Libby Brook

Background Workplace bullying has diverse consequences at both the organisational and individual level. Anecdotal reports indicate that workplace bullying is an issue of particular concern for Australian FIFO workers, which may impact on psychosocial distress. However, no prior studies have examined this issue empirically in a FIFO worker cohort. Methods and materials A cross-sectional survey study design was used to establish the prevalence of bullying in Australian FIFO, antecedents of bullying, and its association with psychosocial distress. Responses were received from 580 FIFO workers in the Australian resources sector. Primary outcome measures were Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, Beck Depression Inventory II, and Beck Hopelessness Scale. Logistic regression models were constructed to examine the association between bullying, suicide risk, and clinical depression. Results Over half of the respondents experienced workplace bullying (55.7%), and about one-third reported moderate or more severe depression (32.3%). Being above the median age (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.31-0.83) and having a supervisor who failed to promote collaboration (OR = 3.04; 95% CI = 1.84-5.04) were both significantly associated with experiencing bullying. Bullying was associated with an almost threefold increase in the likelihood of participants reporting increased suicide risk (OR = 2.70; 95% CI = 1.53-4.76). Bullying was also associated with participants being almost two and a half times more likely to report clinical depression (OR = 2.38; 95% CI = 1.40-4.05). Conclusion The incidence of bullying in Australian FIFO workers has reached alarming proportions. Bullying was significantly associated with higher levels of clinical depression and suicide risk. The results highlight the need to implement in the Australian resource sector interventions that reduce workplace bullying.

During the resources boom in Western Australia, the remoteness and nature of work contracts led to an increase in the use of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) working arrangements. The associated compressed work periods, alternating patterns of residence, and the harsh worksite living conditions were compensated for by high wages. The combination of these factors led to controversy around whether employees were committed to their employers (Walford, 2012), if their working arrangements conflicted with family arrangements, and the impact on their mental health (Education and Health Standing Committee, 2015). This thesis explored the impact of FIFO working arrangements on workers in each of these areas using correlations and path analyses. The resources boom (circa 2012) provided the opportunity to survey FIFO workers (n = 980; 75.6% male) across Australia by a cross-sectional online or paper survey. A convenience sample was recruited through multiple methods including social media, radio, and snowballing. Affective commitment and normative commitment were strongly predicted by perceptions of organisational support. Preference for a different roster had a small but significant impact on employees’ intent to leave their jobs. Employees’ preference for a different roster was positively associated with their perceptions of work-family conflict (WFC), which was also positively associated with poorer mental health outcomes. When work and personal factors were combined, preference for another roster was related to higher WFC and subsequently many organisational and individual outcomes, while high continuance commitment was related to poorer mental health outcomes. The implications of the findings of this thesis are that organisations should focus on enabling choice of roster as well as improving perceived support in order to increase affective commitment and reduce turnover intent and perceptions of WFC, which is likely to lead to better mental health outcomes for their employees.

The majority of workplace safety models focus solely on physical elements of safety. Evidence in the literature suggests the need for psychosocial safety to be considered in conjunction with physical safety. Previous models have identified certain job demands and resources as valuable indicators of safety behavior. This paper focuses on developing a comprehensive approach to workplace safety through a proposed physical and psychosocial workplace safety (PPWS) model, where self-regulatory processes mediate the relationship of job demands and resources to safety behaviors. The aim is to provide a parsimonious, comprehensive approach to safety by summarizing and strengthening current theoretical explanations. The PPWS provides multiple contributions to the literature; 1) clear definitions and distinctions between variable conceptualization, 2) expands job demands and resources, 3) integrates physical and psychosocial safety, 4) provides a generalizable approach across multiple industries, 5) considers self-regulatory processes as mediators of safety behavior. These contributions provide benefits and opportunities for practitioners and academics.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to establish whether clinical depression and increased suicide risk differed between Australian fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers and their residential counterparts in the resources sector. We also sought to identify whether bullying and social support were associated with depression and suicide risk in this cohort. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. Completed questionnaires were received from 751 respondents who were employed in the Australian resources sector. Primary outcomes were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale and Negative Acts Questionnaire – Revised. A general linear model was used to examine the association between depression, hopelessness and predictive factors. Results: The results of a general linear model analysis demonstrated that depression (partial η2 = 0.02; P = 0.01) and hopelessness (partial η2 = 0.02; P = 0.02) were significantly higher in residential than FIFO workers. In addition, bullying was significantly associated with higher levels of depression (partial η2 = 0.11; P = 0.001) and hopelessness (partial η2 = 0.04; P = 0.001). Finally, increased social support was significantly associated with lower depression rates (partial η2 = 0.13; P = 0.001) and hopelessness (partial η2 = 0.14; P = 0.001). Conclusions: Interventions should be delivered to reduce depression and hopelessness in Australian resource workers, particularly through addressing workplace bullying and enhancing social support.

Introduction Insufficient and poor-quality sleep is common in adolescents, and are associated with affective disturbances. Most past studies focused on examining the associations between sleep and negative emotions, neglecting positive affect and emotional experiences. The current study addresses this gap by simultaneously examining associations between self-reported sleep duration and quality, with positive affect, negative affect, and happiness in adolescents. Methods A large community sample of 4,582 adolescents (69.4% females, M±SD age: 14.55 ± 1.74 years) completed the following measures: typical sleep duration and quality, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and Subjective Happiness Scale. Structural equation modelling was used to examine associations between sleep duration and quality on positive affect, negative affect, and happiness. Age and sex were controlled for. Results Both shorter and poorer sleep were significantly associated with lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and lower happiness. Overall, compared to sleep duration, sleep quality demonstrated stronger associations with all three measures of emotions. Sleep duration and quality exhibited differential associations with positive and negative emotions. Shorter sleep duration had a greater impact on dampening positive emotions (happiness, followed by positive affect), while poor sleep quality demonstrated stronger associations with elevating negative affect. Conclusion This is the first study to simultaneously examine sleep duration and quality with positive and negative emotions in adolescents. Compared to sleep duration, adolescents’ perceived sleep quality had a stronger impact on their emotions. Positive and negative emotions are also differentially associated with sleep duration and quality. Poorer sleep quality may be a risk factor for affective disturbances, while longer sleep duration may promote longer-term positive emotions (happiness). Given that adolescence marks increased vulnerabilities to affective disturbances, these findings have practical implications for adolescents’ psychological wellbeing.

This study examines the association between suicide risk and social support in Australian resource sector employees. We included 150 participants, who completed the Beck Hopelessness Scale and MOS‐Social Support Survey. Data were analyzed using smallest space analysis and multidimensional scalogram analysis. The analysis identified four distinct regions, which were conceptualized as “confiding,” “affection,” “companionship,” and “practical help.” All of these components of social support were associated with hopelessness, which has important clinical implications as hopelessness is related to suicide risk. The results of this study also demonstrated that lower levels of social support, and greater sense of perceived hopelessness tended to lead to Australian resource workers seeking assistance from mental health professionals in the previous year. Attention should turn towards providing interventions that promote social support for employees in Australian resource industry.

Despite positive and negative emotions being equally important predictors of adolescent wellbeing, research examining positive emotions is limited. In 4582 adolescents (69.4% females; age M ± SD = 14.55 ± 1.74 years), we used structural equation modelling to examine associations between self-reported sleep duration and quality with positive affect, negative affect, and happiness, controlling for age and sex. Overall, sleep quality displayed stronger associations with all measures of emotions compared to sleep duration. Shorter sleep was more specifically associated with lower positive emotions (happiness, followed by positive affect), whereas poorer sleep showed stronger associations with negative affect. Protecting sleep duration may promote positive emotions and enhancing sleep quality may reduce mood disturbances. Future research could incorporate both positive and negative emotions to better understand adolescents’ wellbeing.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a newly developed brief, cost-effective, flexible, and broadly accessible online programme designed to enhance employee well-being. Considering the demands of the working world, the development of the positive intervention (PI) programme was based on empirical findings and latest theoretical advances from the field of positive psychology, namely the PERMA model of well-being. The new PERMA-based programme’s effectiveness to increase employee well-being was evaluated with a longitudinal field experiment, including a wait list control group and an already established PI programme (i.e., gratitude programme) for comparison (three-armed randomized controlled trial; n = 303, Nmale = 99, Nfemale = 203, Mage = 41.16, SD = 12.26). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) supported that on average, participants of the gratitude programme and the PERMA-based programme reported significant increases in employee well-being after the intervention, as compared to no increases in the wait list control group. The significant increases yielded small effect sizes for general subjective well-being and medium effect sizes for work-related subjective well-being. Post-hoc analyses controlling for baseline well-being also supported the efficacy of the PIs. Contrary to the prediction of the PERMA-based programme’s superiority, participants of both online PI programmes reported similar gains in employee well-being components. Practical implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.