The institutional vs. the academic definition of the quality of work life. What is the focus of the European Commission?

In recent years, we have seen how the quality of work life has been focused and defined by the European Commission (EC). In our study we compare the EC definition with the academic one and try to see how close they are. We also analyse the possibility of applying the institutional definition to the Spanish case through the development of specific indicators. Our main conclusions are that QWL is increasingly important for policy makers. In addition, it is essential to have objective indicators and to conduct surveys in order to reliably measure QWL.

Adaptation and validation of the Spanish Version of the 'Survey Work-Home Interaction-NijmeGen' (SWING) to Spanish speaking countries

The purpose of this study is the adaptation and validation of the"Survey Work-Home Interaction NijmeGen" (SWING) developed by Geurts and colleagues to Spanish speaking countries (SWING-SSC). In order to analyze the questionnaire"s psychometric properties, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out with a sample of 203 employees from various Spanish-speaking countries. Criterion related validity was tested by examining correlations between the SWING-SSC, and the theoretically relevant variables: health, role conflict, role clarity and supervisor support. Finally, reliability was tested analyzing the internal consistency of the scales. The analyses carried out indicate that SWING-SSC has good psychometric properties. In addition, the present results support the relation of the construct with health, role conflict, role clarity, and supervisor support. This study offers evidence for a sound work-life balance measure that contributes to the encouragement adequate conditions in the workplace, to reduce the conflict between the two spheres of professional and personal life, and to enhance positive relationships.

Quality in work and aggregate productivity

We explore the relationship between quality in work and aggregate productivity in regions and sectors. Using recent Spanish aggregate data for the period 2001-2006, we find that quality in work may be an important factor to explain productivity levels in sectors and regions. We use two alternatives definitions of quality in work: one from survey data and the other from a social indicators approach. We also use two different measurements of labour productivity to test the robustness of our results. The estimates are run using a simultaneous equation model for our panel of data, and find important differences between high tech and low tech sectors: a positive relationship between quality in work and productivity in the former case, and a negative relationship in the latter. Consequently, on the one hand we see that quality in work is not only an objective per se, but may also be a production factor able to increase the wealth of regions; on the other hand, at the aggregate level, we may also find that high productivity levels coincide with lower quality in work conditions.

Calidad de vida y necesidades de formación de las cuidadoras formales de personas mayores dependientes institucionalizadas

Objetivo: Identificar la calidad de vida, satisfacción personal y laboral de las Auxiliares de Geriatría cuidadoras de personas mayores institucionalizadas. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo realizado a partir de datos cuantitativos y datos cualitativos. El tamaño de la muestra fue de 12 Auxiliares de Geriatría que trabajan en el Centro Sociosanitario Ricard Fortuny y en la Residencia Sant Francesc de Vilafranca del Penedès. Resultados: La mayoría está satisfecha con su vida personal y tienen una buena calidad de vida. Les gusta su trabajo y están motivadas, sin embargo, manifiestan estar poco valoradas y remuneradas, piensan que la formación es importante para ofrecer unos cuidados de calidad. Conclusiones y discusión: Se necesita una formación especializada para ofrecer unos cuidados de calidad a los mayores institucionalizados, ello no sólo influye en la satisfacción laboral de las Auxiliares de Geriatría, sino también en su satisfacción personal y calidad de vida.

Calidad de vida y necesidades de formación de las cuidadoras formales de personas mayores dependientes institucionalizadas

Objetivo: Identificar la calidad de vida, satisfacción personal y laboral de las Auxiliares de Geriatría cuidadoras de personas mayores institucionalizadas. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo realizado a partir de datos cuantitativos y datos cualitativos. El tamaño de la muestra fue de 12 Auxiliares de Geriatría que trabajan en el Centro Sociosanitario Ricard Fortuny y en la Residencia Sant Francesc de Vilafranca del Penedès. Resultados: La mayoría está satisfecha con su vida personal y tienen una buena calidad de vida. Les gusta su trabajo y están motivadas, sin embargo, manifiestan estar poco valoradas y remuneradas, piensan que la formación es importante para ofrecer unos cuidados de calidad. Conclusiones y discusión: Se necesita una formación especializada para ofrecer unos cuidados de calidad a los mayores institucionalizados, ello no sólo influye en la satisfacción laboral de las Auxiliares de Geriatría, sino también en su satisfacción personal y calidad de vida.

Calidad de vida y necesidades de formación de las cuidadoras formales de personas mayores dependientes institucionalizadas

Objetivo: Identificar la calidad de vida, satisfacción personal y laboral de las Auxiliares de Geriatría cuidadoras de personas mayores institucionalizadas. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo realizado a partir de datos cuantitativos y datos cualitativos. El tamaño de la muestra fue de 12 Auxiliares de Geriatría que trabajan en el Centro Sociosanitario Ricard Fortuny y en la Residencia Sant Francesc de Vilafranca del Penedès. Resultados: La mayoría está satisfecha con su vida personal y tienen una buena calidad de vida. Les gusta su trabajo y están motivadas, sin embargo, manifiestan estar poco valoradas y remuneradas, piensan que la formación es importante para ofrecer unos cuidados de calidad. Conclusiones y discusión: Se necesita una formación especializada para ofrecer unos cuidados de calidad a los mayores institucionalizados, ello no sólo influye en la satisfacción laboral de las Auxiliares de Geriatría, sino también en su satisfacción personal y calidad de vida.

Gender inequalities in occupational health related to the unequal distribution of working and employment conditions: a systematic review

Gender inequalities exist in work life, but little is known about their presence in relation to factors examined in occupation health settings. The aim of this study was to identify and summarize the working and employment conditions described as determinants of gender inequalities in occupational health in studies related to occupational health published between 1999 and 2010. A systematic literature review was undertaken of studies available in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Sociological Abstracts, LILACS, EconLit and CINAHL between 1999 and 2010. Epidemiologic studies were selected by applying a set of inclusion criteria to the title, abstract, and complete text. The quality of the studies was also assessed. Selected studies were qualitatively analysed, resulting in a compilation of all differences between women and men in the prevalence of exposure to working and employment conditions and work-related health problems as outcomes. Most of the 30 studies included were conducted in Europe (n=19) and had a cross-sectional design (n=24). The most common topic analysed was related to the exposure to work-related psychosocial hazards (n=8). Employed women had more job insecurity, lower control, worse contractual working conditions and poorer self-perceived physical and mental health than men did. Conversely, employed men had a higher degree of physically demanding work, lower support, higher levels of effort-reward imbalance, higher job status, were more exposed to noise and worked longer hours than women did. This systematic review has identified a set of working and employment conditions as determinants of gender inequalities in occupational health from the occupational health literature. These results may be useful to policy makers seeking to reduce gender inequalities in occupational health, and to researchers wishing to analyse these determinants in greater depth.

Utilització de la variabilitat de la freqüència cardíaca (VFC) per a la valoració de l'estat de recuperació-estrès en l'entrenament del judo

Usually, competitive stress, work life or just the training load in athletes can cause a phenomenon called overtraining syndrome. It is described as imbalance between stimulus and recovery in which decreases performance of athletes without being apparently immersed in a frame of injury or disease. That prolonged fatigue may affect the ability to adapt and thus severely reduce performance. This situation can be prolonged in time despite the existence of weekly or monthly periods of recovery. We want to see if the parameters of HRV, RESTQ-Sport questionnaire and strength values vary significantly in front 2 types of training (an intensive two daily sessions, large volume of work and little rest between the sessions; and another with 4 weekly workouts, with longer recovery time and less volume of work), in national judo players (n=14) to study the relationship between VFC and the imbalance of stress-recovery. METHODOLOGY: We performed a longitudinal and experimental study of HRV in 14 subjects, judo players at the national, randomly divided into 2 groups. One of these was conducted intensive training (high volume and low recovery) and another who made a smoother workout (less volume and less recovery) during a period of 4 weeks. CONCLUTIONS: The correct interpretation of the fluctuation parameters of HRV during the training judo players, may be a good indicator of stress levels, the recovery workload and therefore the observation of VFC is becomes an economic and noninvasive method of monitoring training in judo.

Estudi sobre la influència de l'equilibri treball-família en la satisfacció i l’estrès a una organització catalana

A partir dels estudis previs sobre l’equilibri entre la vida familiar i laboral, es desenvolupa el present estudi sobre les relacions de l’equilibri treball-família en la satisfacció i l’estrès en una organització pública catalana. S’utilitza una mostra diversa de 123 treballadors, la qual inclou treballadors dediversos departaments amb diferenciació de treballs i tasques. L’estudi utilitza la tècnica multivariable dels models d’equacions estructurals que realitza estimacions de relacions causals a partir de dades estadístiques, les quals expressen el grau en què les dades s’ajusten a un model proposat, confirmant la seva validesa.Els resultats dels models d’equacions estructurals van demostrar que existeix una relació positiva entre l’equilibri treball-família amb la satisfacció laboral i la satisfacció familiar, en canvi aquesta relació és negativa quan es tracta de l’estrès. A més a més, els models d’equacions confirmen que existeix una correlació negativa entre la satisfacció laboral i l’estrès. Aquest estudi també confirma que l’equilibri treball-vida és un bon predictor sobre la satisfacció laboral.

Classical parameters of Shadowlands by Richard Attenborough (On C. S. Lewis's Life and Work)

The aim of this article is to show the classical parameters of Shadowlands by R. Attenborough, with a screenplay by W. Nicholson, on C. S. Lewis's life and work. Based upon an accurate reading of Lewis's works, the author of this article proposes to interpret the opposition Lewis / Gresham as the translation into the real life of the opposition between the Platonic or idealistic and the Aristotelian or materialistic temperaments which was already maintained by Coleridge. In any case, there are many classical references which must be taken into account in order to understand to what extent C. S. Lewis's Christianity is also a classic Christianity, that is, a Greek and Latin one.

Women's work histories in Italy: education as investment in reconciliation and legitimacy?

Within pre-enlargement Europe, Italy records one of the widest employment rate gaps between highly and poorly educated women, as well one of the largest differences in the share, among working women, of public sector employment. Building on these stylized facts and using the Longitudinal Survey of Italian Households (ILFI), we investigate the working trajectories of three cohorts of Italian women born between 1935 and 1964 and observed from their first job until they are in their forties. We use mainly, but not exclusively, event history analysis in order to identify the main factors that influence entry into and exit from paid work over the life course. Our results suggest that in the Italian context, where employment protection policies have also been used as surrogate measures to favour reconciliation between family and work, and where traditional gender norms still persist, education is so important for women's employment decisions because it represents an investment in 'reconciliation' and 'work legitimacy' over and above investment in human capital.

Who benefits from parental leave in Spain? : a life course analysis

This paper analyses the extent to which individual and workplacecharacteristics and regional policies influence the use and duration ofparental leave in Spain. The research is based on a sample of 125,165people, and 6,959 parental leaves stemming from the ‘Sample ofWorking Life Histories’ (SWLH), 2006. The SWLH consists of administrative register data which include information from threedifferent sources: Social Security, Municipality and Income TaxRegisters. We adopt a simultaneous equations approach to analyse theuse (logistic regression) and duration (event history analysis) ofparental leave, which allows us to control for endogeneity and censoredobservations. We argue that the Spanish parental leave scheme increases gender and social inequalities insofar as reinforces genderrole specialization, and only encourages the reconciling of work andfamily life among workers with a good position in the labour market(educated employees with high and stable working status).

Poverty and children's work in Spain and Latin America. Some preliminary remarks.

In the first part of this paper we try to test the relationship between mothers earnings, fertility and children's work in the Spanish (Catalan) context of the first third of the 20th century. Specific human capital investment of adult working women had as an outcome the sharp increase of their real wage and also the increase of the opportunity cost of time devoted to house work including child rearing. Fertility evolution is endogenous to the model and decreases as a result of women real wage increases. Human capital investment of labouring women and mandatory schooling of children shift the labour supply function to a new steady state in which the slope is steeper. According to recent papers this model applies to 20th century Spain and it causes the abolition of children's work. Nonetheless the model do not apply to 20th century Latin America. Despite the positive evolution of literacy and life expectancy in this region, other factors involved poor results of the educational human capital investment. In this paper we remark the role of the increasing share of the informal sector of the economy ruled on the bases of women's and children's work. Second we stress the role of high income inequality evolution and endogamic school supplies to explain the limits of increasing literacy on more remarkable human capital improvements.

Do you work or do you study? Children's work in a comparative historical perspective

In this paper we compare two historical scenarios very different one to each other bothin institutional and geographical terms. What they have in common is the situation ofrelative poverty of most of the population. On the one side we are dealing withhistorical industrializing Catalonia in the North East of Spain, a country exhibiting pooreconomic yields in the context of European and non European industrializing nations inthe 19th century. We compare children s work patterns in 19th century Catalonia withthose of current developing countries in Latin America, Africa and South and East Asia.This kind of exercise in which the nexus of the comparison are the levels of wealth ofcountries that are unsuccessful to achieve high standards of economic growth allows usto combine the micro historical analysis (in the Catalan case) with the macrocomparative approach in current developing countries. By means of both, the microhistorical analysis and the macro regression analysis we obtain the result that adultwomen s skills and real wages are a key factor when we want to explain the patterns ofchildren work. While female real wages increased a sharp rate in 19th century Cataloniawe obtain very different results in the case of developing countries. This differentgender bias helps to explain why in some cases children continue to work and also whysome parts of the world continue to be poor according to our regression analysis.

Job satisfaction and life satisfaction: Analysis of a reciprocal model with social demographic moderators

The general objective of the study was to empirically test a reciprocal model of job satisfaction and life satisfaction while controlling for some social demographic variables. 827 employees working in 34 car dealerships in Northern Quebec (56% responses rate) were surveyed. The multiple item questionnaires were analysed using correlation analysis, chi square and ANOVAs. Results show interesting patterns emerging for the relationships between job and life satisfaction of which 49.2% of all individuals have spillover, 43.5% compensation, and 7.3% segmentation type of relationships. Results, nonetheless, are far richer and the model becomes much more refined when social demographic indicators are taken into account. Globally, social demographic variables demonstrate some effects on each satisfaction individually but also on the interrelation (nature of the relations) between life and work satisfaction.