Background: The Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS) was developed in 2004. During this time, industrial structures have evolved, and societal awareness of occupational stress has changed. This study aims to develop and validate a revised version of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS®19), tailored for workers, reflecting these changes. Methods: The KOSS®19 was developed based on the 26-item KOSS–short form (SF) through a review by eight experts. A survey was conducted including 359 service industry workers, comprising the KOSS®19, Burnout, and Depression scales. The KOSS®19 subscales were restructured, and their reliability and validity were evaluated. Results: The KOSS®19 composed of eight subscales: hazardous physical environment (2 items), high job demand (3 items), insufficient job control (2 items), low social support (2 items), job insecurity (2 items), organizational injustice (4 items), lack of reward (2 items), and work-life imbalance (2 items). The reliability and validity of the KOSS®19 were found to be satisfactory. Conclusions The KOSS®19 is a suitable tool for assessing occupational stress, effectively replacing the original KOSS and KOSS-SF.

Background: Emotional labor refers to the management of emotions and expressions to meet the emotional requirements of a job role. This study aimed to develop a revised version of the Korean Emotional Labor Scale (KELS®11), based on the first edition (KELS-24) introduced in 2014, and to provide practical applications and guidelines for its use in the Korean workplace through a validation process. Methods: The revised version of KELS®11 was derived from the 24-item KELS, following a review process involving eight experts. To validate the scale’s reliability and validity, a self-administered survey was conducted among 359 service industry workers using KELS®11, burnout, and depression scales. KELS®11 was reclassified, and its reliability and validity were evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was conducted to establish sex-specific cutoff values (normal vs. high-risk groups). Results: KELS®11 was designed to account for individual, organizational, and cultural contexts. It consists of four subscales and 11 items: “emotional regulation” (2 items), “emotional dissonance” (3 items), “organizational monitoring” (2 items), and “organizational protective system for emotional labor” (4 items). KELS®11 demonstrated good validity (content validity ratio: 0.84; item convergence/discriminant validity success rates: 100%; correlation with burnout: r = 0.185–0.436, p < 0.01; correlation with depression: r = 0.128–0.339, p < 0.05) and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.597–0.795). Additionally, sex-specific reference values were established to determine risk groups based on the intensity of emotional labor exposure. Conclusions KELS®11 is a validated and reliable measurement tool designed to assess the intensity and magnitude of emotional labor in the workplace. The revised tool reflects critical considerations in the development of emotional labor measurement scales.

Background: Workplace violence refers to any act or threat of physical violence, verbal abuse, harassment, intimidation, bullying, mobbing, or other aggressive and disruptive behaviors that occur at work. This study aims to develop and validate a revision of the Korean Workplace Violence Scale (KWVS®13), based on the first edition of the Korean Workplace Violence Scale (KWVS-24), and to provide practical applications and guidelines for the Korean workplace environment. Methods: The revised KWVS®13 was developed by restructuring the 24-item KWVS through a review process involving eight experts. To validate the reliability and validity of KWVS®13, a self-administered survey comprising KWVS®13, burnout, and depression scales was conducted among 359 service industry workers. KWVS®13 was reclassified, and its reliability and validity were assessed. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to establish sex-specific cutoff values (normal vs. risk) of the scale. Results: KWVS®13 consists of 13 items across four subscales: “psychological and sexual violence from customers” (4 items), “psychological and sexual violence from supervisors or coworkers” (4 items), “physical assault from customers, supervisors, or coworkers” (2 items), and “organizational protective system for workplace violence” (3 items). We found that KWVS®13 shows relatively good validity (content validity ratio for content validity: 0.888; success rate of item convergent and discriminant validity: 100%, and significant correlation coefficient with burnout (r = 0.115–0.83, p < 0.05) and depression (r = 0.098–0.348, p < 0.05) with the exception of Organizational Violence Protection System for Workplace Violence) and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.827–0.860). The reference values for determining risk groups according to the intensity of exposure to workplace violence are presented separately by sex. Conclusions KWVS®13 is a robust and useful measurement tool to objectively and quantitatively assess the intensity and magnitude of workplace violence. It incorporates important considerations for workplace violence assessment and provides a reliable framework for evaluating workplace violence in various professional settings.

Background: This study investigated the relationship between trauma exposure and suicidal ideation. Moreover, this study examines the moderating roles of organizational climate on the association between trauma exposure and suicidal ideation in Korean male firefighters. Methods: A total of 15,104 male firefighters who completed a questionnaire were analyzed. The data were obtained using an online self-administered questionnaire from the Firefighter Research on Enhancement of Safety and Health Study. Poisson regression analysis was performed to determine the effects of trauma exposure on suicidal ideation and the moderating effect of organizational climate. Results: The results showed that 389 firefighters (2.6%) responded that they had experienced suicidal ideation. In the final model, trauma exposure was positively related to suicidal ideation (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 1.076; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.051–1.103), and organizational climate was negatively associated with suicidal ideation (aRR, 0.772; 95% CI: 0.739–0.806). Additionally, the interaction term (trauma exposure × organizational climate) was related to suicidal ideation (aRR, 1.016; 95% CI: 1.009–1.023). Conclusions This study suggests that trauma exposure might play a significant role in developing suicidal ideation and that positive organizational climate moderates the negative effects of trauma exposure on suicidal ideation among firefighters. It is necessary to perform a follow-up study of various intervention strategies to maintain a healthy organizational climate or work environment. Such interventions should promote lasting trust within teams, provide social support and belonging, and nurture job value.

Background: To investigate political participation by dental hygiene students and analyze the differences therein based on the learning efficacy of dental hygiene policy. Methods: A total of 239 dental hygiene students who were expected to graduate responded to the survey. The data were collected online using a structured questionnaire consisting of 6 items on general characteristics, 10 on political participation, and 15 on the learning efficacy of dental hygiene policy. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0. Political participation based on the learning efficacy of dental hygiene policy was analyzed using independent t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis (p＜ 0.05). Results: Among the dental hygiene students, 60.7% voted in all three recent presidential, general, and local elections, and 14.2% did not. For political parties supported, 65.7% responded that they had “no supporting party,” and 34.3% indicated that they had a “supporting party.” In terms of the level of political participation of dental hygiene students (0∼50 points), the average score was 25.8 points, with the average passive political participation (0∼25 points) score at 15.6 points and the average active political participation (0∼25 points) score at 10.2 points. With an increase in dental hygiene policy learning efficacy, both passive and active political participation showed higher scores (p＜0.05). Conclusion Dental hygiene students showed low political participation. The presence of a supporting party, higher voting participation, and higher learning efficacy of dental hygiene policy were associated with higher passive and active political participation. Therefore, to increase this population’s interest in political participation, various opportunities for related learning need to be promoted and provided in academia, leading to the enhancement of their political capabilities. In this manner, dental hygienists should expand their capabilities in various roles such as advocates, policy makers, and leaders.

Background: Firefighters inevitably encounter emotionally and physically stressful situations at work. Even firefighters without diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder receive clinical attention because the nature of the profession exposes them to repetitive trauma and high occupational stress. This study investigated gray matter abnormalities related to high occupational stress in firefighters using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM). Methods: We assessed 115 subjects (112 males and 3 females) using magnetic resonance imaging and evaluated occupational stress by the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-26 (KOSS-26). Subjects were classified into highly or lowly stressed groups based on the median value of the KOSS-26. Results: In VBM analysis, we found that firefighters with high occupational stress had lower gray matter volume (GMV) in both sides of the insula, the left amygdala, the right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and the anterior cingulate cortex than firefighters with low occupational stress. In SBM analysis based on regions of interest, the GMV of the bilateral insula and right mPFC were also lower in the highly stressed group. Within the highly stressed group, low GMV of the insula was significantly correlated with the length of service (left: r = −0.347, P = 0.009; right: r = −0.333, P = 0.012). Conclusion Our findings suggest that regional GMV abnormalities are related to occupational stress. Regional gray matter abnormalities and related emotional dysregulation may contribute to firefighter susceptibility to burnout.

Background: The current lack of the number of nurses and high nurse turnover rate leads to major problems for the health-care system in terms of cost, patient care ability, and quality of care. Theoretically, burnout may help link emotional labor with turnover intention. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of burnout in the association between emotional labor and turnover intention in Korean clinical nurses. Methods: Using data collected from a sample of 606 nurses from six Korean hospitals, we conducted a multiple regression analysis to determine the relationships among clinical nurses' emotional labor, burnout, and turnover intention, looking at burnout as a mediator. Results: The results fully and partially support the mediating role of burnout in the relationship between the subfactors of emotional labor and turnover intention. In particular, burnout partially mediated the relationship between emotional disharmony and hurt, organizational surveillance and monitoring, and lack of a supportive and protective system in the organization. In addition, we found that burnout has a significant full mediation effect on the relationship between overload and conflicts in customer service and turnover intention. Although the mediating effect of burnout was significantly associated with the demands and regulation of emotions, no significant effects on turnover intention were found. Conclusion To reduce nurses' turnover, we recommend developing strategies that target both burnout and emotional labor, given that burnout fully and partially mediated the effects of emotional labor on turnover intention, and emotional labor was directly associated with turnover intention.

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the combined effects of organizational climate (OC) with emotional labor (EL) on turnover intention in Korean firefighters. Methods: The data were obtained from the study Firefighters Research: Enhancement of Safety and Health. A total of 4,860 firefighters whose main duty was providing “emergency medical aid” were included. To examine the effects of OC on the relationships between five subscales of EL and turnover intention, four groups were created using various combinations of OC (“good” vs. “bad”) and EL (“normal” vs. “risk”): (1) “good” and “normal” (Group I), (2) “bad” and “normal” (Group II), (3) “good” and “risk” (Group III), and (4) “bad” and “risk” (Group IV). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the risk of turnover intention for the combinations of OC and EL. Results: The results showed turnover intention was significantly higher in the group with “bad” OC (17.7%) than in that with “good” OC (7.6%). Combined effects of OC and EL on turnover intention were found in all five subscales with the exception of Group I for emotional demands and regulation. Groups II, III, and IV were more likely to experience risks of turnover intention than Group I (p for trend <0.001). Conclusions A positive and cooperative OC plays a role in decreasing the risk of turnover intention and in attenuating the negative effects of EL on turnover intention in firefighters.

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the combined effects of organizational climate (OC) with emotional labor (EL) on turnover intention in Korean firefighters. Methods: The data were obtained from the study Firefighters Research: Enhancement of Safety and Health. A total of 4,860 firefighters whose main duty was providing “emergency medical aid” were included. To examine the effects of OC on the relationships between five subscales of EL and turnover intention, four groups were created using various combinations of OC (“good” vs. “bad”) and EL (“normal” vs. “risk”): (1) “good” and “normal” (Group I), (2) “bad” and “normal” (Group II), (3) “good” and “risk” (Group III), and (4) “bad” and “risk” (Group IV). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the risk of turnover intention for the combinations of OC and EL. Results: The results showed turnover intention was significantly higher in the group with “bad” OC (17.7%) than in that with “good” OC (7.6%). Combined effects of OC and EL on turnover intention were found in all five subscales with the exception of Group I for emotional demands and regulation. Groups II, III, and IV were more likely to experience risks of turnover intention than Group I (p for trend <0.001). Conclusions A positive and cooperative OC plays a role in decreasing the risk of turnover intention and in attenuating the negative effects of EL on turnover intention in firefighters.

Firefighters ; Humans ; Suicidal Ideation