Associations of technostressors at work with burnout symptoms and chronic low-grade inflammation: a cross-sectional analysis in hospital employees

Objective Despite the increasing scholarly interest in the phenomenon technostress,  associated biological effects on employee health are under-researched. Chronic low-grade inflammation is suggested as a central pathway linking stress experience to disease development. The aim of this study was to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International archives of occupational and environmental health 2023-08, Vol.96 (6), p.839-856
Main Authors: Kaltenegger, Helena C., Becker, Linda, Rohleder, Nicolas, Nowak, Dennis, Quartucci, Caroline, Weigl, Matthias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological effects
Biomarkers
Blood
Burnout
Burnout, Professional - epidemiology
Burnout, Professional - psychology
Burnout, Psychological
C-Reactive Protein
Complexity
Cross-Sectional Studies
Earth and Environmental Science
Employees
Environment
Environmental Health
Factor analysis
Female
Hospitals
Humans
Inflammation
Information overload
Male
Multitasking
Occupational health
Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine
Original
Original Article
Overloading
Physiological effects
Rehabilitation
Signs and symptoms
Surveys and Questionnaires
Technical services
Technology
Working conditions
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective Despite the increasing scholarly interest in the phenomenon technostress,  associated biological effects on employee health are under-researched. Chronic low-grade inflammation is suggested as a central pathway linking stress experience to disease development. The aim of this study was to assess associations of technology-related work stressors (technostressors) with low-grade inflammation and burnout symptoms. Methods N  = 173 (74.6% women, M age  = 31.0 years) university hospital employees participated in a cross-sectional study. Self-report questionnaires were used for the assessment of general psychosocial working conditions (work overload, job control, social climate), a range of different technostressors, burnout symptoms, and relevant confounders. Participants provided capillary blood samples, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) as an inflammatory biomarker was analyzed from dried blood spots. Results Based on a factor analysis, we identified four underlying dimensions of technostressors: techno- and information overload, techno-complexity, interruptions and multitasking as well as usability and technical support. In multivariate linear regressions, techno-/information overload and techno-complexity were associated with core (exhaustion, mental distance) and secondary (psychosomatic complaints) symptoms of burnout. Techno-/information overload was a significant predictor of burnout core symptoms, even when general work overload was controlled for. The technostressors were not associated with hs-CRP. Conclusion This is the first study on technology-related stress at work and chronic low-grade inflammation. The results suggest that (information) overload caused by digital technology use is a distinct work stressor with genuine consequences for psychological health. To what extent these effects also manifest on a physiological level needs to be subjected to future studies, ideally with prospective designs.
ISSN:0340-0131
1432-1246
DOI:10.1007/s00420-023-01967-8