A Research Review of The Relationship Between Job Enrichment and Abdominal Obesity: A Longitudinal Field Study of Apparently Healthy Individuals & A Starting Point for the Gap in Seeing Obesity as a Eating and Mental Disorder
Obesity is something that American’s are struggling to deal with, and are hearing about on a regular basis in today’s world. From obesity in the media, both health and appearance oriented, to the growing concerns about how this epidemic is affecting our society, research is consistently figuring out the many ways obesity is affecting us. Another area of concern is the occupational world; from union groups, to occupational therapists, there is a focus towards acquiring a balance between optimal production, and taking care of the health of employees that make that production happen. This paper will review one of the studies that look at combining these two areas of research, employee health and job design (Fried, Y. et al, 2013); more specifically, Fried, Y. and colleagues (2013) focus on five particular aspects of job design, and how those core characteristics (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) affect employee stress levels in the form of abdominal obesity. This review also provides a starting point, towards seeing if there is a gap in the research that has been done on the various etiologies of obesity.
Fried, Y. and colleagues (2013) certainly did their research in order to cover the many variables, measurements, and the design of their study. Here is some of the research found to support their studies focus (Fried, et al, 2013). Several studies indicate that there is a connection between employee health, and how demanding or stressful their jobs are; that the stress level can be similarly...
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Employee wellness programs, also known as a “worksite wellness program”, are programs that are designed to promote and support the health, safety, and well being of a company’s employees. Wellness programs are meant to improve the health of the staff, their morale, and in turn also help improve their productivity. There are many components that make up employee wellness programs, for example; Health Screenings, Health Fairs, Fitness classes, Smoking cessation classes, and even wellness issue workshops. Employers have begun adopting these programs in hopes of helping their employees while they are at an age when health interventions can still help transform their long-term health choice. This paper will focus on trends found between employee weight and productivity, and the impacts these could have on a business overall.
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Today obesity is talked about as a major physical health problem. It can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, immobilization, and many other problems. However many articles fail to mention what is one of the most important and most destructive problems. This is the effect of obesity on one’s mental health and wellbeing. Being excessively overweight usually instills in it’s victims a sense of self worthlessness and gives them a very negative self-image. This can lead to an array of problems that affect the person in a way that is much more direct and difficult to deal with than physical problems. While the problem is known to affect men, it strikes women much more often.
In conclusion, the above research analysis explained many contributing factors to stress and burnout and its effect on performance. As expected from prior studies, job satisfaction has an effect on productivity and/or burnout. Burnout in US nurses has been linked to Philippine nurses, despite a difference in health-care systems. Gender has also proven to be a contributing factor to stress. Women have a significant level of stress compared to men due to additional work of housework and childcare. Women also are linked to low levels of emotional exhaustion with co-worker support. Finally, perception organizational support has been linked to emotional exhaustion, but not solely due to the organization. Hopefully, organizations will continue to adopt stress reducing programs and recognize that it has many contributing factors.
As a health care professional it is our position statement that obesity should be considered as a disease. Overweight and obese adults are considered at risk for developing diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, coronary heart disease, and certain type of cancers. An average of 300,000 deaths is associated with obesity and the total economic cost of obesity in U.S. was about $ 117 billion in 2000. As health care professionals it is our responsibility to increase public awareness of health consequences of over weight and obesity. Obesity as a disease: Obesity fits all the definitions of ‘disease’, that is, interruption in bodily function.
Food stamps are not the only solution available; for example, a person can decide to find multiple jobs to supplement their income. However, with multiple jobs come other obesity triggering factors. Multiple jobs increase a person’s stress level which in turn ra...
Discrimination is a big issue in the whole world and has a different way of being discriminated unfortunately. Anything type of discrimination is incorrect, but one that really got me is obesity and individual always being discriminate because of the weigh at school, in jobs and airplanes. I think we as a human services worker should make more effort to reduce discrimination due obesity. According to (Rebecca Puhl and Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, 2012) they noted that It is important to address the impact of negative professional attitudes on clinical judgment, diagnosis, and care for obese individuals. Several studies have indicated that obesity may influence judgments and practices of professionals. As human we all deserve to be
Work related stressors: Psychological ill health due to the demands of work such as long hours, work overload, pressure, and complaints.
In the American culture, obesity is seen as a bodily abnormality and deviance that should be corrected. Obesity has indeed become one of the most stigmatizing bodily characteristics in our culture (Brink, 1994). In the Western culture, thinness does not just mean the size of the body, but it is associated with such qualities as being healthy, attractive and in control. In contrast, a fat body is viewed as a sign of poor health, inefficiency and lack of personal will (e.g. Kissling, 1991; Ogden, 1992; Cooper, 1998). Resent research has shown that the social stigma associated with obesity can have serious consequences for an obese individual via discrimination in central fields of life such as education, health care, and employment. In relation to gender, the stigma associated with been obese is not the same for men and women. Research has clearly shown that obesity is more stigmatizing for women and obese women are discriminated against more than men because of their weight (Puhl & Brownell, 2001).
With the health care costs reaching high number there is no wonder we have a large number of absenteeism. So many wait to the last possible painstaking work day to decide to see a doctor about their aliment, and all of that could be prevented. Preventing oneself to have to take time off from work is one way to keep costs low. There are so many areas that need to be addressed when it comes to what is going to slow us down as a company. According to estimates by Dr. Jaime Claudio(1991), a corporate wellness consultant for Health Plus, a provider of health-care insurance, a comprehensive eating awareness and weight- management program designed to improve long-term habits could generate an 80% reduction in the incidence of potential problems caused by obesity in the workplace. These problems include hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and diminished work efficiency. Obesity is not the only eating disorder that is a problem, there is bulimia and anorexia. Smoking, drinking, substance abuse, and stress are problems that are brought into the workplace and stop productivity. We have to be aware of issues that are there but are not usually thought of as an illness.
Occupational stress is strongly associated with health complains more than financial or family problems. Psychological demanding jobs that allow the workers little control on the process of work increase risks of cardiovascular disease, job stress also increases the risk of back and upper musculoskeletal disorders. The article shows that the employees who have high stress levels have a substantial health service utilization.
Halbesleben, J. (2003) Emotional exhaustion and job performance: the medical role of motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (1), 93-106.
Everyday, there are workers who come home from their jobs with a high amount of health issues. Headaches, aching muscles, exhaustion, and many more health issues have workers wondering why this is happening. All of these symptoms can be linked to stress in the workplace. Job stress has become more of a problem than ever before. Numerous studies show that job stress is the major source of stress for American adults and that it has escalated progressively over the past few decades (“Workplace Stress,” 2004).