Assessing Modifiable Environmental Work Factors Influencing Mood Symptoms in Long-Term Care Staff.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Long-term care (LTC) workers face significant workplace stressors.
• High turnover rates in LTC are linked to adverse mood symptoms.
• Identifying modifiable environmental factors is key to improving staff well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate environmental work factors influencing mood symptoms in LTC staff.
• To lay the groundwork for interventions aimed at reducing mood symptoms and turnover.
• To explore the role of organizational justice in LTC worker mental health.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study utilizing baseline data from 112 LTC workers across six worksites.
• Self-reported surveys assessed mood symptoms using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21).
• Environmental factors, including job demands, decision authority, job duties, social support, and organizational justice, were measured using the Job Strain Model.

Main Results:

• Organizational justice was found to be a significant predictor of mood symptoms.
• After controlling for age, organizational justice explained 15% of the variance in mood symptoms (β = 0.361, p ≤ 0.001).
• Other measured factors did not show significant influence after controlling for age and organizational justice.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced organizational justice may serve as a protective factor against mood symptoms for LTC staff.
• These findings provide valuable insights for managers and researchers seeking to develop targeted interventions.
• Improving workplace environments, specifically focusing on organizational justice, could mitigate mood disturbances and potentially reduce staff turnover in the long-term care sector.