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Fulltext Editorial: Health and safety issues of employees in family firms

Bari MW, Ramayah T, Di Virgilio F, Alaverdov E

Front Public Health, 2023;11:1102736.
PMID: 36817924 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1102736
Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Contemporary evidence of workplace violence against the primary healthcare workforce worldwide: a systematic review

Yusoff HM, Ahmad H, Ismail H, Reffin N, Chan D, Kusnin F, et al.

Hum Resour Health, 2023 Oct 13;21(1):82.
PMID: 37833727 DOI: 10.1186/s12960-023-00868-8

Violence against healthcare workers recently became a growing public health concern and has been intensively investigated, particularly in the tertiary setting. Nevertheless, little is known of workplace violence against healthcare workers in the primary setting. Given the nature of primary healthcare, which delivers essential healthcare services to the community, many primary healthcare workers are vulnerable to violent events. Since the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978, the number of epidemiological studies on workplace violence against primary healthcare workers has increased globally. Nevertheless, a comprehensive review summarising the significant results from previous studies has not been published. Thus, this systematic review was conducted to collect and analyse recent evidence from previous workplace violence studies in primary healthcare settings. Eligible articles published in 2013-2023 were searched from the Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed literature databases. Of 23 included studies, 16 were quantitative, four were qualitative, and three were mixed method. The extracted information was analysed and grouped into four main themes: prevalence and typology, predisposing factors, implications, and coping mechanisms or preventive measures. The prevalence of violence ranged from 45.6% to 90%. The most commonly reported form of violence was verbal abuse (46.9-90.3%), while the least commonly reported was sexual assault (2-17%). Most primary healthcare workers were at higher risk of patient- and family-perpetrated violence (Type II). Three sub-themes of predisposing factors were identified: individual factors (victims' and perpetrators' characteristics), community or geographical factors, and workplace factors. There were considerable negative consequences of violence on both the victims and organisations. Under-reporting remained the key issue, which was mainly due to the negative perception of the effectiveness of existing workplace policies for managing violence. Workplace violence is a complex issue that indicates a need for more serious consideration of a resolution on par with that in other healthcare settings. Several research gaps and limitations require additional rigorous analytical and interventional research. Information pertaining to violent events must be comprehensively collected to delineate the complete scope of the issue and formulate prevention strategies based on potentially modifiable risk factors to minimise the negative implications caused by workplace violence.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace; Workplace Violence*
Fulltext Academic mobbing: hidden health hazard at workplace

Khoo SB

Malays Fam Physician, 2010;5(2):61-7.
PMID: 25606190

Academic mobbing is a non-violent, sophisticated, 'ganging up' behaviour adopted by academicians to "wear and tear" a colleague down emotionally through unjustified accusation, humiliation, general harassment and emotional abuse. These are directed at the target under a veil of lies and justifications so that they are "hidden" to others and difficult to prove. Bullies use mobbing activities to hide their own weaknesses and incompetence. Targets selected are often intelligent, innovative high achievers, with good integrity and principles. Mobbing activities appear trivial and innocuous on its own but the frequency and pattern of their occurrence over long period of time indicates an aggressive manipulation to "eliminate" the target. Mobbing activities typically progress through five stereotypical phases that begins with an unsolved minor conflict between two workers and ultimately escalates into a senseless mobbing whereby the target is stigmatized and victimized to justify the behaviours of the bullies. The result is always physical, mental, social distress or illness and, most often, expulsion of target from the workplace. Organizations are subjected to great financial loss, loss of key workers and a tarnished public image and reputation. Public awareness, education, effective counselling, establishment of anti-bullying policies and legislations at all levels are necessary to curb academic mobbing. General practitioners (GPs) play an important role in supporting patients subjected to mental and physical health injury caused by workplace bullying and mobbing.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace
Fulltext A stochastic simulation framework for the prediction of strategic noise mapping and occupational noise exposure using the random walk approach

Han LM, Haron Z, Yahya K, Bakar SA, Dimon MN

PLoS One, 2015;10(4):e0120667.
PMID: 25875019 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120667

Strategic noise mapping provides important information for noise impact assessment and noise abatement. However, producing reliable strategic noise mapping in a dynamic, complex working environment is difficult. This study proposes the implementation of the random walk approach as a new stochastic technique to simulate noise mapping and to predict the noise exposure level in a workplace. A stochastic simulation framework and software, namely RW-eNMS, were developed to facilitate the random walk approach in noise mapping prediction. This framework considers the randomness and complexity of machinery operation and noise emission levels. Also, it assesses the impact of noise on the workers and the surrounding environment. For data validation, three case studies were conducted to check the accuracy of the prediction data and to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of this approach. The results showed high accuracy of prediction results together with a majority of absolute differences of less than 2 dBA; also, the predicted noise doses were mostly in the range of measurement. Therefore, the random walk approach was effective in dealing with environmental noises. It could predict strategic noise mapping to facilitate noise monitoring and noise control in the workplaces.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext BeSafe B2.0 Smart Multisensory Platform for Safety in Workplaces

Márquez-Sánchez S, Campero-Jurado I, Robles-Camarillo D, Rodríguez S, Corchado-Rodríguez JM

Sensors (Basel), 2021 May 12;21(10).
PMID: 34066186 DOI: 10.3390/s21103372

Wearable technologies are becoming a profitable means of monitoring a person's health state, such as heart rate and physical activity. The use of the smartwatch is becoming consolidated, not only as a novelty but also as a very useful tool for daily use. In addition, other devices, such as helmets or belts, are beneficial for monitoring workers and the early detection of any anomaly. They can provide valuable information, especially in work environments, where they help reduce the rate of accidents and occupational diseases, which makes them powerful Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The constant monitoring of the worker's health can be done in real-time, through temperature, falls, noise, impacts, or heart rate meters, activating an audible and vibrating alarm when an anomaly is detected. The gathered information is transmitted to a server in charge of collecting and processing it. In the first place, this paper provides an exhaustive review of the state of the art on works related to electronics for human activity behavior. After that, a smart multisensory bracelet, combined with other devices, developed a control platform that can improve operators' security in the working environment. Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (AIoT) bring together the information to improve safety on construction sites, power stations, power lines, etc. Real-time and historic data is used to monitor operators' health and a hybrid system between Gaussian Mixture Model and Human Activity Classification. That is, our contribution is also founded on the use of two machine learning models, one based on unsupervised learning and the other one supervised. Where the GMM gave us a performance of 80%, 85%, 70%, and 80% for the 4 classes classified in real time, the LSTM obtained a result under the confusion matrix of 0.769, 0.892, and 0.921 for the carrying-displacing, falls, and walking-standing activities, respectively. This information was sent in real time through the platform that has been used to analyze and process the data in an alarm system.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Workplace Cyberbullying and Interpersonal Deviance: Understanding the Mediating Effect of Silence and Emotional Exhaustion

Anwar A, Kee DMH, Ahmed A

Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 2020 May;23(5):290-296.
PMID: 32282237 DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2019.0407

Workplace cyberbullying (WCB) is a new form of hostility in organizations in which information technology is used as a means to bully employees. The objective of this study is to determine the association between WCB and the interpersonal deviance (ID) of victims through parallel mediation through the ineffectual silence of employees and emotional exhaustion (EE). Conservation of resource (COR) theory and affective events theory were used as the study's guiding framework, and data were drawn from 351 white-collar employees who were employed in a variety of industries-such as banking, telecommunications sector, education, health care, insurance, and consultancy-in Lahore, Pakistan. The results show that ineffectual silence negatively mediated the relationship between cyberbullying and deviance, decreasing the level of deviance of employees who used silence as a coping mechanism. EE, however, positively mediated the relationship between cyberbullying and deviance. This means that when employees felt emotionally overwhelmed they retaliated by engaging in deviant behaviors and acting as a bully toward colleagues. Drawing on the COR theory and the affective events theory, the findings show that WCB has an impact on ID. From a practical standpoint, the study reveals that WCB can lead to ID and it also may associate with large financial costs and workplace disruptions. Thus, organizations should establish a culture that prevent employees from engaging in WCB and adopt practices of prevention and intervention because it is not only harmful to the employees but also to the organization.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext The Executive Skills Questionnaire-Revised: Adaptation and Psychometric Properties in the Working Context of Malaysia

Nasir H, Tan CS, Pheh KS

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 08 26;18(17).
PMID: 34501571 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18178978

Executive functions (EFs) are a set of high-level cognitive and behavioral monitoring skills that are important to employees' work performance. The 25-item Executive Skills Questionnaire-Revised (ESQ-R) measures executive dysfunction in five dimensions (e.g., emotional regulation). Nevertheless, the usability of this newly developed scale for employees remains unclear. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the adopted ESQ-R for working adults in Malaysia. A total of 325 employees responded to an online survey consisted of the ESQ-R, Executive Function Index (EFI), self-rated creativity scale (SRCS), and 9-item Utretch Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) and Employee Well-being Scale. Several CFAs were conducted to compare three competing models. While all models showed a good fit, the 5-factor second-order model that is in line with the theoretical structure is preferable. The ESQ-R showed excellent internal consistency. Moreover, the ESQ-R score was negatively correlated with EFI, creativity, and UWES-9 scores, supporting the convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. The ESQ-R score also explained incremental variance in well-being above and beyond scores of the UWES-9 and SRCS. Taken together, the ESQ-R is a useful tool for assessing employees' executive dysfunction and suggesting intervention programs helping employees with deficits in EFs.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext Sustainable risk management practice in the organization: a Malaysian case study

Zainuddin SA, Abdullah B, Nasir NAM, Abdullah T, Nawi NC, Patwary AK, et al.

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Feb;30(9):24708-24717.
PMID: 36344894 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-23897-7

Businesses are becoming more conscious of operational risk management practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some firms practice risk management without fully comprehending how it might help them and their needs. As a result, companies that practice risk management without realizing it are being controlled by the discipline itself. The goal of this study is to look into the epistemic process of risk management practice in the workplace. This phenomenological study interviewed 39 risk management officers, executives, and employees. Data are thematically analyzed. This study discovered five epistemic processes of risk mapping using Foucault's governmentality paradigm. This phenomenological study, interestingly, revealed the black box of risk management practices, as well as the behavior of risk management officers, executives, and risk owners who preferred to monitor the compliance aspects of risk management practices rather than comprehend the capabilities of risk management that could be used within their strategic planning process. Unaware of this black box, organizational actors were blanketed by the organization's culture of fear, which created the impression that the authority was always watching every word said and every action taken. Practically, this study contributes an improved understanding of the real function of risk management that helps them justify the practice and reduce unnecessary fear. The paper concludes with limitations and research recommendations.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext A scoping review of digital workplace wellness interventions in low- and middle-income countries

Thai YC, Sim D, McCaffrey TA, Ramadas A, Malini H, Watterson JL

PLoS One, 2023;18(2):e0282118.
PMID: 36854022 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282118

INTRODUCTION: Digital technology-based interventions have gained popularity over the last two decades, due to the ease with which they are scalable and low in implementation cost. Multicomponent health promotion programmes, with significant digital components, are increasingly being deployed in the workplace to assess and promote employees' health behaviours and reduce risk of chronic diseases. However, little is known about workplace digital health interventions in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs).
METHODS: Various combinations of keywords related to "digital health", "intervention", "workplace" and "developing country" were applied in Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, Scopus and Cochrane Library for peer-reviewed articles in English language. Manual searches were performed to supplement the database search. The screening process was conducted in two phases and a narrative synthesis to summarise the data. The review protocol was written prior to undertaking the review (OSF Registry:10.17605/OSF.IO/QPR9J).
RESULTS: The search strategy identified 10,298 publications, of which 24 were included. Included studies employed the following study designs: randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) (n = 12), quasi-experimental (n = 4), pilot studies (n = 4), pre-post studies (n = 2) and cohort studies (n = 2). Most of the studies reported positive feedback of the use of digital wellness interventions in workplace settings.
CONCLUSIONS: This review is the first to map and describe the impact of digital wellness interventions in the workplace in LMICs. Only a small number of studies met the inclusion criteria. Modest evidence was found that digital workplace wellness interventions were feasible, cost-effective, and acceptable. However, long-term, and consistent effects were not found, and further studies are needed to provide more evidence. This scoping review identified multiple digital health interventions in LMIC workplace settings and highlighted a few important research gaps.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext Workplace bullying: time to understand its roots

Khalib AL, Ngan HU

Malaysian Journal of Community Health, 2006;12(1):0-0.
MyJurnal

Workplace bullying has drawn greater attention in the last one and half decades. Despite its recognition by many organizations and countries, it is still rife. Why is that so? Could it be that the root of the problem has not been addressed? Or, could it be due to difficulties and resistances in embarking preventive and control measures. In this paper, we will examine the possible causes of workplace bullying based on a proposed model. In depth discussion of the personal and organizational factors are made while the work group and societal factors are dealt with in brief. In summary, the root of workplace bullying is multi-factorial. Understanding the complexity and subtlety of workplace bullying is pertinent in the effort to prevent or curtail it.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace
Occupational health and safety practice in infrastructure projects

Alhammadi SA, Tayeh BA, Alaloul WS, Jouda AF

Int J Occup Saf Ergon, 2022 Dec;28(4):2631-2644.
PMID: 34965852 DOI: 10.1080/10803548.2021.2013034

Objectives. This research intends to investigate the responsibilities of the parties engaged in the implementation phase of the infrastructure projects in occupational health and safety, i.e., the consultant and contractor. Methods. A questionnaire was developed through the selection and modification of the responsibilities from the literature review. Results. The statistical analysis results show that the consultants and contractors both ranked the item 'The owner requires the contractor to implement the occupational safety standards within the bid' first in the owner responsibilities, having 0.67 relative importance index (RII). In the responsibilities of the consultant, the first ranked item was 'The consultant has a role in adopting occupational safety plans and contingency plans', having 0.66 RII. In the responsibilities of the contractor, the first ranked item was 'The contractor shall provide the insurance cover for all project crews', having 0.71 RII. In the responsibilities of the workers, the first ranked item was 'Workers know the handling of tools and equipment within the project', having 0.59 RII. Conclusion. Overall, there was general agreement between consultants and contractors to classify and arrange items because both face the same conditions and have the same working environment.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace
Fulltext Workplace Mental State Monitoring during VR-Based Training for Offshore Environment

Abu Hasan R, Sulaiman S, Ashykin NN, Abdullah MN, Hafeez Y, Ali SSA

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Jul 18;21(14).
PMID: 34300624 DOI: 10.3390/s21144885

Adults are constantly exposed to stressful conditions at their workplace, and this can lead to decreased job performance followed by detrimental clinical health problems. Advancement of sensor technologies has allowed the electroencephalography (EEG) devices to be portable and used in real-time to monitor mental health. However, real-time monitoring is not often practical in workplace environments with complex operations such as kindergarten, firefighting and offshore facilities. Integrating the EEG with virtual reality (VR) that emulates workplace conditions can be a tool to assess and monitor mental health of adults within their working environment. This paper evaluates the mental states induced when performing a stressful task in a VR-based offshore environment. The theta, alpha and beta frequency bands are analysed to assess changes in mental states due to physical discomfort, stress and concentration. During the VR trials, mental states of discomfort and disorientation are observed with the drop of theta activity, whilst the stress induced from the conditional tasks is reflected in the changes of low-alpha and high-beta activities. The deflection of frontal alpha asymmetry from negative to positive direction reflects the learning effects from emotion-focus to problem-solving strategies adopted to accomplish the VR task. This study highlights the need for an integrated VR-EEG system in workplace settings as a tool to monitor and assess mental health of working adults.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace
Fulltext Frontal Electroencephalogram Alpha Asymmetry during Mental Stress Related to Workplace Noise

Alyan E, Saad NM, Kamel N, Yusoff MZ, Zakariya MA, Rahman MA, et al.

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Mar 11;21(6).
PMID: 33799722 DOI: 10.3390/s21061968

This study aims to investigate the effects of workplace noise on neural activity and alpha asymmetries of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during mental stress conditions. Workplace noise exposure is a pervasive environmental pollutant and is negatively linked to cognitive effects and selective attention. Generally, the stress theory is assumed to underlie the impact of noise on health. Evidence for the impacts of workplace noise on mental stress is lacking. Fifteen healthy volunteer subjects performed the Montreal imaging stress task in quiet and noisy workplaces while their brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography. The salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) was measured before and immediately after each tested workplace to evaluate the stress level. The results showed a decrease in alpha rhythms, or an increase in cortical activity, of the PFC for all participants at the noisy workplace. Further analysis of alpha asymmetry revealed a greater significant relative right frontal activation of the noisy workplace group at electrode pairs F4-F3 but not F8-F7. Furthermore, a significant increase in sAA activity was observed in all participants at the noisy workplace, demonstrating the presence of stress. The findings provide critical information on the effects of workplace noise-related stress that might be neglected during mental stress evaluations.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext Impact of Safety Culture on Safety Performance; Mediating Role of Psychosocial Hazard: An Integrated Modelling Approach

Naji GMA, Isha ASN, Mohyaldinn ME, Leka S, Saleem MS, Rahman SMNBSA, et al.

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 08 13;18(16).
PMID: 34444314 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18168568

We conceptualize that safety culture (SC) has a positive impact on employee's safety performance by reducing their psychosocial hazards. A higher level of safety culture environment reduces psychosocial hazards by improving employee's performance toward safety concerns. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how psychosocial hazard mediates the relationship between safety culture and safety performance. Data were collected from 380 production employees in three states of Malaysia from the upstream oil and gas sector. Structural equation modeling was implemented to test the suggested hypotheses. The proposed model was evaluated using structural equation modeling. A stratified sampling with a Likert 5-point scale was used to distribute the questionnaires. Furthermore, the proposed model was tested using the simulation of the structural equation and partial. According to our findings, all hypotheses were significant. A review of prior studies was used to select the items of the dimension for the data collection. Safety culture was assessed with psychosocial hazard to determine its direct and indirect impact on safety performance. Results suggest that to enhance safety performance (leading and lagging), psychosocial concerns in the workplace environments should be taken into consideration by employees. In addition, the findings showed that the psychosocial hazard fully mediates the relationship between safety culture and safety performance.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext A Multicomponent Workplace Environmental Intervention to Promote Physical Activity among the Staff of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Cheah YX, Cheah WL, Hazmi H

Indian J Public Health, 2024 Jan 01;68(1):66-74.
PMID: 38847636 DOI: 10.4103/ijph.ijph_543_23

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity is a significant public health issue affecting working adults because it can increase the risk of noncommunicable diseases.
OBJECTIVES: The objective is to determine the outcomes of a multi-component workplace environmental intervention that incorporated physical activity self-regulation (PASR) to promote physical activity (PA) among employees.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a 6-month intervention with a two-group, parallel, quasi-experimental study. A total of 11 workplaces were randomly assigned to intervention group (IG) or control group (CG) using a 1:1 allocation ratio. In each group, 84 eligible participants were recruited. The IG was exposed to the organizational support and the PA support components throughout the study. The PASR Scale, International PA Questionnaire, and pedometer were used to measure the outcome at the baseline, 3rd-month, and 6th-month follow-ups, respectively. The repeated measures-analysis of variance analysis was used to determine the changes in the PASR skills, MET-min/week, and step/week over time.
RESULTS: The IG had 75 participants (51 females and 24 males) and the CG had 73 participants (52 females and 21 males) at the 6th-month follow-up. Despite there was no statistically significant difference in the outcomes between groups over time, the IG showed significant improvements in total PASR (ηp2 = 0.021), goal setting (ηp2 = 0.024), total MET-min/week (ηp2 = 0.031), housework-related PA (ηp2 = 0.101), and step/week (ηp2 = 0.827) throughout this intervention.
CONCLUSION: This intervention was found to be effective in improving the PASR skills, MET-min/week, and step/week of IG participants. Meanwhile, because some effect sizes were small, these findings should be interpreted with caution.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Fulltext The importance of organizational climate for psychosocial safety in the prevention of sexual harassment at work

Tan MPC, Kwan SSM, Yahaya A, Maakip I, Voo P

J Occup Health, 2020 Jan;62(1):e12192.
PMID: 33368878 DOI: 10.1002/1348-9585.12192

OBJECTIVES: Workplace sexual harassment is a prominent issue in Malaysia. Although the subject of sexual harassment has been researched for over two decades, information on how organizations could effectively prevent workplace sexual harassment is limited. The researchers investigated the importance of organizational climate for psychosocial safety of workplace sexual harassment prevention.
METHODS: Purposive random sampling was utilized to recruit participants in the study. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with Malaysian employees (N = 20) from various organizations. The study applied the Grounded Theory Approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1976) to identify the participants' coping strategies in dealing with sexual harassment that occurred at their workplace.
RESULTS: The interviews revealed that both genders were potential victims or witnesses of workplace sexual harassment. Since many Malaysian organizations do not implement any workplace sexual harassment prevention, most of the victims and witnesses tend to use passive self-coping approaches. Typically, policy and guidelines implementation would encourage employees to voice their concerns; however, we discovered that participants' motivation to use active coping strategies depended on organizational role rather than the policy and guidelines implementation. Surprisingly, we also found out that participants from zero policy organizations used active coping strategies when the sexual harassment reached intolerable levels.
CONCLUSION: Organizations play a critical role in helping and supporting both victims and witnesses deal with sexual harassment at the workplace. Organizational climate for psychosocial safety is therefore crucial in the primary and secondary prevention of sexual harassment at work.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace/psychology*; Workplace Violence/prevention & control*; Workplace Violence/psychology
The Relationship Between Workplace Spirituality and Work-to-Family Enrichment in Selected Public Sector Organizations in Malaysia

Hassan Z, Tnay JS, Sukardi Yososudarmo SM, Sabil S

J Relig Health, 2021 Dec;60(6):4132-4150.
PMID: 31902096 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-019-00971-y

Workplace spirituality (WPS) has been associated with various benefits, including its potential to reduce work-family conflict. Previous studies have established that individual religiosity influences work-family enrichment. To date, there has been no reliable evidence on the relationship between WPS and work-to-family enrichment (WFE). Hence, the present research aimed to identify the relationship between the three components of WPS, namely inner life, meaningful work, and sense of community and WFE among employees of the public sector in Malaysia. In this study, data collection was conducted using questionnaires that were distributed to two public organizations, which managed to receive a total of 81% response rate. The results were in line with past studies, which indicated a significant and positive relationship between workplace spirituality dimensions (inner life, meaningful work, and sense of community) and WFE. The significant influence of the sense of community toward WFE is believed to be caused by the collectivist culture of Malaysians. Therefore, the aspect of community must be taken into consideration in order to increase work-family enrichment among employees, particularly in the context of religious and collectivist society.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Workplace violence among nurses in a Penang hospital: Prevalence and risk factors

Halim I, Syukur AZ, David CCH, Hanis A, Baharudin MH, Dzualkamal D

Med J Malaysia, 2022 Nov;77(6):744-749.
PMID: 36448394

INTRODUCTION: Workplace violence (WPV) has become a universal concern and is perceived as a serious safety and health threat, especially in healthcare settings. Very few studies have been done previously to determine the prevalence of WPV and associated risk factors among nurses in Malaysia. Among the health professionals, nurses spend most of their time with patients compared to other healthcare professionals. Several studies suggested that nurses had a higher risk of experiencing WPV. This study determined the prevalence and associated risk factors of WPV among nurses in a government hospital.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 410 randomly selected respondents among nurses in a government hospital in Penang, Malaysia. Data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire consisting of a standardised questionnaire regarding WPV.
RESULTS: The prevalence of reported WPV was 43.9%. The most common forms of WPV were verbal abuse (82.2%), followed by psychological violence (8.9%), physical violence (8.3%), and sexual violence (0.6%). The perpetrators were primarily among relatives of patients (51.7%), followed by patients (30%). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that nurses working in the emergency department (ED) were six times more likely to experience WPV than in other departments (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 6.139, 95% CI: 1.28 - 4.03). In addition, nurses in the age group of ≤30 years old were twice more likely to experience WPV (AOR 2.275, 95% CI: 3.4-11.08).
CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the prevalence of WPV among nurses is high and most common among young nurses and those working in ED. Hence, hospital management should develop guidelines and comprehensive policies to prevent WPV. In addition, education and training, especially among young nurses and those working in the ED, are needed to increase their knowledge in the management and prevention of WPV and counselling sessions for nurses who have experienced WPV.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace Violence*
The efficacy of smoking ban policy at the workplace on secondhand smoking: systematic review and meta-analysis

Rashiden I, Ahmad Tajuddin NANB, Yee A, Zhen STE, Bin Amir Nordin AS

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2020 Aug;27(24):29856-29866.
PMID: 32483718 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-09407-7

Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in the workplace has led many workplaces to set up smoke-free policies to protect non-smoking employees. Although smoke-free workplaces are pervasive, the intensity of the practice is questionable. The purpose of this review is to identify the pooled prevalence estimate of secondhand smoke at smoke-free workplaces and the factors associated with SHS exposure at the workplace despite existing smoke-free policies. Fourteen studies (total 7458 employees) were identified from Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Cinahl, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to December 2017. Results indicate that despite the existence of smoke-free policies at the workplace, 14 studies reported exposure to secondhand smoke. The pooled prevalence of the SHS exposure was 0.29 (95% CI = 0.23 to 0.36) (P

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace*
Emotional intelligence on job performance: A study on Malaysian employees

Moorthy K, Juan LM, Kamarudin AA, Govindarajo NS, T'ing LC

Work, 2023;76(3):1145-1156.
PMID: 37248940 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-220418

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the emotional intelligence of employees through the negative effects on their mental health, and led to poor workplace performance.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research is to examine the level of EI of Malaysian employees in various sectors affecting their job performance through the mediating influence of psychological capital by using the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Test (SSEIT), 24-item Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24) and Role-Based Performance Scale (RBPS) theories.
METHOD: A quantitative study was conducted. 350 sets of questionnaires were given out to Malaysian employees, of which 311 were returned. Data were analysed through regression analysis.
RESULTS: The results showed that all emotional intelligence subscales, except for utilising emotions, have a significant relationship with job performance through the effect of psychological capital.
CONCLUSION: This study offers valuable and insightful implications by combining the SSEIT, PCQ-24, and RBPS models to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence on job performance in Malaysia, which is an unusual combination model to analyse employees' job performance. It helps Malaysian companies, managers, employers, and other related parties to recognise the processes and elements that influence employees' work performance. This research also successfully developed an extended SSEIT model together with PCQ-24 and RBPS and verified their applicability on workplace performance.

Matched MeSH terms: Workplace/psychology

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