Practice assistants' perceived mental workload: A cross-sectional study with 550 German participants addressing work content, stressors, resources, and organizational structure.

Autor/inn/en	Hoffmann, Jan; Kersting, Christine; Weltermann, Birgitta
Titel	Practice assistants' perceived mental workload: A cross-sectional study with 550 German participants addressing work content, stressors, resources, and organizational structure. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Die wahrgenommene psychische Arbeitsbelastung von Sprechstundenhilfen: Eine Querschnittsstudie mit 550 deutschen Teilnehmern zu Arbeitsinhalten, Stressfaktoren, Ressourcen und Organisationsstruktur.
Quelle	In: PLOS ONE, 15 (2020) 10, Art. e0240052, 12 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1932-6203
DOI	10.1371/journal.pone.0240052
Schlagwörter	Arbeitsbelastung; Psychischer Faktor; Stress; Arztpraxis; Arbeitsbedingungen; Unternehmenskultur; Arbeitsintensität; Arbeitsplatz; Arbeitsqualität; Berufliche Autonomie; Tätigkeitsmerkmal; Arzthelfer; Soziale Unterstützung; Auswirkung; Organisationsstruktur
Abstract	"Introduction Practice assistants represent a highly relevant occupational group in Germany and one of the most popular training professions in Germany. Despite this, most research in the health care sector has focused on secondary care settings, but has not addressed practice assistants in primary care. Knowledge about practice assistants' workplace-related stressors and resources is particularly scarce. This cross-sectional study addresses the mental workload of practice assistants working in primary care practices. Methods Practice assistants from a network of 185 German primary care practices were invited to participate in this cross-sectional study. The standardized `Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis' (German: Kurzfragebogen zur Arbeitsanalyse) was used to assess practice assistants´ mental workload. It addresses eleven workplace factors in 26 items: versatility, completeness of task, scope of action, social support, cooperation, qualitative work demands, quantitative work demands, work disruptions, workplace environment, information and participation, and benefits. Sociodemographic and work characteristics were also obtained. A descriptive analysis was performed for sociodemographic data and 'Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis' factors. The one-sided t-test and Cohen´s d were calculated for a comparison with data from 23 professional groups (n = 8,121). Results A total of 550 practice assistants from 130 practices participated. The majority of practice assistants was female (99.3%) and worked full-time (66.5%) in group practices (50.6%). Compared to the other professional groups, practice assistants reported higher values for the factor social support (4.0 versus 3.7 [d 0.44; p(0.001]), information and participation (3.6 versus 3.3 [d 0.38; p(0.001] as well as work disruptions (2.7 vs. 2.4 [d 0.42; p(0.001]), while practice assistants showed lower values regarding scope of action (3.4 versus 3.8 [d 0.43; p(0.001]). Conclusions Our study identified social support and participation within primary care practices as protective factors for mental workload, while work disruptions and scope of action were perceived as stressors." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch; Befragung; Querschnitt. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 2000-2014.
Erfasst von	Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Nürnberg
Update	2021/3