Documents Androutsou, Lorena 2 results

"In the past decade, there has been a growing interest in reinforcing the role of social economy in Greece, due to significant changes in the labor market, the economic recession and the public sector failure to cover social needs. Given the fact that there is limited research literature on this topic, the aim of this paper is to determine the implications of the social economy sector in Greece on the current economic conditions. It will also discuss employees' and volunteers' status and their social insurance coverage in terms of their health safety and life protection. The findings of two studies carried out by the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly are analysed and criticised. The population sample in both studies included farmers' organisations, cooperatives, non-profit associations, consumer organisations, environmental organisations, associations representing the family and persons with disabilities, non-governmental organisations, social enterprises and foundations. In addition, their main activities were health care, social care, culture, education, environment, entrepreneurial and education activities. According to the results of both studies, it seems that social sector contributes to an annual 10% creation of new posts of employment. 21.5% of the employees are fully covered by social insurance and are also eligible for occupational health and safety, while 9.9% work as part-timers and are also covered and eligible for health care, even though they face severe restrictions regarding their retirement rights. However, 68.6% of people involved in the third sector are volunteers who do not have a permanent job, they are not covered by social insurance and are not eligible for occupational health and safety. Also, there are no retirement rights for them. Consequently, it seems that social economy in Greece, does not promote a safe and healthy working environment by providing to volunteers occupational health and safety, including the avoidance of job related injuries and professional diseases. It is believed that if the reform already announced becomes active, numerous positive changes will occur in the performance of the third sector. New work places will be created, competitiveness of the public sector monopoly will be increased as well as social cohesion and social capital will be further reinforced. Moreover, the quality of employment by preventing occupational accidents, the expansion of social coverage to volunteers and the reinforcement of the volunteerism will be finally achieved. Further expected synergies will be the reduction of unemployment, economic growth and eventually the overcome of the economic crisis."

"Background:
Health professionals (HPs) coping with the coronavirus pandemic are at risk of working under stressful conditions impacting their professional well-being. The aim of this paper was to explore HP's professional quality of life and occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece.
Method:
A cross-sectional study was conducted (from October to December 2020) in a COVID-19 reference hospital, one of the biggest in Attica. The method of convenience sampling has been used. Data collection was carried out through an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire including, apart from HPs' demographic and occupational characteristics, Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQoL) and Job Stress Measure. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed to physicians and nurses. One hundred eighty-six questionnaires were fully completed (response rate = 78.8%). The analysis was based on descriptive and inductive statistics, using SPSS v25.
Results:
Participants' mean age was 41.5 ± 10.4 years; 75.3% were women and 62.4% was nursing staff. ProQoL analysis showed that the majority had moderate compassion satisfaction (74.2%) and burnout (78.5%), while 48.8% had moderate level of secondary post-traumatic stress. The mean value of occupational stress was estimated at 2.76, showing a moderate level of stress. HPs' demographic and occupational characteristics seemed to affect both work stress and ProQoL (P ⩽ .05). Occupational stress was positively correlated with both burnout (r = 0.461, P = .001) and secondary post-traumatic stress (r = 0.596, P = .001), indicating that an increase in health professionals' stress at work corresponds to a simultaneous increase in ProQoL.
Conclusions:
HPs' professional quality of life and occupational stress seemed to be moderate during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. In order to achieve an improvement in HPs' overall professional well-being, priority should be given to the strengthening of the capacity of the healthcare system as well as to supporting HPs in both stress management and psychological resilience."