Occupational stress and burnout are a global epidemic that can cause severe negative effects on workers’ physical and emotional health. Health professionals working in a hospital setting are especially at risk, due to the inherent characteristics of their work. Consequently, this study aimed to analyse the relationships between stress and burnout in health professionals working in a hospital in the North of Portugal. A convenience sample of 221 health professionals participated in this cross-sectional study and answered two instruments to assess stress and burnout at work. Results showed that stress dimensions, such as the precariousness of the contractual status, the intention to change services, work overload, stress from the work-home interface, relationships at work, leading training activities, and dealing with patients predicted the three dimensions of burnout—physical fatigue, cognitive weariness, and emotional exhaustion. Therefore, these findings contribute to increase the knowledge of health professional’s mental conditions, and can be used to design and implement interventions to mitigate the effects of stress and burnout on these professionals.

RESUMO Objetivo: descrever o processo de adaptação e validação do Nursing Activities Score para o contexto português. Método: trata-se de um estudo-piloto de adaptação e validação do Nursing Activities Score, com amostra de 67 doentes internados em unidades de cuidados intensivos de três hospitais portugueses. A validade de constructo avaliou-se mediante procedimentos de análise fatorial e a consistência interna dos itens através do coeficiente Alpha de Cronbach. Resultados: obteve-se um valor médio da carga de trabalho de 63,04% (DP = 14,25; Mediana = 61,30). Os dados psicométricos revelaram um Alpha de Cronbach de 0,71, na escala total, indicando uma fidelidade aceitável. A análise fatorial confirmatória sugeriu um ajustamento adequado entre o modelo e os dados (χ2(199) = 214,5, p = 0,214; CFI = 0,95; RMSA = 0,035). Conclusão: neste estudo, a versão portuguesa do Nursing Activities Score revelou-se um instrumento válido, permitindo avaliar a carga de trabalho dos enfermeiros com segurança.

Effective leaders increase organizational success. The Leadership Efficacy Model suggests that leaders’ efficacy increases when leaders are perceived as congruent; that is, when employees perceive the leader to do (practical cycle of leadership) what s/he says will (conceptual cycle of leadership) and there is a close match between what employees expect from leaders and what leaders display. This recent theoretical framework also acknowledges that a number of factors can interfere with the relationship between leadership cycle congruence and leadership efficacy. Such antecedent factors include group members’ characteristics (e.g., organizational seniority). This study aimed to test the assumption that leadership cycles congruence positively predicts leadership efficacy (measured by organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and that this relationship is moderated by employees’ seniority. 318 employees (55% male, with an average seniority of 8 years) completed a questionnaire assessing leadership cycles, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Path analysis results showed that the higher leadership cycles congruence, the higher employees’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the relationship between leadership cycle congruence and organizational commitment was stronger for more senior members of the organization (but not for job satisfaction). The results highlight the importance of leaders act in a congruent manner with their ideas and of meeting employees’ needs. Moreover, it shows that senior members of the organization are particularly sensitive to leadership congruency.

Sports, and especially competitions, can be a stressful experience for athletes, who often struggle to find and apply strategies to cope with stress. Thus, this study analyzes how different coping strategies anticipated to be employed in an important competition are explained by psychological (i.e., cognitive appraisal and emotions) and person and sports-related factors (i.e., gender, type of sport). Specifically, athletes were asked to complete a protocol 24–48 h prior to an important competition to assess their adaptation to stress related to high performance. The study included 383 athletes (60% male, M_age = 22.9 ± 5.3 years), from individual (swimming and running, n = 157; 41%) and team sports (handball, volleyball, n = 226; 59%) competing in major national leagues. Hierarchical linear regression analyses (enter method) were performed to examine the extent to which coping strategies and coping efficacy were explained by psychological, personal and sport-related variables. Results indicated (a) higher control perception and excitement were related with higher intention to use active coping; (b) being a female athlete, practicing individual sports, and excitement (higher intensity and facilitative value) were associated with a higher intention to use emotional support; (c) being a female athlete, lower coping perception, higher anger intensity, and higher facilitative value of happiness were associated with a higher anticipated use of humor; and (d) being a male athlete, higher anxiety, anger, and happiness intensity, and lower facilitative value of dejection and excitement were associated with higher anticipated use of denial. In sum, the explanation of each coping strategy is distinct and should be analyzed separately.