Work Fatigue in a Non-Deployed Military Setting: Assessment, Prevalence, Predictors, and Outcomes

Abstract

Although work fatigue represents an important issue among military personnel in combat settings, little attention has been paid to work fatigue in the non-deployed setting. This issue was addressed by (a) validating the Three-Dimensional Work Fatigue Inventory (3D-WFI) among non-deployed military personnel, (b) assessing the prevalence of work fatigue in a non-deployed setting, and (c) exploring several potential predictors and outcomes of work fatigue in this setting. Data came from a large national probability sample (N = 1375) of non-deployed Royal Canadian Air Force military personnel. Results demonstrated that the 3D-WFI provided a psychometrically sound assessment of physical, mental, and emotional work fatigue among military personnel, which was invariant across sex, age, military component, and military role. All three types of work fatigue were highly prevalent among military personnel in a non-deployed setting. In terms of predictors, job demands were positively associated, and distributive justice, perceived organizational support, physical activity and sleep quality were negatively associated with each type of work fatigue, whereas role ambiguity was positively associated with mental and emotional work fatigue, and interpersonal justice was negatively associated with physical and emotional fatigue. Abusive supervision and sleep quantity were unrelated to work fatigue. In terms of outcomes, the three types of fatigue were positively associated with workplace cognitive failures and work-to-family conflict. In contrast, mental and emotional work fatigue were negatively related to military morale and positively associated with turnover intentions. This study demonstrates that work fatigue is a critical issue among military personnel in non-deployed settings, and an essential issue for military policy development.

Psychological Distress in Iranian Military Personnel: A Qualitative Study

“…intentions. This study demonstrates that work fatigue is a critical issue among military personnel in nondeployed settings, and an essential issue for military policy development (20).…”

Work Fatigue Profiles: Nature, Implications, and Associations With Psychological Empowerment

“…Such a global representation of work fatigue is supported by the generally high correlations reported among ratings of physical, mental, and emotional work fatigue (Frone et al, 2018), and the demonstration of stronger associations with covariates (i.e., predictors and outcomes) when work fatigue is defined as a higher-order dimension (Shirom and Melamed, 2006). In contrast, research has also supported the conceptually-distinct nature of the emotional, physical, and mental facets of work fatigue via the demonstration of differentiated covariate associations (Frone and Blais, 2019). For instance, Frone and Tidwell (2015) showed that physical job demands were significantly and positively related to physical work fatigue and weakly related to mental and emotional work fatigue.…”

“…For instance, McCormack et al (2018) showed that workers from the private sector experienced less exhaustion than non-private employees. More generally, research shows that workplace characteristics, such as job design (e.g., autonomy and variety) or emotional demands, are significantly associated with employees' work fatigue (Frone et al, 2018;Frone and Blais, 2019). For instance, Frone and Tidwell (2015) showed that exposure to different types of job demands (mental, emotional, and physical) displayed a well-differentiated pattern of association to distinct components of work fatigue (mental, emotional, and physical).…”

“…Work fatigue is typically defined as a reduction of one's functional capacity due to extreme tiredness (Frone and Tidwell, 2015) and has long been recognized as a precursor of a wide variety of undesirable outcomes for the organization (e.g., higher levels of turnover intentions; Cai et al, 2018) and the employee (e.g., lower sleep quality and quantity; Frone and Blais, 2019). Frone and Tidwell (2015) showed that employees presenting high levels of work fatigue displayed lower job satisfaction, psychological health, physical health, and organizational commitment, coupled with accrued turnover intentions and difficulties to relax after work.…”

Unimma Work Fatique Instrument (Uwfi): Sebuah Instrument Baru Untuk Mengukur Kelelahan Kerja

“…Kelelahan kerja mental merupakan kelelahan mental yang ekstrem dan kapasitas yang berkurang untuk terlibat aktivitas kognitif dialami selama dan pada akhir hari kerja. Kelelahan kerja emosional merupakan kelelahan emosional yang ekstrem dan kapasitas yang berkurang untuk terlibat dalam aktivitas emosional yang dialami selama dan pada akhir hari kerja (Frone, 2019) Kelelahan kerja harus diatasi agar tidak mengurangi produktifitas kerja. Aerobic fitness akan meningkatkan aliran oksigen ke otot dan akan menghasilkan energi selama latihan.…”