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To date, research directed at the work–life balance (WLB) has focused mainly on the work and family domains. However, the current labor force is heterogeneous, and workers may also value other nonworking domains besides the family. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of other nonworking domains in the WLB with a particular focus on health. Moreover, the importance of the effects of the work–family balance (WFB) and the work–health balance (WHB) on job satisfaction was investigated. Finally, we explored how the effects of the WFB and the WHB on job satisfaction change according to worker characteristics (age, gender, parental status, and work ability). This study involved 318 workers who completed an online questionnaire. The importance of the nonworking domains was compared with a t-test. The effect of the WFB and the WHB on job satisfaction was investigated with multiple and moderated regression analyses. The results show that workers considered health as important as family in the WLB. The WHB explained more of the variance in job satisfaction than the WFB. Age, gender and parental status moderated the effect of the WFB on job satisfaction, and work ability moderated the effect of the WHB on job satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of the health domain in the WLB and stresses that it is crucial to consider the specificity of different groups of workers when considering the WLB.

Work-related stress (WRS) remains a significant concern in occupational health. Despite its significance, measuring WRS presents methodological challenges. Advancements in real-time data collection methods offer new opportunities to enhance the accuracy of WRS assessment. This study proposes an innovative, participatory protocol for assessing WRS. The approach integrates subjective self-reported measures, collected through ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and physiological monitoring via wearable smartwatches. By combining time-contingent and event-contingent sampling, the methodology enables continuous tracking of stress responses throughout the workday, providing a more dynamic and context-sensitive understanding of workplace stress. A key objective of this research is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of implementing this protocol in real-world organizational settings. By incorporating participatory design principles, the methodology actively involves workers in the assessment process, ensuring that the tools and procedures are both effective and user-friendly. This participatory approach fosters engagement and compliance, ultimately improving the quality of collected data. This study contributes to developing more robust and ecologically valid stress assessment methods. Integrating real-time monitoring with self-reported data represents a promising direction for occupational health research, paving the way for more targeted and evidence-based interventions to mitigate workplace stress.

Starting from the insights of social identity theory and social exchange theory, the present study aimed to understand how social support and organizational identification relate to work engagement. Moreover, it sought to verify if social support and organizational identification interact with each other to explain work engagement three months later. A longitudinal study was conducted on a sample of 150 employees, in which organizational identification, social support, and work engagement were measured through a questionnaire. The results show that when employees can count on their supervisors’ and colleagues’ support, they will be more engaged in their work. In addition, when an employee strongly identifies with their organization, the employee’s evaluation of the social support received from colleagues and supervisors becomes less critical in determining their work engagement. These results confirm our hypotheses and extend the findings of previous research on withdrawal behaviors. From a practical point of view, it seems important for organizations to invest in increasing identification, as well as in building a high-quality social exchange relationship, especially when levels of organizational identification are low or decreasing.

Workplace stress is a global issue across different occupations. Hardiness, a resource characterized by higher levels of challenge, commitment, and control, acts as a protective factor against stress, particularly in the work environment. The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to validate the Italian version of the Occupational Hardiness Scale (OHS), by also considering its invariance across gender (Study 1); (2) to analyze its relationship with work engagement and emotional exhaustion (Study 2). Study 1 included a sample of workers from different sectors ( N  = 1152). Study 2 included all participants of Study 1 that had also completed the scales measuring work engagement and emotional exhaustion ( N  = 845). The results confirmed the original structure of the scale, by identifying a three-factor model (i.e., challenge, commitment, control) with one general, second-order, latent factor (i.e., occupational hardiness). In addition, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the measurement of occupational hardiness, as captured by OHS, was comparable and meaningful for males and females. Finally, occupational hardiness was positively related to engagement, and negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Thus, the Italian version of the OHS is a psychometrically sound measure for assessing occupational hardiness in the Italian working population.

Stress represents a significant risk factor for several psychophysical diseases among college students, such as depression and anxiety, which may undermine their academic functioning, resulting in high drop rates from college. Nevertheless, university services for mental health promotion are typically underutilized. As a result, professionals and authorities strive to find new ways to address students' mental health needs. In this view, mobile apps seem appropriate for well-being promotion interventions. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which is the most widely used theory on users' intention to use technologies, we assumed that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) would be positively related to intention to use (INT), and PEOU would be positively related to PU among both Italian and German university students. To test our hypotheses, we replicated the same cross-sectional study in Italy ( n  = 255) and Germany ( n  = 228) with university students. Although we found partial scalar invariance of the TAM dimensions across the two nations, our predictions were only partially confirmed: PEOU was positively related to PU in the Italian sample only. Overall, this study is one of the first empirical attempts to compare TAM cross-nationally within the European context and it contributes to the small but increasing body of research investigating students’ acceptance of smartphone-based interventions for stress management and well-being promotion. Understanding mobile health acceptance could help universities increase students’ chances of adopting the proposed services, considering the factors influencing this choice.

The present study aimed to explore the mediating role of hostile customer relations in the association between emotional dissonance and workers’ mental health. Moreover, the moderating role of proactive personality as a buffer against hostile customer relations was assessed. Emotional demands become crucial within professions that involve a direct relationship with clients and, if poorly managed, can negatively affect workers’ health and performance. Accordingly, data were collected on a sample of n = 918 mass-retail employees working for one of the leading Italian supermarket companies. Most participants were women (62.7%) with a mean age = 40.38 (SD = 7.68). The results of a moderated mediation analysis revealed that emotional dissonance was related to more hostile customer relations that, in turn, were associated with higher rates of mental health symptoms. Proactive personality emerged as a protecting factor that prevented the onset of conflicts with clients, particularly among workers experiencing high levels of emotional dissonance. The identification of resources enabling management of emotional demands could suggest suitable adaptive strategies for customer-facing roles, thus preventing the occurrence of adverse mental health symptoms.

Organizations are interested in finding new and more effective ways to promote the well-being of their workers, to help their workers manage work-related stress. New technologies (e.g., smartphones) are cheaper, allow more workers to be reached, and guarantee their anonymity. However, not all employees agree on the use of new technological interventions for the promotion of well-being. Consequently, organizations need to investigate technological acceptance before introducing these tools. By considering the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework, we investigate both the influence of workers’ perceived usefulness and ease of use on their intentions to use apps that help them managing work stress. Moreover, we contribute to the extension of this model by considering both personal (i.e., self-efficacy, personal innovativeness) and organizational (i.e., organizational support for innovation) variables. Our research involved 251 participants who completed an online self-report questionnaire. The results confirm the central hypothesis of the TAM and the influence of other variables that could influence acceptance of new technologies, such as apps that help manage work stress, and the intentions to use them. These results could help organizations ensure technological acceptance and usage by their workers, increasing the effectiveness of new technologies and interventions to promote well-being.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to identifying new approaches to improve workplace well-being and manage stress with the help of m-health solutions. The primary purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the current use of smartphone applications integrated with wearable technologies in stress management and the promotion of well-being in the workplace. A key terms literature search was performed using multiple electronic databases. The review process followed the international PRISMA statement guidelines. A quality assessment was conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. A total of 25 eligible papers published between 2016 and 2023 were included. Interventions proposed were heterogeneous and primarily based on smartphone applications (72%). 84% of the interventions had background theories, with a high preference for Mindfulness. Interventions were reported as generally significant, and the combined use of smartphone applications and wearable technologies increased awareness at the individual and collective levels. In conclusion, the review demonstrates how the interventions developed through the synergy of technologies can effectively promote well-being and reduce stress in the workplace context, decreasing the stigma still related to mental health and increasing peer support strategies. This work opens the doors to several possibilities for future research. It could be interesting to indagate more in-depth the value of integration between technologies and, eventually, the integration with more traditional type of interventions, e.g., face-to-face activities, evaluating if this synergy can amplify and strengthen the results. Protocol registration: The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO: CRD42023423126 (May 2nd, 2023).

In recent years, many studies have focused on the determinants and consequences of teacher stress. One of the most recent theoretical models concerning stress is the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. This study examines one process – namely the energetic process – which supposes that high job demands exhaust employees’ mental and physical resources and therefore cause ill health. Particularly, this study examines the mediating role of mental fatigue between three job demands of teachers (workload, inequity and work/family conflict) and three consequences of stress: psychological and physical symptoms and work satisfaction. An Italian version of the Self-report Questionnaire for Psychosocial Work Environment and Stress (PWSQ) was administered to 697 teachers belonging to a random sample of 17 school organisations. The results showed that mental fatigue has a mediating role in the relationship between work/family conflict and the three outcomes considered, namely psychological and physical symptoms, and work satisfaction. This study has an important implication for intervention strategy because mental fatigue is a pre-strain condition which arises before more intense outcomes, such as stress-related diseases occur. Identification of this condition allows prevention of the consequences of stress.