Double the Trouble?: An Investigation of How Social Stressors and Time Pressure Simultaneously and Interdependently Predict Sleep Quality in Social Workers

Eggli, Andrea; Pereira, Diana; Gygax, Fabienne; Igic, Ivana; Galliker, Sibylle; Elfering, Achim (2022). Double the Trouble?: An Investigation of How Social Stressors and Time Pressure Simultaneously and Interdependently Predict Sleep Quality in Social Workers. Sleep and vigilance, 6(1), pp. 185-197. Springer 10.1007/s41782-022-00194-4

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Purpose
Social service employees often fulfill their mandate under tight time schedules, and deal with social stressors. This can result in significant health impairments. By means of one cross-sectional and two intensive longitudinal studies, the present paper aimed to understand how time pressure and social stressors might impact sleep quality. It was also tested whether social stressors amplified the negative association between time pressure and sleep impairments in social workers.

Methods
Study 1 was a cross-sectional questionnaire study on 52 social service employees, while study 2 included a 7-day diary study design (N = 62 social workers) with up to 138 daily measurements. Study 3 applied a 2-week diary and actigraphy assessment, involving a complete social service unit sample (N = 9).

Results
Concerning the moderating role of social stressors, study 1 found social stressors to amplify the effects of time pressure on sleep latency. Multilevel regression analyses of studies 2 and 3 revealed daily time pressure to be a significant predictor of sleep fragmentation the upcoming night. Study 3 further uncovered daily social stressors to positively predicted sleep fragmentation and negatively sleep duration. Study 2 again showed the amplifying interaction effect between daily social stressors and time pressure on sleep fragmentation, but study 3 did not show that interaction.

Conclusion
The findings show how job stressors might disturb the sleep quality of social workers also with amplifying risk. Accordingly, social work needs work design prevention efforts that consider the complex inter-play between occupational stressors, as only then recovery processes can be protected.

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