Recent developments in the registration of histology and micro-computed tomography (µCT) have broadened the perspective of pathological applications such as virtual histology based on µCT. This topic remains challenging because of the low image quality of soft tissue CT. Additionally, soft tissue samples usually deform during the histology slide preparation, making it difficult to correlate the structures between the histology slide and µCT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFrom a positive psychological standpoint, access to decent work extends beyond fulfilling economic needs: it is a fundamental human right. While significant efforts have been made to examine the societal implications of decent work, surprisingly little attention has been directed toward its impact on individual employees. Integrating the Conservation of Resources theory and the Self-Determination theory, this study aims to advance understanding of this topic by exploring the dynamic and reciprocal interplay among decent work, flourishing (namely, an indicator of strong individual well-being), and job performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Public Health Surveill
November 2023
Background: Monitoring workplace violence (WPV) against health care workers (HCWs) through incident reporting is crucial to drive prevention, but the actual implementation is spotty and experiences underreporting.
Objective: This study aims to introduce a systematic WPV surveillance in 2 public referral hospitals in Italy and assess underreporting, WPV annual rates, and attributes "before" (2016-2020) and "after" its implementation (November 2021 to 2022).
Methods: During 2016-2020, incident reporting was based on procedures and data collection forms that were neither standardized between hospitals nor specific for aggressions.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
April 2023
Objective: Work is a key domain of life in which gender inequality can manifest, yet gender is rarely the explicit focus of research seeking to understand exposure to stressors. We investigated this research gap in two studies.
Methods: Study 1 was a systematic review of the relationship between gender and key stressors (e.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
January 2023
Work characteristics may independently and jointly affect well-being, so that whether job demands deplete or energize employees depends on the resources available in the job. However, contradictory results on their joint effects have emerged so far in the literature. We argue that these inconsistencies can be partially explained by two arguments in the contemporary literature in the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackround: Working condition surveys are widely recognized as useful tools for monitoring the quality of working life and the improvements introduced by health and safety policy frameworks at the European and national level. The Italian Workers' Compensation Authority carried out a national survey (Insula) to investigate the employer's perceptions related to working conditions and their impact on health.
Methods: The present study is based on the data collected from the Italian survey on health and safety at work (INSULA) conducted on a representative sample of the Italian workforce ( = 8,000).
Background: Starting from February 2020, in Italy most organizations have had a forced transition to flexible working practice - called "smart working in emergency" - due to the Covid-19 epidemic outbreak. This allowed to continue work activities and services and contributed to contain the risk of infection in different sectors, particularly in the public administration.
Objectives: This follow up study focussed on a panel of 187 workers from the Italian Workers' Compensation Authority taking part to a pilot project "Smart Working in INAIL" from January 2019 to December 2019.
Scand J Work Environ Health
May 2021
Objectives: This paper discusses the development of a cost-estimation model for work-related stress based on psychosocial risk exposure and absence from work. It presents findings from its implementation and evaluation in two organizations in Italy, using national-level tools developed by the Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL). It also provides recommendations for the development of similar cost-calculation methods in other countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are developing joint estimates of the work-related burden of disease and injury (WHO/ILO Joint Estimates), with contributions from a large network of individual experts. Evidence from mechanistic data and prior studies suggests that exposure to long working hours may cause stroke. In this paper, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of parameters for estimating the number of deaths and disability-adjusted life years from stroke that are attributable to exposure to long working hours, for the development of the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper contributes to the literature on organizational interventions on occupational health by presenting a concept study design to test the efficacy of a Participatory Organizational-level Intervention to improve working conditions and job satisfaction in Healthcare. The Participatory Organizational-level Intervention is developed using the Italian methodology to assess and manage psychosocial risks tailored to Healthcare. We added an additional step: evaluation, aiming to examine how the intervention works, what worked for whom and in which circumstances.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
May 2020
While the role of individual differences in shaping primary appraisals of psychosocial working conditions has been well investigated, less is known about how objective characteristics of the employee profile (e.g., age) are associated with different perceptions of psychosocial risk factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGreat Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) developed the Management Standards Indicator Tool to help organizations to assess and monitor organizational risks of work-related stress through surveying employees about the psychosocial risks for stress in their jobs. The use of employee-level data for deriving an organizational-level measure of psychosocial risks assumes that the constructs have equivalent meanings at different levels. However, this isomorphic condition has never been tested and this study fills this gap.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRisk assessment represents an essential part of any successful intervention in health and safety at work. The most prominent European methodologies propose multi-method approaches for identifying the risks associated with work-related stress. Nevertheless, the most widely used method is the self-administered questionnaire.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2018
Young workers are in particular need of occupational safety and health (OSH) services, but it is unclear whether they have the necessary access to such services. We compared young with older workers in terms of the access to and awareness of OSH services, and examined if differences in employment conditions accounted for age-differences. We used survey data from Italy (INSuLA 1, 2014), with a sample of 8000 employed men and women aged 19 to 65 years, including 732 young workers aged under 30 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Int
October 2018
Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are developing a joint methodology for estimating the national and global work-related burden of disease and injury (WHO/ILO joint methodology), with contributions from a large network of experts. In this paper, we present the protocol for two systematic reviews of parameters for estimating the number of deaths and disability-adjusted life years from stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours, to inform the development of the WHO/ILO joint methodology.
Objectives: We aim to systematically review studies on occupational exposure to long working hours (called Systematic Review 1 in the protocol) and systematically review and meta-analyse estimates of the effect of long working hours on stroke (called Systematic Review 2), applying the Navigation Guide systematic review methodology as an organizing framework, conducting both systematic reviews in tandem and in a harmonized way.
Studies on Intervention Process Evaluation are attracting growing attention in the literature on interventions linked to stress and the wellbeing of workers. There is evidence that some elements relating to the process and content of an intervention may have a decisive role in implementing it by facilitating or hindering the effectiveness of the results. This study aimed to provide a process evaluation on interventions to assess and manage risks related to work-related stress using a methodological path offered by INAIL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the framework of the INSuLa project, supported by Italian Ministry of Health, a national survey was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of employers about Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) activities. Main findings of this survey are presented in this paper. The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,010 employers weighted by economic activity sector, company size and geographic area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Work-related stress is widely recognized as one of the major challenges to occupational health and safety. The correlation between work-related stress risk factors and physical health outcomes is widely acknowledged. This study investigated socio-demographic and occupational variables involved in perceived risk of work-related stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Work-related stress is one of the major causes of occupational ill health. In line with the regulatory framework on occupational health and safety (OSH), adequate models for assessing and managing risk need to be identified so as to minimize the impact of this stress not only on workers' health, but also on productivity.
Methods: After close analysis of the Italian and European reference regulatory framework and work-related stress assessment and management models used in some European countries, we adopted the UK Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Management Standards (MS) approach, adapting it to the Italian context in order to provide a suitable methodological proposal for Italy.
Introduction: In compliance with the Italian occupational health and safety regulatory framework, as provided by the Lgs. Decree 81/2008, the "work-related stress" risk assessment should follow the same principles as other risk assessments, in accordance with the European Agreement of 8 October 2004; therefore, validated and scientifically proven methodological tools are needed to conduct an adequate work-related stress risk assessment. The UK's Health Safety and Executive (HSE) Indicator Tool (IT) is used for assessing the risk of work-related stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFG Ital Med Lav Ergon
March 2013
Introduction: This study analyzed the effect of expertise, by comparing the opinions of groups of "experts" and "non-experts" on the so-called "classic" risks and on the risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Methods: A protocol comprising personal history questionnaires, including lifestyle details, STAI-Y, and two rating scales based on the "psychometric paradigm" was administered to 48 people, 22 experts on these risks and 26 non-experts. The findings were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance, exploratory factor, correlational and bivariate regression analysis.