A Long Way from Home Investigation of Work Stress and Remoteness in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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A Long Way from Home Investigation of Work Stress and Remoteness in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Nov 15, 2023 569 likes •918 views

A Long Way from Home Investigation of Work Stress and Remoteness in the Mining Industry Funding: APA, UniSA top-up, MAQOHSC Scholarship Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au Presentation Overview What and why Theory

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A Long Way from Home

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Investigation of Work Stress and Remoteness in the Mining Industry

Funding: APA, UniSA top-up, MAQOHSC Scholarship

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  • What and why
  • Theory
  • Qualitative Research
  • Quantitative Research
  • Practical Implications
  • Thesis progress

Presentation Overview

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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The Growth in Australian Mining Employment Figures (1985-2013)

Economic Considerations

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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ABS (2011)

  • High salary average ($117,500)
  • High profit (43%)
  • 3rd largest mining country in the

world

  • 19% of GDP
  • Mining industry effects

everyone in Australia

Economic Considerations

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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  • Recent industry growth
  • “Backbone” of Australian economy
  • Atypical work rosters
  • Tough working conditions
  • Environmental exposure
  • Remoteness
  • Long hours
  • Media interest
  • (i.e. 2015 parliamentary enquiry)
  • Lack of empirical research

Important but challenging work

Why

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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  • Identify the unique experience of work

stress and health in the mining industry

  • Identify the role of isolation and

remoteness in the experience of mining workers

  • Identify future industry trends

Broad aims

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Stress Theory

  • Explain the experience of stress
  • What factors in the workplace elicit stress

(stressors)

  • How does stress manifest?
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Theoretical Framework

Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Theoretical Framework

The Extended JDR Framework

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Qualitative Research

  • Lack of empirical research on the

psychological health of mining workers

  • Interviews guide the quantitative component
  • f the project
  • Experience the industry

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Qualitative Research

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Qualitative Research

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Qualitative Research

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Emerging project model

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Study Findings: Co-workers adopted family-type support roles.

“These people become your family essentially”

“Here it’s a close-knit family”

“Because they’re away from their families, people create a family”

“We kind of joke sometimes we know each other too well…. We’re like family”

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Qualitative Research

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Chapter IV: AWB Data

  • 2,793 working Australians (48%M 52%F)
  • 112 Mining Workers (84%M 16%F)
  • 12 month time lag
  • NSW, WA (2009-2010)
  • Vic, WA, NT, ACT (2010-2011)

The Australian Workplace Barometer Project is the result of jointly funded projects funded by:

  • Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant: Working wounded or engaged? Australian work conditions and consequences

through the lens of the Job Demands-Resources Model

  • ARC Linkage Grant: State, organisational, and team interventions to build psychosocial safety climate using the Australian Workplace

Barometer and the StressCafé

  • SafeWork SA, and
  • Safe Work Australia.

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Quantitative Research

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Hypotheses

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Analyses

  • Cross lagged Structural Equation Model (SEM)

Mplus v6.11

  • Compare models to find most appropriate

model (causal, reverse causal, reciprocal)

  • Interaction terms added to best model

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Results

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Conclusion Findings suggest a circumstantial component to social support. Work environments that are more proximate or encourage greater employee interaction are likely to have more alleviative sources of social support.

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Chapter V

  • Develop a scale that captures the unique

experience of Work-Life Conflict (WLC) associated with working remotely (i.e. FIFO)

  • Compare its efficacy against the most

commonly used WLC measure in the literature

  • 131 Australian participants
  • 55 mining workers
  • 76 partners
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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

The following questions are about how work can affect your home and personal life. How well do you agree with the following statements?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Slightly Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Slightly Agree Agree Strongly Agree

  • 1. My job makes it difficult to

maintain social relationships

  • utside of work

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

  • 2. I find I miss a lot of social

activities and opportunities because of my work (such as birthdays and playing sports) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

  • 3. My job makes it difficult to

form new friendships or romantic relationships 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

  • 4. My work arrangement

makes it difficult to fulfil social responsibilities (such as helping a friend move house or attending a funeral) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Variable b t sr² R R²

DR2

Step 1 .49 .24 Group

  • .23
  • 2.99**
  • .26

WFC .42 5.36*** .43 Step 2 .60 .36 .12*** Group

  • .39
  • 4.97***
  • .40

WFC .17 1.90* .14 RWLC .45 4.91*** .35

***p = <.001, **p = <.01, *p= <.05. Group, 1= partner, 2= mining worker. WFC = Work-Family Conflict. RWLC = Remote Work-Life Conflict. b = standardised coefficient.

Table 5 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Depression

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

***p = <.001, **p = <.01, *p= <.05. Group, 1= partner, 2= mining worker. WFC = Work-Family Conflict. RWLC = Remote Work-Life Conflict. b = standardised coefficient.

Table 6 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Sleep

Variable b T sr² R R² DR2 Step 1 .47 .22 Group

  • .33
  • 4.16***
  • .33

WFC .31 3.97*** .31 Step 2 .58 .33 .11*** Group

  • .48
  • 6.00***
  • .44

WFC .07 0.79 .06 RWLC .44 4.66*** .34

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Chapter V Summary

  • We developed a tool to assess the unique

experience of WLC by mining workers

  • This tool reflects atypical spatial and temporal

conflict between work and non-work domains

  • This tool was better at predicting depression

and sleep problems among mining workers

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

Depression Prevalence Among Mining Workers

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Key Findings

  • Mining workers have high rates of depression
  • Partners of miners also have high rates of

depression, suggesting high negative spill-over

  • Longer swings were associated with much

greater rates of depression, approaching MDD

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Key Findings

  • Mining workers and partners experience a

unique type of WLC associated with an inability to participate in social events/commitments that are important for psychological wellbeing (i.e. sport, hobbies)

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Key Findings

  • FIFO rosters lead to a degradation in social

relationships at home – but an increase in the support received from co-workers

  • In the absence of usual support networks, co-

workers adopt additional support roles

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Key Areas for Intervention

  • Roster Length (Time away from home)
  • Social Support (co-worker relationships)
  • Sleep
  • Depression

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Examination Results

“This thesis presents a well-designed and soundly executed series of studies that seek to identify and assess the specific psychosocial conditions impacting on the health of remote miners, their families and the organisations in which they work. The experiences of miners working in remote locations have been largely overlooked in the academic literature, given the importance of this sector to the economic prosperity of many countries, the candidate should be commended for pursuing this line of enquiry.” Examiner 1

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au

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Examination Results

“I believe this dissertation is a first rate piece of work and requires no alterations.” Examiner 2

Wes McTernan (E): wes.mcternan@unisa.edu.au