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Acting on job stress - do we have a context for action?

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conference contribution
posted on 2006-01-01, 00:00 authored by A Shaw, Tony LaMontagneTony LaMontagne
Psychosocial risk is possibly the single biggest cause of occupational ill-health inAustralia, causing up to 30% of cardiovascular disease in working men and up to 30% ofdepression in working women. While the number of studies on effective workplaceinterventions has increased significantly in recent years, there has been at best onlylimited analysis examining the context for these interventions. The literature provideslittle evidence with which to answer critical public policy questions. In order to determine how diverse stakeholders are responding to job stress, this studydirectly sought to characterise this context. Through interviews across industry and withkey stakeholders, this study provides a thorough and empirically grounded description ofcurrent Victorian practice, a critical support for developing a systems approach toworkplace stress. The interviews examined the views of Victorian stakeholders in thearea of job stress to investigate understanding of and receptivity to systems approaches and reviewed experiences in workplaces. The picture that emerges from the interview data is contrasting, but with common features across groups. Most parties understood stress as an individual health issue, even though the links to the wider workplace environment were recognised by many. The views of some interviewees imply moral judgements about acceptable stress, experienced by “good” people who deal with trauma and conflict in their work, and unacceptable stress, experienced by “bad” people who can’t cope with the ups and downs of working life. Even so, the need to deal with job stress is recognised by all.

History

Event

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia. Conference (42nd : 2006 : Sydney, New South Wales)

Pagination

1 - 9

Publisher

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia

Location

Sydney, New South Wales

Place of publication

Sydney, N.S.W.

Start date

2006-11-20

End date

2006-11-22

Language

eng

Publication classification

E1.1 Full written paper - refereed

Copyright notice

2006, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia

Title of proceedings

HFESA 2006 : Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia

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