Abstract

Important determinants of health are a population’s health-promoting behaviors and its relationship with work: 40% of a population’s health outcomes are shaped by social and economic factors (including work), 30% by individual health behaviors, 20% by clinical care, and 10% by the environment. Since the U.S. workforce spends at least 25% of their life on the job, including up to half of their waking hours, the workplace becomes an ideal setting for public health focus. Demographic shifts in the workforce also make the issue of healthier workers more urgent. Healthcare workers in the U.S. are an aging population increasingly affected by chronic illnesses related to smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, and chronic stress. Workplace stressors associated with work-life balance, people issues, and workload, contribute to a higher incidence of physical and mental disorders. In a virtual work environment, faculty job activities take place in front of a computer. Student records, course content, and other resources are accessed from computer files and programs. Faculty meetings, course instruction, and peer interactions are conducted via the computer screen and phone. As a result, the virtual work environment presents a significant risk to nurse faculty of developing a more sedentary lifestyle. At Western Governors University (WGU), nursing faculty who work in home offices are observed to engage with organizational health-promotion resources and sponsored wellness activities in a sporadic fashion or to meet deadlines for insurance incentives, suggesting there is room for improvement in faculty engagement in health promotion and stress management.

Author Details

Kimberly Richards, DNP, MBA, BSHI, RN, CNE; Ruth Ellen Yeager, DNP, RN, WHNP-BC

Sigma Membership

Psi Upsilon

Lead Author Affiliation

Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Literature Review

Research Approach

Other

Keywords:

Mindfulness Meditation, Stress, Faculty Health

Advisor

McDaniel, Gretchen

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Samford University

Degree Year

2020

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2020-07-17

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