Publications

Recent studies by Söderfeldt et al. (1996) and de Jonge et al. (1999) have demonstrated that Karasek's operationalization of job demands in his well-known Job Demands-Control (JD-C) Model (Karasek, 1979), i.e. quantitative demands, cannot capture the complexities of working with patients or clients in health care work. In the current study on burnout among 816 Dutch oncology care providers, the “traditional” JD-C Model was extended by including two types of emotional job demands. Moreover, “susceptibility to emotional contagion” was included as a potential moderator of the relationship between emotional job demands and burnout. Emotional job demands significantly contributed to the prediction of burnout, after controlling for quantitative job demands and job control. In addition, care providers' susceptibility to emotional contagion moderated the relationship between “confrontation with death and dying” and burnout. Care providers high in susceptibility to emotional contagion were more “vulnerable” to the stress associated with high emotional demands than their counterparts.

Consistent with insights from both trait and social cognitive theories, this study presents a theoretical model positing emotional self‐efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions at work as a key mechanism that contributes to mediate the negative relationship between emotional stability – a trait highly associated with positive affect and mental health – and job burnout. To test this assertion, a two‐wave study using a representative sample of 416 new military cadets of an Italian military academy was designed. Military cadets were involved in the study 2 months after their entrance into the academy and then again, a year later. Results from structural equation modelling supported the hypothesized model. As predicted, self‐efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions at work significantly mediated the longitudinal relation between emotional stability and job burnout, even after controlling for the effect of the other Big Five traits, education, previous experience in military contexts, gender, and age. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that self‐efficacy in managing negative emotions at work represents an important mechanism linking emotional stability level to burnout symptoms. Practitioner points Self‐efficacy in managing negative emotions at work proved to be an important resource for workers in managing job‐related stress: practitioners interested in reducing burnout symptoms in stressful working environments should take into account this variable. Self‐efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions at work are cognitive structures malleable to change. Literature on social cognitive theory offers several suggestions on how to promote individuals’ positive beliefs on managing negative emotions and dysphoric affect. Hence, findings and literature reported in this study may be useful for practitioners aiming at strengthen workers’ self‐efficacy in managing negative emotions at work, through the development and application of coaching and training programmes.

textabstractSpirituality is an important theme in health research, since a spiritual orientation can help people to cope with the consequences of a serious disease. Knowledge on the role of spirituality is, however, limited, as most research is based on measures of religiosity rather than spirituality. A questionnaire that transcends specific beliefs is a prerequisite for quantifying the importance of spirituality among people who adhere to a religion or none at all. In this review, we discuss ten questionnaires that address spirituality as a universal human experience. Questionnaires are evaluated with regard to psychometric properties, item formulation and confusion with well-being and distress. Although none of the questionnaires fulfilled all the criteria, the multidimensional Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire is promising.

Abstract Colorectal cancer progression is intrinsically linked to stepwise deregulation of the intestinal differentiation trajectory. In this process, sequential mutations of APC/Wnt, KRAS, TP53 and SMAD4 stepwisely enable an oncogenic signalling network. Here, we developed a novel mass cytometry antibody panel to analyse colorectal cancer cell differentiation and signalling in human isogenic colorectal cancer organoids and in patient-derived cultures. We define a differentiation axis following EphrinB2 abundance in all tumour progression states from normal to cancer. We show that during colorectal cancer progression, oncogenes decrease dependence on external factors and shape distribution of cells along the differentiation axis. In this regard, subsequent mutations can have stem cell-promoting or restricting effects. Individual nodes of the signalling network remain coupled to the differentiation state, regardless of the presence of oncogenic signals. Our work underscores the key role of cell plasticity as a hallmark of cancer that is gradually unlocked during colorectal cancer progression.

This study investigates how daily fluctuations in job resources (autonomy, coaching, and team climate) are related to employees' levels of personal resources (self‐efficacy, self‐esteem, and optimism), work engagement, and financial returns. Forty‐two employees working in three branches of a fast‐food company completed a questionnaire and a diary booklet over 5 consecutive workdays. Consistent with hypotheses, multi‐level analyses revealed that day‐level job resources had an effect on work engagement through day‐level personal resources, after controlling for general levels of personal resources and engagement. Day‐level coaching had a direct positive relationship with day‐level work engagement, which, in‐turn, predicted daily financial returns. Additionally, previous days' coaching had a positive, lagged effect on next days' work engagement (through next days' optimism), and on next days' financial returns.

Additional file 21. Table S20

Burnout has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This relationship may be mediated by a stress‐related disruption in cardiac autonomic activity. The aim of the present study was to assess cardiac autonomic activity (sympathetic and parasympathetic) during a working day in burned out managers. Thirty burned out, 29 healthy control and 29 engaged managers (a psychologically contrasting group) were identified using the Maslach Burnout Inventory‐General Survey (MBI‐GS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Twenty‐four‐hour ambulatory measurements were carried out during a regular workday and the subsequent night. Pre‐ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were used as measures of cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively. Contrary to expectations, the burned out, engaged and control groups did not differ in cardiac sympathetic and cardiac parasympathetic activity, or heart rate. Thus, burnout does not seem to be associated with an unfavourable cardiac autonomic profile. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) has shown satisfactory validity evidence in several countries, with the 23-item version of the instrument reporting adequate psychometric properties also in the Italian context. This paper is aimed to present results from the Italian validation of the 12-item version of the BAT. Based on a sample of 2277 workers, our results supported the factorial validity of a higher-order model represented by 4 first-order factors corresponding to the core dimensions of burnout, namely exhaustion, mental distance, and emotional and cognitive impairment. The measure invariance of the BAT-12 between data collected before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was supported. However, ANCOVA results suggest a higher score on the second-order burnout factor on data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with earlier data. In line with the JD-R model, the BAT-12 total score reported a positive association with job demands (i.e., workload, time pressure, and role conflict) and a negative association with job resources (i.e., job autonomy, coworkers' support) and personal resources (i.e., optimism, social self-efficacy, and task self-efficacy). Additionally, the BAT-12 showed a negative association with work engagement components (i.e., vigor, dedication, and absorption) and positive job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, affective commitment). All in all, our results identify the Italian version of the BAT-12 as a brief and reliable tool for measuring burnout among workers.

<title>Abstract</title> WNT signaling is pivotal to the renewal of many organs including the intestine. WNT gradients are thought to provide a spatial differentiation cue, and hence control the required spatial patterning of cell types. Testing this mechanism is difficult, however, as current methods are static while the underlying processes are highly dynamic. Here, we show that a ‘timer’ mechanism rather than spatial cues controls the WNT signaling decreases that drive cell differentiation. Using live-cell imaging and single-cell tracking of intestinal organoids, we find that WNT signaling in stem cells decreases immediately after loss of Paneth cell contact. This WNT signaling decrease does not depend on cell growth and division, and precedes differentiation, as shown by subsequent antibody staining and cell type propagation along lineage trees. Cells frequently regain Paneth cell contact, which in turn increases WNT signaling again, showing that differentiation is not progressive but rather repeatedly reset. Our WNT timer mechanism overturns existing spatial gradient models, explains differentiation within the intestinal crypt, and may well be more broadly relevant to WNT-mediated tissue renewal.