Department of Education and Psychology, Division of Public Health: Prevention and Psychosocial Health Research, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Front Public Health. 2021 Apr 27;9:653440. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.653440. eCollection 2021.
Being present at work when sick is not just prevalent in employees. Since university is also a demanding context, there is a growing interest in this phenomenon in university students. Especially students with mental health issues show a higher degree of productivity loss. However, little research has examined the causes of these productivity losses-especially in university students. Therefore, we examined health-related (burnout) and non-health-related (time pressure) aspects that lead to productivity losses in the long run. We decided to examine the effect from time pressure on health-related loss of productivity, mediated by exhaustion. This assumption is in line with the health impairment process proposed by the Study Demands-Resources (SD-R) framework. To examine this assumption properly, we conducted a longitudinal study with three occasions. We surveyed 392 students in three waves over 1 year and performed structural equation modeling (SEM) to confirm the assumptions longitudinally. In line with our assumptions, time pressure predicted burnout which, in turn, predicted health-related loss of productivity in the long run. Hence-as assumed by the SD-R framework-burnout serves as a mediator between study demands and negative outcomes such as loss of productivity. Our study is the first that uncovers health-related and non-health-related causes of health-related productivity loss in university students. Thus, we were able to confirm SD-R's health impairment process longitudinally. Since we know that time pressure serves as a major antecedent for burnout and health-related loss of productivity, we are well-advised to establish appropriate interventions to reduce students' time pressure.
生病时还坚持工作不仅在员工中很普遍。由于大学也是一个要求很高的环境，因此越来越关注大学生群体中的这一现象。尤其是有心理健康问题的学生，其生产力损失程度更高。然而，很少有研究探讨这些生产力损失的原因——尤其是在大学生群体中。因此，我们从长远角度考察了导致生产力损失的与健康相关（倦怠）和非健康相关（时间压力）的因素。我们决定考察时间压力对健康相关生产力损失的影响，其作用途径是疲惫感。这一假设符合工作要求-资源（SD-R）框架提出的健康损害过程。为了正确检验这一假设，我们进行了一项具有三个时间点的纵向研究。我们在一年中的三个时间点对 392 名学生进行了三次调查，并进行了结构方程建模（SEM），以从纵向角度验证假设。与我们的假设一致，时间压力预测了倦怠感，而倦怠感反过来又预测了健康相关的长期生产力损失。因此，正如 SD-R 框架所假设的那样，倦怠感是学习需求与生产力损失等负面结果之间的中介因素。我们的研究首次揭示了大学生群体中与健康相关的生产力损失的健康相关和非健康相关原因。因此，我们能够从纵向角度验证 SD-R 的健康损害过程。既然我们知道时间压力是倦怠感和健康相关的生产力损失的主要前因，那么我们就应该采取适当的干预措施来减轻学生的时间压力。
