lamontagne-actingonjob-2006.pdf (162.19 kB)
Acting on job stress - do we have a context for action?
conference contribution
posted on 2006-01-01, 00:00 authored by A Shaw, Tony LaMontagneTony LaMontagnePsychosocial 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 - 9Publisher
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of AustraliaLocation
Sydney, New South WalesPlace of publication
Sydney, N.S.W.Start date
2006-11-20End date
2006-11-22Language
engPublication classification
E1.1 Full written paper - refereedCopyright notice
2006, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of AustraliaTitle of proceedings
HFESA 2006 : Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of AustraliaUsage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedLicence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC