ORIGINAL PAPER
Work-related stress in the Italian banking population and its association with recovery experience
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1
European University of Rome, Rome, Italy
(Department of Human Sciences)
2
University of Florence, Florence, Italy
(Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine)
3
University Loyola Andalucía, Cordoba, Spain
(Department of Management)
4
Autonomous University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
(Department of Business Administration)
5
University of Catania, Catania, Italy
(Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine)
Online publication date: 2019-03-11
Corresponding author
Nicola Mucci
University of Florence, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Largo Piero Palagi 1, I-50139 Florence, Italy
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(2):255-65
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: Over the past decade, there has been a markedly growing interest in issues involving work-related stress in Europe. In Italy, according to
Eurofound, research has demonstrated high levels of stress in the banking sector. With this in mind, a study was conducted to evaluate the peculiarities
of hindrance and challenge stressors, and their links with recovery in the Italian banking population. Material and Methods: The health and safety
managers of a major Italian banking group were contacted and invited to participate in a stress assessment procedure, not only for research purposes
but also to help them fulfill their obligations with regard to work-related stress. In total, 6588 bank workers took part in the study (57.5% males
and 42.5% females) in 2012–2018. Work-related stress was measured with the Stress Questionnaire (SQ) that assesses several psychosocial working
variables. Recovery was measured using a scale based on the SQ. The analysis and tabulation of the study results were performed using the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The results have demonstrated that female respondents lack more job control and colleagues’ support as
compared to male respondents. Employees aged > 50 lack their supervisors’ support while employees with the shortest job seniority experience the
greatest role ambiguity, as well as the lack of job control and colleagues’ support. The results of hierarchical regression analysis have demonstrated
that the lack of colleagues and supervisors’ support, as well as job demands and job control, contribute to explaining the recovery experience. The
greatest contribution to the explained variance could be attributed to job demands and the lack of colleagues’ support. Conclusions: This study has
demonstrated an important contribution of the so-called traditional stressors to predicting recovery for the banking population in Italy. These findings
suggest that banks should adopt corporate policies containing activities for the prevention of and protection against stress, with a more general
objective of improving the mental health of their workers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(2):255–65