Whole Day Workload, Activity Engagement, and Psychological State

• Main Author: Hernandez, Raymond
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Mental health; Occupational psychology; Occupational Therapy
• ISBN: 9798438720904

Workload from time during work has often been studied as a factor impacting worker well-being and functioning, but the impact of whole day workload has received less attention. Investigation of how workload experienced over a whole day contributes to worker well-being and functioning is consistent with a paradigm shift within occupational (work) safety and health by considering both work and non-work factors affecting workers. Workload is also relevant to the lifestyle balance literature in occupational science, specifically the investigation of strenuous (high demand) versus restful activity engagement dimension of life balance.The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between whole day workload and other measures: activity engagement, stress, and cognitive performance. We analyzed data on adults with type 1 diabetes from whom we collected survey data 5-6 times daily over 14 days, as part of an R01 study (Function and Emotion in Everyday Living with Type 1 Diabetes, FEEL-T1D). A variety of statistical methods were used including calculation of between and within-person correlations, multilevel structural equation modeling, and linear mixed modeling. Study results are presented in four articles within Chapters 2 through 5 of this dissertation.Chapters 2 and 3 examine the validity of measures of whole day workload and daily activity frequencies administered in the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) context, both of which are integral to our study. Formal validation of these measures had not existed prior, as EMA measures generally are not formally validated as often as traditional global measures. We found preliminary evidence supporting the validities of both the whole day workload and daily strenuous/work/leisure activity frequency measures. Chapter 2 is a pre-review version of an article published in Ergonomics, and chapter 3 is a derivative of an article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.Chapter 4 provides results of the application of the measures formally validated in chapters 2 and 3 to investigate if daily frequencies of activities with well researched relationships with stress (i.e. work hours and leisure/rest) impacted stress through their effect on whole day workload. We found that whole day workload mediated 66% (p<.001) of the relationship between work hours and stress, 63% (p<.001) of the relationship between rest frequency and stress, and 44% (p<.001) of the association between active leisure and stress. Our results provided preliminary evidence that whole day workload may be an influential precursor of stress, and thus may deserve further investigation in research and/or interventions focused on worker stress.Chapter 5 was an investigation of whether whole day workload could also impact worker functioning, specifically cognitive performance. From mixed models, we found that greater within-person whole day workload had a significant Granger causal relationship with decreased processing speed the next day (beta=-1.05, 95% CI -1.94 to -.19), but not next day sustained attention ability (beta=-.001, 95% CI -.003 to .001).In conclusion, we found evidence supporting the validity of a whole day workload measure used in the EMA context, and that whole day workload had significant relationships with activity engagement, stress, and cognitive performance. Whole day workload is a more holistic measure than work specific versions and may be integral to understanding day to day fluctuations in people’s well-being and performance capacities. We hope that our findings encourage further research on whole day workload, especially in the worker well-being literature in occupational health and in the lifestyle balance literature in occupational science.