[Stress risk evaluation in health personnel: framework and applicative experiences]

The Italian legislative decree 81/08 requires stress risk evaluation for all the workers, including health personnel. The present paper compares two different occupational stress evaluation procedures, tested in two North Italy sanitary structures: a) the first through subjective methods, based on self report questionnaires and focus groups; b) the second through an objective approach, utilizing the OSFA (Objective Stress Factors Analysis) method. The comparison of the two experiences indicates that the subjective approach may present several limitations, since it gives a measure of the "felt" stress, not directly related to the nature of the job. On the other hand, the objective approach, and particularly the OSFA method, allows an analysis of the work conditions and the identification of single and specific aspects that can be ameliorated in order to eliminate or reduce the occupational stress sources.