Institut de psychologie du travail et des organisations

2015-5-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam

2009, Bogenstätter, Yvonne, Tschan, Franziska, Semmer, Norbert, Spychiger, Martin, Breuer, Marc, Marsch, Stephan

Objective: This study used a high-fidelity simulation to examine factors influencing the accuracy of 201 pieces of information transmitted to nurses and physicians joining a medical emergency situation. Background: Inaccurate or incomplete information transmission has been identified as a major problem in medicine. However, only a few studies have assessed possible causes of transmission errors. Method: Each of 20 groups was composed of two or three nurses (first responders), one resident joining the group later, and one senior doctor joining last. Groups treated a patient suffering a cardiac arrest. Results: Multilevel binomial analyses showed that 18% of the information given to newcomers was inaccurate. Quantitative information requiring repeated updating was particularly error prone. Information generated earlier (i.e., older information) was more likely to be transmitted inaccurately. Explicitly encoding information to be transmitted after the physicians arrived at the scene enhanced accuracy, supporting transfer-appropriate processing theory. Conclusion: Information transmitted to nurses and physicians who join an ongoing emergency is only partly reliable. Therefore, medical professionals should not take accuracy for granted and should be aware of the nature of transmission errors. Application: Medical professionals should be trained in adequate encoding of information and in standardized communication procedures with regard to error-prone information. In addition, technical devices should be implemented that reduce reliance on memory regarding information with error-prone characteristics.

2015-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Laurent, Eric

Purpose Whether burnout and depression represent distinct pathologies is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine whether burnout and depressive symptoms manifest themselves separately from each other or are so closely intertwined as to reflect the same phenomenon. Methods A two-wave longitudinal study involving 627 French schoolteachers (73 % female) was conducted. Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory and depression with the 9-item depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire. Results Burnout and depressive symptoms clustered both at baseline and follow-up. Cluster membership at time 1 (T1) predicted cases of burnout and depression at time 2 (T2), controlling for gender, age, length of employment, lifetime history of depression, and antidepressant intake. Changes in burnout and depressive symptoms from T1 to T2 were found to overlap. Teachers with increasing burnout experienced increases in depression and teachers with decreasing burnout experienced decreases in depression. In addition, emotional exhaustion, the core of burnout, was more strongly associated with depression than with depersonalization, the second dimension of burnout, underlining an inconsistency in the conceptualization of the burnout syndrome. Conclusions Our results are consistent with recent findings showing qualitative and quantitative symptom overlap of burnout with depression. The close interconnection of burnout and depression questions the relevance of a nosological distinction between the two entities. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, the two main dimensions of burnout, may be better conceptualized as depressive responses to adverse occupational environments than as components of a separate entity.

2015-3, Bianchi, Renzo, Laurent, Eric

Whether burnout is a form of depression is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relevance of the burnout–depression distinction by comparing attentional processing of emotional information in burnout and depression. Eye-tracking technology was employed for assessing overt attentional deployment. The gaze of 54 human services employees was monitored as they freely viewed a series of emotional images, labeled as dysphoric, positive, anxiogenic, and neutral. Similar to depression, burnout was associated with increased attention for dysphoric stimuli and decreased attention for positive stimuli. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that burnout no longer predicted these attentional alterations when depression was controlled for and vice versa, suggesting interchangeability of the two entities in this matter. To our knowledge, this study is the first to (a) investigate emotional attention in burnout and (b) address the issue of the burnout–depression overlap at both cognitive and behavioral levels using eye movement measurement. Overall, our findings point to structural similarities between burnout and depression, thus deepening concerns regarding the singularity of the burnout phenomenon.

2011-8-21, Laurent, Eric, Bianchi, Renzo

2007, Krings, Franciska, Tschan, Franziska, Bettex, Sophie

162 Swiss employees were surveyed to assess knowledge of and attitudes toward different types of affirmative action programs (AA.Ps) for women. Findings show that knowledge of AA.Ps was limited and AAPs were most frequently associated with child care measures. Attitudes toward opportunity enhancement programs, especially toward child care, were more positive than toward preferential selection and positive discriminatory programs. Women held more positive attitudes toward AA.Ps. However, for some attitudes, gender differences were entirely mediated by symbolic prejudice toward working women. Independently of gender, symbolic prejudice was a key predictor of all attitudes. Measures of selfview (self-esteem and gender self-concept) were largely unrelated to attitudes toward AA.Ps. Implications for research and organizations are discussed.

2009, Rafaeli, Anat, Semmer, Norbert, Tschan, Franziska, Sanders, David, Scherer, Klaus

2018-6-28, Bietti, Lucas, Tilston, Ottilie, Bangerter, Adrian

Storytelling represents a key element in the creation and propagation of culture. Three main accounts of the adaptive function of storytelling include (a) manipulating the behavior of the audience to enhance the fitness of the narrator, (b) transmitting survival‐relevant information while avoiding the costs involved in the first‐hand acquisition of that information, and (c) maintaining social bonds or group‐level cooperation. We assess the substantial evidence collected in experimental and ethnographic studies for each account. These accounts do not always appeal to the specific features of storytelling above and beyond language use in general. We propose that the specific adaptive value of storytelling lies in making sense of non‐routine, uncertain, or novel situations, thereby enabling the collaborative development of previously acquired skills and knowledge, but also promoting social cohesion by strengthening intragroup identity and clarifying intergroup relations.

1992, Tschan, Franziska, Von Cranach, Mario, Mugny, Gabriel, Doise, Willem

2000-1-30, Bangerter, Adrian, Smolenski, Carola