Associations of Shared Workspaces with Healthcare Professionals' Work Engagement and Perceived Stress
Pia Sirola1, Suvi Hirvonen1, Sara Malve-Ahlroth1
1Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
|December 2, 2024
Summary
Shared workspaces in healthcare impact well-being. Facility safety and support for collaboration are key to work engagement and reduced stress, especially in activity-based workspaces (ABW).
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Occupational Health Psychology
- Workplace Design
Background:
- Finnish health and social services reform involves modernizing facilities to shared patient reception and office spaces.
- Research on the well-being effects of shared workspaces in healthcare is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate healthcare professionals' ratings of shared workspace functionality.
- To examine the association between shared workspace functionality, work engagement, and perceived stress.
Main Methods:
- Survey administered to 329 healthcare professionals across five organizations.
- Pearson's correlation and linear regression analyses used to assess associations.
- Models adjusted for demographic factors and space utilization.
Main Results:
- Facility safety was the strongest predictor of work engagement and stress in reception rooms.
- Support for interaction and collaboration positively predicted engagement and reduced stress in both reception rooms and activity-based workspaces (ABW).
- Non-assigned seating in ABWs was a stronger predictor of work engagement than perceived quiet space availability.
Conclusions:
- Designing shared healthcare workspaces requires prioritizing safety and fostering interaction.
- Activity-based workspaces (ABW) need features that allow for undisturbed collaboration and communication.
- Optimizing shared spaces can enhance healthcare professional well-being and job engagement.
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