care center directors and what their coping strategies are. In addition, the study examined the extent to which directors experience work-related stress and burnout, and the factors associated with their work-related stress, engagement and recovery from work.

A mixed method approach was used.

The results showed that the main sources of directors' stress were connected to leading oneself, leading others, managing change and lack of social support. Moreover, the main coping strategies with stress were leading oneself, social support and leading others. In addition, both pre- and in-service leadership training played a significant role in the experience of stress. The nature of factors causing stress and coping strategies with stress may imply that directors need further support in self-management and developing their internal competences.

The present study has limitations that need to be considered when making generalizations. First, a small sample size limits the generalization of the findings. Second, the study relied solely on one source of information, i.e. directors' self-reports. Third, data were collected only at one time point at the end of the year when stress levels might have accumulated. Finally, the study has been done in the Finnish educational context where day care center directors' job description varies depending on municipality.

The findings provide important information about the causes of directors' work-related stress as well as their coping strategies and about factors that might be related to those.

Because directors' stress impact on children’s development and well-being through teachers' well-being, it is crucial to pay attention on directors' well-being and provide more support for them.

The current study is among the few ones focusing on the stress of directors at early childhood education (ECE) settings.

Past research on self-employment and health yielded conflicting findings. Integrating predictions from the Stressor-Strain Outcome model, research on challenge stressors and allostatic load, we predict that physical and mental health are affected by self-employment in distinct ways which play out over different time horizons. We also test whether the health impacts of self-employment are due to enhanced stress (work-related strain) and differ for man and women.

We apply non-parametric propensity score matching in combination with a difference-in-difference approach and longitudinal cohort data to examine self-selection and the causal relationship between self-employment and health. We focus on those that transit into self-employment from paid employment (opportunity self-employment) and analyze strain and health over four years relative to individuals in paid employment.

Those with poorer mental health are more likely to self-select into self-employment. After entering self-employment, individuals experience a short-term uplift in mental health due to lower work-related strain, especially for self-employed men. In the longer-term (four years) the mental health of the self-employed drops back to pre-self-employment levels. We find no effect of self-employment on physical health.

Our research helps to understand the nonpecuniary benefits of self-employment and suggests that we should not advocate self-employment as a “healthy” career.

This article advances research on self-employment and health. Grounded in stress theories it offers new insights relating to self-selection, the temporality of effects, the mediating role of work-related strain, and gender that collectively help to explain why past research yielded conflicting findings.

This article explores Jamaican secondary school principals' use of mindfulness meditation as a spiritual well-being strategy to manage their work-related stress and anxiety.

The author used qualitative semi-structured interviews to collect the data from 12 Jamaican secondary school principals working in schools supporting rural, urban and inner-city school communities. Thematic coding of the analyzed data was used to understand how principals deal with their work-related stress and anxiety.

The findings indicate that Jamaican school principals are experiencing work-related stress and anxiety as a result of work intensification, and use mindfulness meditation/prayer as a spiritual coping strategy. The data indicate that principals' primary source of support is their spiritual belief – faith in God and mindfulness meditation/prayer – when dealing with issues related to well-being.

This article explores the use of mindfulness meditation as a non-secular coping strategy, and focuses on an understudied area of educational administration research: Jamaican school principals' well-being. The findings can help inform future education and health policy around occupational health and well-being for professionals, and lay the foundation for greater studies on principal well-being in Jamaican and the Caribbean more generally.

There is a paucity of contemporary evidence on the organisational (as opposed to operational) psychosocial hazard (OPH) exposures of UK police officers. The purpose of this study is to report on OPH exposures measured via an instrument developed by the UK government – the management standards indicator tool – among police officers sampled from an entire UK force. The study seeks to provide reference values for UK police officers' OPH exposures, to consider these in relation to government exposure targets, and to examine the association between officers' OPH exposures and perceived work‐related stress.

Police officers (n=1,729) completed the management standards indicator tool which measures perceived exposure to seven psychosocial work environment dimensions: demands, control, managerial support, peer support, relationships, role, and change. In addition, a single‐item measure of perceived work‐related stress was applied.

Sector‐specific reference values were generated by job role and rank on each of the seven dimensions assessed by the indicator tool. Scores on all seven dimensions were below government target levels (indicating that scores fell below the 80th percentile in relation to benchmark data). In total, 46 per cent of police officers reported their work to be very or extremely stressful. A significant positive correlation (p <0.01) was found between scores on each of the seven psychosocial work characteristics and perceived work‐related stress.

This study is the first to report on the assessment of UK police officers' OPH exposure using the management standards indicator tool. It provides reference values that UK forces will find useful for benchmarking and intervention‐targeting purposes, and against which progress in reducing OPH exposures can be assessed.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact on stress and work-related outcomes of an app-delivered mindfulness-based program (MBP; Headspace®) offered to employees in a UK higher education (HE) institution.

Using a randomized waitlist control trial design, participants were randomly allocated to be offered a mindfulness-based program (MBP) immediately for 2 months or after a waiting list period of 2 months (WLC). Data were analyzed using Intention to Treat (ITT; MBP n = 62; WLC n = 63); with supplementary analysis restricting to those who completed all measures; (MBP n = 45; WLC n = 56) and then further restricting the MBP group to those who completed at least foundation level 1 of the app; (MBP n = 31; WLC n = 56).

The ITT analysis showed significant increases in several aspects of mindfulness and a significant reduction in perceived stress but no significant effects for work-related outcomes. Analysis restricted to MBP participants who completed the app foundation course showed a similar pattern but in addition showed significant increases in work-life balance and the emotional aspect of job engagement.

The offer of the Headspace® app in the HE sector may result in reduced perceived stress. If improvements in work-related outcomes are also to be seen, then users need to be encouraged to complete a minimum level of practice.

Effect size estimates for stress and work-related outcomes of an app-delivered MBP contribute to the evolving picture of MBPs in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to explore stress among reference library staff in academic and public libraries in one of the European countries. The study has been conducted to ascertain whether members of the reference staff undergo stress, whether they consider the reference work stressful, how often they are exposed to stress, which situations are most stressful and how they cope with stress in the workplace and in their private lives.

A semi-structured interview is applied as a data collection technique so that interviewees are able to express their opinions on stress and to describe stress as an individual experience. A convenience sample of members of the reference library staff in ten academic and ten public libraries is prepared.

The reference library staff in the academic and public libraries is aware of stress causing damage to one’s health and work performance. The reference staff in the public libraries is more frequently exposed to stress than those in the academic libraries. The users are considered the main stressor owing to their complex reference questions, vague information needs and requests, wanting information and materials immediately, not following the library rules, etc.

The sample is small and not representative, including only two types of libraries. The research may serve as a preliminary study, as it offers insights into the work-related stress among the reference staff in the academic and public libraries.

This is the first research on the stress of the reference library staff in the academic and public libraries in the country. It contributes to the understanding of the work-related stress in the libraries. Identifying stressful situations can help the reference staff and employers take appropriate strategies to cope with stress.

Over recent years there have been massive changes in working life and workplaces. Across the 1990s there has been a marked increase in reports of work‐related psychological distress in the UK. This paper uses the results of the most recent Occupational Health Decennial supplement (Office for National Statistics (ONS) & Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 2007), based on nationally representative data sources on distress at work, working conditions, sickness absence and psychiatric morbidity to examine the reasons for the apparent increase in work‐related psychological distress.