Toward a better understanding of the health impairment process. Types of demand and burnout component matter

Lukasz Baka; Monika Prusik; Dorota Jasielska

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1037053

Toward a better understanding of the health impairment process. Types of demand and burnout component matter

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jan 9:13:1037053. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1037053. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Lukasz Baka¹, Monika Prusik², Dorota Jasielska³

Affiliations

¹ Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
² University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
³ The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to better understand the health impairment process, postulated by Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. Previous studies on the process have not clearly explained which types of job demands (challenge vs. hindrance) lead to depression and which burnout component (exhaustion or disengagement from work) mediates job demands-depression link. The direct and indirect (mediated via exhaustion and disengagement from work) effects of challenge and hindrance stressors (included 6 different demands) on depression were investigated in this 1-year cross-lagged study. Data were collected among 752 social service workers in Poland. Structural equation modeling confirmed a slightly different effects of challenge and hindrance stressors (T1) on the two components of job burnout (T2) and depression (T2). Hindrance (but not challenge) stressors were related to high depression. Hindrance stressors intensified exhaustion and disengagement from work, while challenge stressors were only associated with high exhaustion. Exhaustion (but not disengagement from work) was related to depression. These findings support the mediation function of burnout in the health impairment process but only in relation to exhaustion. They also showed that the challenge-hindrance distinction is justified also in the JD-R model. The implications for theory and research on the mental health of employees, as well as for human management practice are discussed.

Keywords: challenge and hindrance stressors; depression; health impairment process; human service; job burnout.

Grants and funding

This paper is based on the results of a research project IV.PB.03 carried out within the scope of the five stage of the National Programme Improvement of safety and working conditions partly supported in 2020–2022—within the scope of research and development—by National Centre for Research and Development in Poland.