Overwhelmed by Emotional Job Demands in High Vigor Days! Its Detrimental Effects on Daily Recovery from Work among Health-Care Workers

Abstract

The objective of this study is twofold: first, to analyze whether the daily level of energy in terms of vigor at work could explain the way in which workers psychologically detach from their work, relax, practice challenging activities, and have the feeling of having control over their leisure time when arriving home. Second, to check if the daily emotional job demands could hinder that relationship, reversing the positive effect of vigor in recovery. For this purpose, a multilevel study with a diary methodology was designed. In total, 94 nurses from various hospital and primary care centers in Madrid and Basque Country (Spain) participated in this study. They completed daily questionnaires twice a day (in the afternoon after work and at night before going to bed) for five consecutive workdays from Monday to Friday (N = 94*5 = 470). The results revealed that on days that vigor at work was high, nurses experienced more psychological detachment, relaxation, feelings of mastery, and time control at home. Moreover, on days that emotional job demands were high, vigor was more negatively related to psychological detachment and time control at home. Additionally, vigor was more positively related to all recovery experiences at home in days that emotional demands were low. Therefore, daily vigor can act as an energy resource that helps the worker to recover. However, this effect can occur in situations in which stressors are not present in high intensity. These results have clear practical implications for both health organizations and workers.

Keywords:

• Vigor at work
• emotional job demands
• antecedents of recovery
• health-care workers
• diary study

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all professionals for participating in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Table 4. Multilevel Estimates for Models Predicting Mastery Experiences at Home at Night.

Availability of data

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, LMBD, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by I + D+I National Project of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2019-106368GB-I00) AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

Notes on contributors

Luis Manuel Blanco-Donoso

Luis Manuel Blanco Donoso, PhD in Psychology and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM).

Jennifer Moreno-Jiménez

Jennifer Moreno-Jiménez, PhD student and Research Teaching Staff in Training at the Faculty of Psychology of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM).

Alberto Amutio

Alberto Amutio, PhD in Psychology, full professor in the Faculty of Labor Relations and Social Work at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Spain, and visiting professor at the University of Andres Bello in Chile.

Marcelo José dos Santos

Marcelo Jose dos Santos Doctor of Science and Associate Professor at the Nursing School of the University of São Paulo (USP).

Eva Garrosa

Eva Garrosa, PhD in Psychology and Associate Professor in the Department of Biological and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, UAM.