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Head Coaches News Conference - Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel - Transcripts
Opening Statement
"Just to mention some of the things that Mike said, too, I would say thanks to AT&T, thanks to the Cotton Bowl, second to none as far as hospitality. And, you know, just everybody has been great. The City of Dallas, everywhere we've gone, we've been treated with respect and kindness. It is just a great situation that you have here. And you do all the right things from our standpoint. And our players have had a great time.
"I'd also like to thank the people at AT&T Stadium. We practice there every day, and they just were great in helping us. And what a great facility that is. We're excited. This is the time. We want to have a good time. We got here. I think we did. There was no question about it. The families, the players, that's what bowls are about. But it's just -- it's time to play. You know, it's game week. Game day will be around the corner here, and we all feel it as coaches, players.
And we're playing a great football team. Mike's done a great job, known him for years. And we're excited about getting going."
Coach Pinkel, you've had success in both conferences. Can you, from a coach's standpoint, tell the difference between the two conferences as far as competitive level and athletes and style of play?
"That's probably the first time ever anybody has ever asked me that question. (laughter) Kidding aside, we played in the Big 12 and it is a great league. The SEC is a great league. The only comment I ever made was we had great teams in both leagues. In my opinion, there was more great teams. We have 14 teams now in our league, and that was it. They have got great coaches. The great teams are great teams regardless of what league they're in. So the Big 12 is a great conference; so is the SEC."
Just on preparation this week, how do you balance having fun and focusing on what you need to do Friday?
"Well, I think what we always do is we talk to our players before we go and we kind of explain to them I really do want to have fun. I think that's important. But, you know, when we wake up and -- we have meetings, kick meetings. We review in practice and meetings prior to practice, position meetings. And then when we're on that football field, we want to see 100 percent focus. And you can do both.
"But there's no question about it. It's entirely different in preparation than normal game week throughout the season, but that's what we look for.
"If we feel a player is not focused where he should be, then we work to get it corrected. And I think both can work. Certainly, this would be our seventh day here or very close to. And I think now it's the point, too, that the players are real, real excited about getting going also."
Coach Pinkel, two-phase or two-part question. You have Josh Henson on your staff, and he coached and played with Mike at Oklahoma State -- or Mike coached him and they coached together. How important was he -- because of his experience at LSU previously, did he help much with the cross into the SEC? And then talk about his first year as offensive coordinator.
"Well, first of all, when we did go into the SEC and him being at LSU in the past, it really did help us. We also had Pat Washington on our staff who also coached at Tennessee and Kentucky and so those -- having the experience of those guys, especially the personnel on some of the teams and certainly kind of the philosophies, attitudes, stadiums that we were going to go into, never been before, those kind of things transition-wise, he's done a great job. Done a phenomenal job. Very pleased with him.
"And, you know, he was -- Josh is the kind of guy that probably when he takes his lovely wife out, he's probably -- to dinner, he's probably drawing plays when he's talking to her. He's just really into football. He is a very bright guy. He's very talented. He is a great communicator. He communicates with people really well. It was a real good fit for us. He has done an exceptional job."
Besides the game, what will be your favorite Cotton Bowl memory? Any fun or funny stories you can share with us?
"I would agree with that. That was kind of great for us without question. You try to describe the AT&T Stadium to somebody, you can't get on the phone and explain. You can send pictures. You can't explain it to them. And the event that the game was, was really unique and great.
"The other thing for me, family and all the coaches and all their kids, the hospitality room and the hospitality, they really -- our families give up a lot, us coaching. And to treat them as first-class and do all the little things right so they have a great week is really, really important to me as head coach. And my six grandkids are here and seventh one on the way. So next bowl I will have another one. Just to be around all my family and everything in a great place like this, it's been a great time."
As far as the next 36 hours, what will this be like for your team as far as specific steps of preparation and also explain why you decided not to walk through this afternoon?
"We do our own walk-throughs, okay? We have been in the stadium. We're practicing in the stadium. We've been in there every day. Even in our day off, we went to the game.
"For us, this is -- this will be a Friday for us, and we're just going to lock in and go. Everything's exactly the same, once we get away from the banquet. And we lock right in just as we normally do in a normal game. So look forward to -- I think players are also looking forward to getting locked in to play their best game."
Coach Pinkel, can you just look back at the long-term boost that this win gave your team back after the '07 season? And do you think a similar lift is possible here with a win here? What are you trying to look for long-term here?
"I don't know. You play against a great football -- when I found out we were playing Oklahoma State, we are an 11-2 team, 10-2 team playing each other. I thought the Cotton Bowl got two great football teams.
"I think you -- obviously you want to win. That's what we're ultimately here for. I think 2007 it was important for us. It was kind of us getting going. Since that time, you know, this is the fourth time in the last seven years we've had double-digit wins. And so we -- I think we got a pretty good boost out of it. It is all about consistency. It is about recruiting, developing players, and the consistency of winning and trying to win at a high level. We'll continue to do that. But this is -- just the showcase of this game, the Cotton Bowl and the respect it has nationally, I think it's a real plus just from that standpoint."
This bowl game and bowl games in general, how important is it recruiting-wise? I know both of your squads have Texas players on it. So how important is it for this game in the North Texas area for recruiting?
"We have 32 players from Texas on our team. I think when we got there years ago, I think we had probably eight or nine or 10. So we made a decision, because obviously Missouri -- the state of Missouri is most important, but to go to a populous state like the State of Texas that plays great high school football and go out and develop relationships and so on and so forth. I think games throughout the season are important. I think the more games you win, the bigger the impact it has on recruiting. I would agree with that. But this is -- every time you play, it will help you in recruiting hopefully."
Can we expect to see Maty Mauk get some time in tomorrow night?
"We'll make that decision today. We're thinking about playing him, but we'll make that decision later this afternoon."
Can you just talk about your Texas-born players and what this game means for them to be playing here?
"Well, I think they always like coming back here, you know. And, you know, they told their Texas stories to all of our players when we got here. So all the players are doing their analysis of the State of Texas. They have a great time back and forth as they battle. And they also do that with the professional games here, too.
But there's no question about it. We have had a lot of high school coaches from the area into our practices. And our players and their families in the State of Texas, I think it's great and they're excited about being here."
Coach Pinkel, a follow-up to that question. Over the years, how have you been able to recruit and develop defensive linemen, primarily pass rushers, from guys that maybe weren't as highly recruited as others?
"Well, you know, we have a recruiting evaluation. We have a system that we use. And we don't count stars in our system. Never comes up in our evaluation. We just do what we do. We look for speed and athleticism, look for competitiveness. Many, many things we look for. And I think we've been fortunate to just make some good decisions on some kids and to develop them. We pride ourselves in player development. You know, academically we do, too, socially, but certainly as football players and athletes. You know, we sell that in recruiting, "Mizzou made." You come to us, we will make you the best you can be. And certainly everybody does a great job at that. But that's something we work hard at. And we've been very fortunate to have a lot of good defensive linemen. So I hope it continues."
Coach Pinkel, James Franklin, one of your Texas boys, has gone through some adversities, some injuries in his career. But when he's been healthy, he's played very well for you. Just talk about James' perseverance and what he has meant to your program.
"He is a really class-act young man and a very talented player. His sophomore year, starts and plays well. MVP in our bowl game against North Carolina. Expect him to have a great junior year. And has more injuries in one year than I had in all the previous years combined one quarterback. I think he got a total of five games if you add it all together. And so it was very, very difficult for him.
"I think he grew remarkably from that. You know, adversity -- we always grow from adversity. And I think he also -- he became a little mentally tougher. I think it gave him a little bit more drive, I think, and determination. He is a great competitor. He is a very competitive guy.
I'm just so proud of him. The first six games he's playing as well as anybody in the country at the time, and then we lose him for a stretch of four, and we get him back. So he's really a heck of a player and very proud of him and all he's been through."


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October 2000
Evolution of speciation ideas, from gradualism to punctuated equilibrium. Source: Wikimedia Commons; author: wooptoo.
Evolution of ideas on speciation
The beginning of Darwin's title for his epochal book is On the Origin of Species….1 The Origin, of course, was the work that convinced the thinking world that life has evolved; and its title tended forever after to equate the term evolution with the "origin of species." To Darwin:
- Species evolve through the development and further modifications of adaptations under the guidance of natural selection.
- For the most part, evolutionary change was a slow, steady and gradual affair.
- Species are temporary stages in the continuous evolution of life.
1930s and 1940s
New thinking on species developed in the 1930s and 1940s. Geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky2 and systematist Ernst Mayr3 developed the idea that:
- Species are reproductive communities, with their members capable of interbreeding among themselves, and not, as the general rule, with members of other species.
- Evolution of new species centers on how changes occur in adaptations so that an ancestral species is split into two (occasionally more) descendant species, with interbreeding no longer possible between the members of what have evolved into descendant, or "daughter," species.
In general, both biologists argued that physical, geographic isolation must be a precursor to speciation. In this, the notion of "allopatric speciation," environmental change might be imagined to separate previously continuous species distributions. A seaway, for example, might develop between two formerly connected areas of land; conversely, land might emerge separating once connected oceans — as it happened 2.5 million years ago when the Isthmus of Panama was completed, and the connection between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean was finally broken. Though biologists disagree on the extent of evolutionary change — and true speciation — among marine species on either side of the Isthmus, as we shall see below, the evolutionary effects of this environmental change were actually global in extent.
Thus we have two major connections drawn between environmental change and evolution by the time the centennial of Darwin's book rolled around in 1959:
- Darwin's image of natural selection tracking environmental change, thus modifying adaptations
- Dobzhansky- Mayr's picture of speciation in geographically isolated regions which may reflect a result of environmental change as well
1960s and 1970s
Although Darwin's perspective was being redefined by new discoveries in genetics in the 1960s and 1970s, geologically-trained paleontologists were discovering repeated patterns in the history of life, supporting the validity of Dobzhansky's and Mayr's insights of the previous decade. For example, Eldredge4 and Eldredge with Stephen J. Gould5 rediscovered the pattern of remarkable species stability ("stasis") that was first discussed by paleontologists in Darwin's time.
Towards a modern view Paleontologists now generally agree that stasis — where species may persist in recognizably the same form, with little or no accumulated change, for millions of years (5-10 million in marine species; somewhat shorter durations in the more volatile terrestrial environments) — is a common phenomenon. Nineteenth century evolutionists essentially ignored stasis, so contrary to the Darwinian perspective it did seem. But Eldredge and Gould, in their notion of "punctuated equilibria," saw that stasis fits in well with the Dobzhansky-Mayr notion of speciation:
- species arise by a process of splitting
- this may happen relatively quickly (5-50,000 years, say) compared with the vastly longer periods of time in a species history
- it all occurs between a species' origin via speciation and its eventual extinction.
Examining stasis
But why such stability? What, in other words, causes stasis? Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have recently joined in the search for explanations of stasis. Currently, two general categories of explanation of the evolutionary phenomenon seem to be favored:
View #1
Instead of prompting adaptive change through natural selection, environmental change instead causes organisms to seek familiar habitats to which they are already adapted. In other words, "habitat tracking," rather than "adaptation tracking" is the most expected biological reaction to environmental change — which is now understood to be inevitable. For example:
During the past 1.65 million years, there have been four major, and many minor, episodes of global cooling resulting in the southward surge of huge fields of glacial ice in both North America and Eurasia.
Yet, despite this rhythmically cyclical pattern of profound climate change, extinction and evolution throughout the Pleistocene was surprisingly negligible.
Instead, ecosystems (e.g., tundra, boreal forest, mixed hardwood forest, etc.) migrated south in front of the advancing glaciers.
Though there was much disruption, most plant species (through their seed propagules) and animal species were able to migrate, find "recognizable" habitat, and survive pretty much unchanged throughout the Pleistocene Epoch.
Botanist Margaret Davis6 and colleagues, and entomologist G. R. Coope7 have provided especially well-documented and graphic examples of habitat tracking as a source of survival of species throughout the Pleistocene.
View #2
Species also remain stable because of the very nature of their internal structural organization; all species are broken up into local populations that are integrated into local ecosystems. This means that:
A population of the American robin, Turdus migratorius, faces a very different existence in, say, the wet woodlands of the Adirondack Mountains in the Northeastern United States, compared to what the local populations of the same species experience in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Such disjunct populations encounter very different food, water availability, ambient temperatures, potential predators, and possibly even disease vectors.
This of course implies that natural selection (as initially seen by Sewall Wright8,9) will act very differently on such disjunct populations.
Many species have extensive geographic ranges similar to the American robin; it is difficult to imagine how natural selection under such circumstances can "push" an entire species into a single evolutionary direction over a long expanse of geological time.
Rather, the semi-separate evolutionary histories of local populations imply that no net change will accrue species-wide through geological time.
The phenomenon of stasis — by now empirically documented as typical of most species of Metazoa and Plantae for at least the past half billion years — means that most adaptive evolutionary change actually occurs in conjunction with speciation. This is a rather surprising result on the face of it, and certainly not one anticipated by Dobzhansky, Mayr or other biologists who initially established the importance of species and speciation in the evolutionary process. For why should it be that the origin of species — new reproductive communities — should also entail, as a general rule, most adaptive evolutionary change in general? Yet that is what the fossil record of life's evolution seems to tell us.
Current thinking on speciation
Light on these crucial evolutionary issues has been shed over the past twenty years. Key to the solution is the documentation, by paleontologists working up and down the geological record of the entire history of life, that evolution occurs in coordinated fashion in many different species lineages living in a regional ecological setting. For example:
- The original example of "punctuated equilibria" involved patterns of stasis and evolutionary change in trilobites of the Phacops rana species group.4
- These trilobites are just one of perhaps as many as 300 such species groups preserved in a 6 to 8 million-year long span of time beginning some 380 million years ago.
- They are found in Middle Devonian rocks that record the history of marine environments, species and ecosystems in all of Eastern and Central North America.
Traditionally, evolutionary biologists have focused on single evolutionary lineages. Though many other species (of brachiopods, mollusks, bryozoans, etc.) also seemed to be showing patterns of stasis, origination and extinction very similar to the trilobites I was studying, I deferred studies of all these very different species to the appropriate experts. This is the main reason why the important pattern of "coordinated stasis" escaped attention for so long: paleontologists by and large must stick to the groups with which they have developed professional expertise.
The term coordinated stasis refers to a pattern10
- where most of the species appear at roughly the same time
- species persist for millions of years, all more-or-less in stasis
- then, abruptly and again in lockstep fashion, a high percentage disappear in a category of ecological/evolutionary event that Elisabeth Vrba refers to as a "turnover pulse."11
This pattern can be seen in Cambrian trilobites 500 million years ago, marine invertebrate faunas from the mid-Paleozoic through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, dinosaur faunas of the Mesozoic and in mammalian faunas of the Cenozoic.
In other words, the phenomena associated with "punctuated equilibria" are regionally ecosystem-wide, and involve many different, unrelated species — species whose patterns of evolution, persistence, and extinction occur in near simultaneous fashion. This, perhaps the dominant signal in the evolutionary history of life, is thus profoundly "cross-genealogical" — meaning that such turnover events have causal roots that are deeply ecological — and arise, at base, from large-scale changes in the physical environment. Here, in other words, we finally understand how the physical environment, via ecological systems, impinges on the processes of speciation and extinction.
Here, briefly, are two examples that reveal the nature, and inner dynamic workings, of these ecological/evolutionary patterns:
Example #1
Brett and Baird have documented some eight successive faunas of marine invertebrates in the Appalachian Basin of the Middle Paleozoic.10
Each fauna survives an average of 5-7 million years.
Ranging from only a few dozen known species to the 300 or more known from the Middle Devonian sequence mentioned above, most of the component species are present at the very beginning of the sequence.
Most persist unchanged throughout the sequence, but then, abruptly, most disappear.
Only, on average, 20% of the species manage to survive to the next successive faunal interval.
The new species that comprise the next succeeding marine regional system are either newly evolved or migrate in from adjacent regions.
Causes of the ecosystem collapse/extinction/new speciation events are incompletely understood, but apparently involve abrupt changes in sea level — most likely reflecting global cooling or warming events, which lower or raise sea level, respectively, by altering the size of the earth's ice caps.
Example #2
Vrba's original example of a "turnover pulse" is based on events culminating at about 2.5 million years ago in Eastern and Central Africa.11
A global cooling event, beginning circa 2.8 million years ago, apparently caused a relatively abrupt reorganization of African ecosystems after about 300 thousand years.
Cooler and drier conditions brought about a radical change in African vegetation patterns, where large expanses of grasslands replaced the formerly dominant wet woodlands.
Ecologically generalized species, such as impalas, managed to survive unscathed, but many wet-woodland-adapted species (e.g., antelope) disappeared — either through habitat tracking or outright extinction.
Concomitantly, animal species adapted to open savannahs soon appeared — either by habitat tracking of existing species into the region or via actual speciation. These included two new hominid species, such as the first members of the genus Homo, along with the oldest known stone tools, which also appear at 2.5 million years ago.
It is Vrba's special insight that ecosystem decay and fragmentation may lead, not only to habitat tracking in and out of a region, and to true extinction, but to true speciation as well. Recall that fragmentation of a species' original geographic range, as first developed fully by Dobzhansky and Mayr, is a prerequisite to allopatric speciation. Also, note the date of this African disturbance: 2.5 million years ago — just when the Isthmus of Panama rose — and, according to some geologists, created the Gulf Stream, thought by some to have triggered the global cooling pulse that had such a profound effect on the African biota. Elsewhere, I have also suggested that the patterns of speciation in South America that occasioned Hafner's "refugium" hypothesis in all likelihood reflect the very same sets of ecological and evolutionary processes - through the very same causes12 — as documented and discussed by Vrba.11
Speciation, then, is integral to the evolutionary process:
- Natural selection shapes most evolutionary adaptive change nearly simultaneously in genetically independent lineages as speciation is triggered by extinction in "turnover" events.
- When physical environmental events that go "too far too fast" start triggering regional, species-level extinction, then evolutionary change — predominantly via speciation — occurs.
- In times of environmental normalcy, speciation and species-wide evolutionary change are comparatively rare.
© 2000, American Institute of Biological Sciences. Educators have permission to reprint articles for classroom use; other users, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com for reprint permission. See reprint policy.

subset: commoncrawl


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18 U.S.C. 2257 Compliance Statement


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Lil' Buddies
Photo credit: Digital Vision/Getty Images
In honor of National Best Friends Day, Happy Family, the organic baby food company, is sharing family-friendly cookie recipes you can share with your BFFs.
Sure, there seems to be a day for everything these days, but this is one day we can get on board with.
New moms know just how important it is to have a "momtourage" who can help support each other during Baby's first year. Plus, your babies can bond and become playmates.
Show your new mom and baby friends how thankful you are to have them in your life by hosting a National Best Friends Day playdate with a few extra-special treats.
Tots can snack on Happy Family's Best Friends toddler cookies, which come in Chocolate Pumpkin and Honey Buckwheat, while moms can munch on healthier versions of classic cookie flavors. Note: These cookies can get a little messy, especially the chocolate flavor, so make sure to have some wipes around to help clean up after your toddler enjoys a few treats.
For your mom friends and older kids, check out these cookie recipes recommended by Happy Family Founder and CEO Shazi Visram.
Have fun with your best buddies and spread the word on National Best Friends Day by using the dedicated hashtag #HappyBestFriendDay.
National Best Friends Day Cookie Recipes
Better-for-You Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance Soy Butter
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons organic milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together sugar and Earth Balance Soy Butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add egg, milk and vanilla extract, and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, blend together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and flaxseed.
- Add to egg mixture and continue to mix until well blended. Shape dough into balls, using about 2 teaspoons each; roll in granulated sugar.
- Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten cookie slightly.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on pan for 2 minutes and transfer to wire rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 (8 ounce) container organic cream cheese
- 1/3 cup of powdered sugar
- 6 ounces Happy Tot Sweet Potato, Carrots, Apple and Cinnamon
- Mix well with an electric mixer and chill.
- For chocolate frosting, add 1/2 Dutch unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
Oatmeal Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1-1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 container Happy Bellies Oatmeal Cereal
- 8 ounces unsweetened applesauce (or 8 ounces Happy Baby, Stage 1 Pear)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup water
- Decorative sprinkles (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, combine whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar, Happy Bellies Oatmeal Cereal and cinnamon.
- Combine 1/4 cup of water, applesauce (or Happy Baby Pear), vanilla extract and eggs.
- Mix well and pour on top of the dry mixture.
- Add butter and, with a mixer, combine all ingredients until moist.
- On a baking sheet, spoon out oatmeal cookie dough and make into balls. Press down on each one, adding sprinkles to make the cookies look more festive.
- Bake for about 13 minutes.
More activities for baby
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It's been a while since my last post due to the fact that I've been busy with a new job and life but also because I've been actually working on several paintings at the same time - some of which will be for a solo exhibition that I will have at the Kelied gallery in September which will have a celestial/sci fi theme (will post an update about this again in the future). This work in progress is a preview of one of them that I'm currently working on - she is a type of humanoid alien creature. I love painting humanoid alien type characters as I think they are beautiful and interesting to paint. There are so many possible directions to go in with the design and I find that a lot of fun.
I would also like to mention that I'm planning to perhaps move this blog to my website in the future and will try and post updates more often.
Hope you all enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by! :)


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Mercer Football
Mercer Breaks Ground and Unveils Plans for New Football and Lacrosse Complex
Mercer University broke ground and unveiled plans for its new football and lacrosse complex during a Homecoming weekend ceremony on Nov. 11, 2012.
Several hundred faculty, staff, students, trustees and community members were on hand for the ceremonial groundbreaking, which was held adjacent to the construction site. Excavation work began about six weeks ago, and the facility is expected to be completed early next fall, in time to accommodate practices for Mercer's first class of football recruits.
The Board of Trustees last November unanimously approved the University's return to competition in intercollegiate football in 2013, ending a 70-year hiatus for the sport at Mercer. The first intercollegiate football game played in the state was between Mercer and the University of Georgia in 1892. Mercer's men's lacrosse team – the first NCAA Division I program in Georgia – began competition last spring. Mercer's women's lacrosse team will also begin competition in 2013.
In recognition of the lead gifts for the football and lacrosse complex, President William D. Underwood announced at the groundbreaking the naming of four major components of the project:
- The Homer and Ruth Drake Field House
- The Billy and Carolyn Anderson Field
- The Marshall and Jane Butler Family Plaza
- The Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacrosse Complex
President Underwood unveiled renderings of the complex showing the initial phase that includes the field house, the playing surface, seating, a press box, and plazas on both sides of the field with restrooms and concessions. The facility will accommodate 6,000 spectators.
The Homer and Ruth Drake Field House will also include a sports medicine clinic that will be operated by the Mercer School of Medicine. It will provide physical therapy services and treat student-athletes as well as the general public. Other features of the field house include football and lacrosse coaches' offices, team meeting rooms, a student lounge, locker rooms, a weight room and a training room.
"This facility is a beautiful and well-thought out design that has taken into consideration both our present needs and potential future needs. This will truly place Mercer football at the forefront in our recruiting and branding efforts," said Mercer Head Football Coach Bobby Lamb. "Likewise, it will give the entire Macon and Middle Georgia community a facility in which they can have great pride. The stadium complex will be a place we hope is as inviting to the community, faculty, staff and alumni as it will be to young men wishing to continue their football careers as a Mercer Bear."
"This facility not only provides a home to the Mercer lacrosse and football programs, but also demonstrates the University's commitment to making certain that all of its athletic teams have what we need to compete at the highest level," said Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Jason Childs. "A facility like this solidifies your program in the eyes of a recruit and helps send a message that we do things the right way here. It will also, no doubt, become a point of pride for everyone on this campus and beyond."
The stadium complex was designed by McMillan-Pazdan-Smith Architecture of Spartanburg, S.C., and the general contractor is Chris R. Sheridan & Co. of Macon.


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Jeremy K. Nicholson, a leading researcher in the field of metabonomics — a platform for studying drug toxicity and gene function — is the keynote speaker at the 2014 Robert Stowell Lecture, held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, April 14, 2014 in the second floor auditorium of the Medical Education Building, 4610 X Street, Sacramento.
His lecture, "The Challenge of Implementing Systems Medicine Paradigms in a Changing World," will demonstrate the possibilities for real-time diagnostics in surgery and molecular pathology approaches as tools for disruptive innovation in health care and the practice of medicine. The lecture and reception immediately following his presentation are open to the public. Guests are encouraged to register at http://stowell-lecture2014.eventbrite.com
Nicholson is the head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer, and director of MRC-NIHR National Phenome Centre at the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College of London. A member and fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, he established one of the world's largest research groups in metabolic science. He also is the founder and director of Metabometrix, a company headquartered in central London on the South Kensington campus of Imperial College that has completed projects across a wide range of biomedical applications for both industrial and academic clients.
"We are thrilled to have such a distinguished and internationally acclaimed scientist and academician as Dr. Nicholson present our Robert Stowell lectureship on the topic of metabonomics, which has become the intersection for so many health science disciplines," said Lydia Howell, professor and chair of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. "We hope that his view from the forefront of research in this field will provide greater vision for us all and help spark collaboration among researchers throughout the UC Davis School of Medicine community."
Satya Dandekar, professor and chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, is equally enthusiastic about the opportunity to engage Nicholson in discussions with faculty in Davis.
"Dr. Nicholson has provided outstanding leadership in developing innovative approaches of metabolism-driven monitoring to investigate patient responses to therapies," Dandekar said. "His research investigations on deciphering the impact of gene environment interactions on the clinical outcomes through metabolomics have great potential in enhancing and empowering personalized healthcare. The Stowell Lecture series provides a wonderful opportunity for our junior clinical and basic biomedical researchers to engage in informative and thought-provoking discussions with Dr. Nicolson about the promise and potential of metabolomic science in human health and disease."
The field of metabonomics characterizes the key biochemical changes caused by a range of interventions and conditions such as drug toxicity in animals and man, the diagnosis and course of clinical disease, the effects of therapeutic intervention and the impact of nutrition and life-style changes. This approach has the potential to impact strongly on drug discovery and development from lead molecule selection to marketing of clinically successful drugs. In the future, metabonomics could become a key driver for integrating knowledge at all of the levels of molecular biology to provide a true top-down systems biology understanding.
Nicholson has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Gold and Silver Medals for Analytical Science. He obtained his doctorate from the University of London and subsequently became a postdoctoral fellow and professor of biological chemistry at Birkbeck College, London, and he has published extensively in the field.
His wide range of research interests include surgical metabolomics, personalized health care through metabolic phenotyping, real-time diagnostics and integrative patient modelling, molecular physio-chemical processes in metabolism and medicine, development of novel spectroscopic and chemometric tools for investigating human disease and toxicological mechanisms, metabolism-driven top-down systems biology and modelling of complex system failure.
The annual Stowell Lectureship is funded through a generous gift by the founding chair of the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Robert E. Stowell, whose distinguished career as a physician and scientist included service as the director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of Kansas.
UC Davis Health System is improving lives and transforming health care by providing excellent patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, fostering innovative, interprofessional education, and creating dynamic, productive partnerships with the community. The academic health system includes one of the country's best medical schools, a 619-bed acute-care teaching hospital, a 1,000-member physician's practice group and the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. For more information, visit healthsystem.ucdavis.edu.


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SA Journal of Industrial Psychology
versão On-line ISSN 2071-0763
versão impressa ISSN 0258-5200
SA j. ind. Psychol. vol.35 no.1 Johannesburg Jan. 2009
Occupational stress, sense of coherence, coping, burnout and work engagement of registered nurses in South Africa
Jacoba J. van der Colff; Sebastiaan Rothmann
School of Behavioural Sciences, Vanderbijlpark North-West University, South Africa
The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the occupational stress, sense of coherence, coping, burnout and work engagement of registered nurses in South Africa. A crosssectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of 818 registered nurses. The Nursing Stress Inventory, the Orientation to Life Questionnaire, the COPE, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were administered. The results show that the experience of depletion of emotional resources and feelings of depersonalisation by registered nurses were associated with stress due to job demands and a lack of organisational support, focus on and ventilation of emotions as a coping strategy, and a weak sense of coherence. Work engagement was predicted by a strong sense of coherence and approachcoping strategies.
Keywords: distress; eustress; psychological strengths; well-being; wellness
A stable and productive health service is of vital importance to any country. The health service would include the nursing profession, which comprises by far the greatest component of this service sector. Nursing is seen as a stressful and emotionally demanding profession (Carson, Bartlett & Croucher 1991; Coffey & Coleman, 2001; Fagin, Brown, Bartlett, Leary & Carson, 1995; Schaufeli & Janczur, 1994; Snellgrove, 1998), which makes nurses exceptionally susceptible to burnout.
Occupational stress has several negative effects, such as impaired performance and effectiveness, reduction in productivity, diminishing levels of customer service, health problems, absenteeism, turnover, industrial accidents, alcohol and drug usage, purposefully destructive behaviours, e.g. spreading of rumours and stealing (Happel, Pinikahana & Martin, 2003; Perrewé, 1991; Quick, Quick, Nelson & Hurrell, 1997; Wright & Smye, 1996), and even suicide (McGrath, Reid & Boore, 2003). The potential direct and indirect costs associated with various stress-related consequences command more than just adequate attention from the manager of any business. Stress is seen by Cherniss (1995) as the main contributing factor to burnout.
Stress is but one aspect that influences a person's well-being negatively. Studies have confirmed that one's sense of coherence is an important component of one's health and well-being (Antonovsky, 1987, 1993). Sense of coherence has been defined as a relatively stable dispositional orientation that is represented by the concepts of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness (Antonovsky, 1987). A strong sense of coherence is related to general well-being (Feldt, 1997). Individuals with high levels of burnout would be expected to demonstrate lower levels of a sense of coherence. Specifically, the manageability component of a sense of coherence has been proven to be related to the exhaustion component of burnout (Rothmann & Malan, 2003).
According to Antonovsky (1987), a strong sense of coherence is not a particular coping style, and the stressors life imposes are many and varied. To adopt one pattern of coping consistently is precisely to fail to respond to the nature of the stressor, and hence to decrease the chances of successful coping. A person with a strong sense of coherence selects the particular coping strategy that seems most appropriate to deal with the stressor being confronted. Subsequently, the availability of a wide repertoire of coping strategies and flexibility in choice at any given time are crucial (Antonovsky, 1987; Feldt, 1997). The stronger the sense of coherence a person has, the better his/her ability to employ cognitive, affective and instrumental strategies that are likely to improve coping and, subsequently, well-being.
Coping refers to the perceptual, cognitive or behavioural responses used to manage, avoid or control situations that could be regarded as difficult (Folkman & Lazarus, 1984; Moos, 1994; Zeidner & Endler, 1996). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) initially identified two coping strategies, namely problem-focused or active coping and emotion-focused or passive coping. Problem-focused strategies include strategies such as defining the problem, generating and weighing alternative solutions, and following a plan of action, whereas emotion-focused strategies include processes such as avoidance, denial, seeking emotional support, and positive appraisal (Folkman & Lazarus, 1984).
According to Alsoofi, Al-Heeti and Alwashli (2000), burnout and coping strategies seem to be related significantly. The use of withdrawal or avoidance (passive) coping strategies is associated with high levels of burnout, while low burnout levels are associated with constructive or active (problem-focused) coping strategies (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998).
Although burnout can occur in any occupation, nursing is considered as being inherently stressful and an above-average risk group regarding work stress (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2000; Levert, Lucas & Ortlepp, 2000; According to Schaufeli and Janczur (1994), nurses' tasks are demanding because they work with the suffering, grief and death of people. Although occupational stressors that give rise to stress and, ultimately, to burnout are a reality in the nursing profession, there is also another (positive) side to the coin, namely being dedicated to and immersed in one's work, which is referred to in the literature as engagement (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzáles-Romá & Bakker, 2002). Engaged employees see themselves as competent in dealing with the demands of their job. They are energetic and have a sense of effective connection with their work activities.
The impact of burnout - regarded as the opposite concept of engagement - on the quality of care in the nursing profession should not be underestimated. The prevalence rates of occupational stress are rising continuously in most industrialised countries, as indicated by the increase in stressrelated absenteeism. The literature also reports an increase in the number of individuals who receive disability grants due to mental (possibly stress related) disorders (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). In the light of these facts, the importance of identifying personality traits and job stressors related to burnout and engagement is indisputably of great importance to improve the standard of health services and care in the nursing profession. The negative impact of burnout does not apply only to the individual, but also - and in particular - to government and private organisations.
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the occupational stress, sense of coherence, coping, burnout and work engagement of registered nurses in South Africa.
Occupational stress
Various models have been developed to understand occupational stress, such as the Person-Environment Fit Model (French, Kaplan & Harrison, 1982) and the Demand-Control Model of Karasek (Fox, Dwyer & Ganster, 1993). The former approach views psychological and physical stress as being the result of an incongruent person-environment fit, while the Demand-Control Model looks at the interaction between the demands of the situation and the individual's decisional freedom in terms of meeting the job requirements. Although these models influenced a considerable body of research on stress, they focus on the general demands of the job and the skills and abilities of the incumbent, not taking into account the specific pressures and the role of individual differences in personality and coping resources (Spielberger & Vagg, 1999).
On the basis of the Demand-Control Model of Karasek (Fox et al., 1993) and research results from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Maslach and Jackson (1986) postulated that the presence of particular demands (i.e. work overload and personal conflicts) and the absence of particular resources (i.e. control coping, social support, autonomy and participation) would lead to the prevalence of burnout, resulting in other expected negative outcomes, such as physical illness, turnover, absenteeism, and diminished organisational commitment.
Cavanagh (1997) and Cocco, Gatti, De Mendonça Lima and Camus (2003) divide stressors in the nursing profession into three categories, namely personal (or intrapersonal), interpersonal and work environment or organisational stressors. Personal stressors include an inability to manage home, work and sometimes also study responsibilities and an inadequate preparation of personnel for the demanding tasks of nursing. Interpersonal stressors reflect on relationships with doctors, supervisors, other senior personnel and colleagues (Basson & Van der Merwe, 1994). Work environment stressors include modern technology that is, in essence, inhumane and depersonalised (Cavanagh, 1997; Lewis, 1988); a high work load and long working hours that do not contribute to a personal and social life (Basson & Van der Merwe, 1994; Cavanagh, 1997); procedures that endanger nurses' lives; caring for and especially dealing with pain, suffering and dying; the strain of being exposed to making mistakes and managing demanding responsibilities (Cavanagh, 1997); a lack of autonomy (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998); role conflict and role ambiguity (Levert et al., 2000) and under-staffing (Erasmus, Poggenpoel & Gmeiner, 1998; Kilfedder, Power & Wells, 2001).
Sense of coherence
Antonovsky (1987) predicted that sense of coherence, defined as a relatively stable dispositional orientation, might cause employees with a strong sense of coherence to experience less job stress. A strong sense of coherence might help employees understand stressors and regard them as manageable and meaningful. A weak sense of coherence might therefore lead to job stress, which in turn could lead to burnout. Each person's sense of coherence, or sense of well-being, requires certain inherent prerequisites for coping successfully, which are represented by the concepts of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness (Antonovsky, 1987). Rothmann, Jackson and Kruger (2003) found that sense of coherence contributes to the professional efficacy of employees. Amirkhan and Greaves (2003) showed that a strong sense of coherence impacts on perception so that individuals with a strong orientation are likely to view a greater number of events as having coherence. This perceptual process seems to be subtle: it influences individuals' perceptions of stressful events, but it does so without their conscious awareness.
The literature on stress research is frequently linked to coping mechanisms. According to Bhagat et al. (2001), the level of stress experienced and the extent to which adverse psychological and physiological effects of stress occur depend on how well the individual utilises coping strategies in the organisational setting.
Coping can be defined as the cognitive and behavioural efforts that individuals make to manage situations appraised as potentially harmful or stressful (Kleinke, 1991; McElfatrick et al., 2000). According to Fleishman (1984), coping could refer to either strategies or results. As a strategy, coping refers to the different methods that individuals employ to manage their specific circumstances, while coping as a result refers to the eventual outcomes of the chosen strategy for the individual. Tobin, Holroyd, Reynolds and Wigal (1989) distinguished between approach-oriented and avoidance-oriented processes in coping strategies. Consequently, coping strategies could be viewed from an active as well as a passive approach, where movement towards a stressor (i.e. active coping) or away from the stressor (i.e. passive coping) is taken as broad strategies.
According to Lazarus (1991), the individual processing or appraisal of a stressful event takes place on two levels. In primary appraisal, significance is attached to the situation to determine whether or not the particular situation poses a potential or actual threat to the individual's well-being. In the secondary appraisal process, the perceived ability of coping resources to deal with the event is evaluated. These appraisal processes can be viewed as interdependent, influencing each other and shaping the nature of any encounter on an individual level (Folkman & Lazarus, 1984). Consequently, coping is regarded as a process whereby the individual interacts with his/her environment in order to comprehend what people actually think and do in a stressful encounter (Holroyd & Lazarus, 1982).
Burnout has long been a proven reality in the nursing profession (Glass, McKnight & Valdimarsdottir, 1993; Lewis, 1988; McKnight & Glass, 1995; Schaufeli & Janczur, 1994; Tarolli-Jager, 1994), with symptoms such as low energy levels, feelings of a lack of control, helplessness, low motivational levels, negative attitudes towards work, self and others, emotional exhaustion, absenteeism and turnover, performance deficits and substance abuse (Glass et al., 1993).
Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001) describe burnout as a syndrome consisting of three key dimensions, namely feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion, representing the individual stress dimension of burnout, refers to feelings of depleted physical and emotional resources and prompts actions in workers to distance themselves emotionally and cognitively from their work, presumably as a way to cope with work overload. Depersonalisation entails negative and cynical attitudes or excessively detached responses towards the recipients of service and care (e.g. patients), reducing the recipient to an impersonal object. These two dimensions are generally considered to comprise the core symptoms of burnout (Demerouti et al., 2000). The third dimension, lack of personal accomplishment, represents the self-evaluation dimension of burnout and refers to feelings of insufficiency (Schaufeli & Buunk, 1996), incompetence, lack of achievement and unproductiveness (Maslach et al., 2001).
Work engagement
Empirical studies have revealed that some employees, regardless of high job demands and long working hours, do not develop burnout, but seem to find pleasure in hard work and dealing with job demands (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2001).
Schaufeli et al. (2002) argue that the simultaneous empirical investigation of burnout and engagement would be impossible with one instrument. Based on a theoretical analysis, burnout and engagement are conceptually related to each other, resulting in two work-related dimensions of well-being, namely (1) activation, ranging from exhaustion to vigour, and (2) identification, ranging from cynicism to dedication (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2001). Personal accomplishment and absorption were also included in the burnout and engagement constructs respectively, but not in an antithetical manner. It was argued that personal accomplishment was added only afterwards in the development of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), when a third factor was discovered during a factor analysis of a preliminary version of the MBI (Maslach, 1993).
Engagement is therefore defined as a positive, fulfilling, workrelated state of mind that is characterised by three dimensions, namely vigour, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2002). Vigour refers to having high energy levels, resilience regarding work activities, investing effort in one's work and persistence in difficult circumstances. Dedication includes a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride and challenge, while absorption is characterised by full concentration on and engrossment in one's work, and finding it difficult to detach oneself from work (Schaufeli et al., 2002). Absorption comes close to the concept of 'flow', which is characterised by an optimal state in which focused attention, a clear mind, unison of body and mind, effortless concentration, complete control, loss of self-consciousness, time distortion and intrinsic enjoyment are experienced (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Engagement is theoretically viewed as the opposite end of the continuum from burnout that cannot be effectively measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), but is measured by its own survey, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli et al., 2002).
A study done by Mostert and Rothmann (2006) revealed that work engagement was best predicted by conscientiousness, emotional stability, and low stress due to job demands. People with a strong sense of coherence were also found to experience more work engagement (Naudé & Rothmann, 2006). This result is consistent with previous findings (e.g. Basson & Rothmann, 2002; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Wissing, De Waal & De Beer, 1992). The study by Naudé and Rothmann (2006) also shows that the availability of job resources (i.e. when distress regarding job resources is low) and personal resources (i.e. when the sense of coherence is strong) enhances work engagement levels.
The above discussion leads to the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Occupational stress and a weak sense of coherence predict burnout (i.e. exhaustion and depersonalisation) and low work engagement.
Hypothesis 2: Approach coping and seeking emotional/social support predict low burnout and high work engagement; whilst passive coping strategies (i.e. avoidance, turning to religion and focus on and ventilation of emotions) predict burnout and low work engagement.
Research approach
A cross-sectional survey was used to achieve the objectives of this research (Shaughnessy & Zechmeister, 1997).
The study population consisted of registered nurses in private and public hospitals in South Africa. Random samples of nurses were taken from hospital wards, psychiatric wards, community/occupational services and nursing management. Descriptive information of the sample of registered nurses is provided in Table 1.
The sample consisted mainly of female, Afrikaans-speaking registered nurses, working in hospital wards in the private sector in Gauteng province. The mean age of the participants was 40 years, while the average duration of service in the nursing profession was 19 years. A total of 52.20% of the participants were Afrikaans speaking, 28.90% were English speaking, and 18.90% spoke an African language. The majority of the group took at least 21 days of leave during the year prior to the survey and 86.50% took sick leave comprising fewer than eight days
Measurement battery
The Nursing Stress Inventory (NSI) consists of 39 statements and was developed by Van der Colff and Rothmann (2006. Firstly, participants rated each of the 39 statements in terms of the perceived intensity of the particular stressor on a nine-point scale, ranging from 1 (low) to 9 (high). In the second part of the questionnaire, the participants were asked to respond in terms of perceived frequency of experiencing these stressors over the past six months on a 10-point scale ranging from 0 (no days) to 9+ (more than 9 days). Exploratory factor analyses of the NSI in a sample of nurses resulted in three reliable factors, namely lack of organisational support (e.g. lack of supervisory or managerial support, and colleagues not doing their jobs), demands of the job (e.g. having to deal with constant unfamiliar situations, and making critical on-the-spot decisions) and nursing-specific demands (e.g. death of a patient, making a mistake during the treatment of a patient, and watching a patient suffer).
The Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) (Antonovsky, 1987) was used to measure the participants' sense of coherence. The OLQ consists of 29 items. Antonovsky (1993) reported Chronbach alpha coefficients of the OLQ in 29 research studies varying between 0.85 and 0.91. Test-retest reliability studies found coefficients between 0.41 and 0.97 (Antonovsky, 1993). Rothmann (2002) reported an alpha coefficient of 0.89 for the OLQ, which may be regarded as acceptable (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). In terms of the construct validity of the OLQ, it was found that a negative relationship exists between OLQ and experienced stress and that the OLQ correlates negatively with the 'State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait' and the 'Beck Depression Inventory' (Frenz, Carey & Jorgensen, 1993).
The Coping Orientation for Problem Experienced Questionnaire (COPE) (Carver, Scheier & Weintraub, 1989) was used to measure the participants' general coping strategies. The COPE is a multidimensional 53-item questionnaire indicating the different ways in which individuals cope in different circumstances. Five factors were extracted for registered nurses, namely approach coping, seeking emotional or social support, avoidance as a strategy of coping, turning to religion, and focus on and ventilation of emotions.
The COPE has been proven both reliable and valid in different cultural groups (Clark, Bornman, Cropanzano & James, 1995; Van der Wateren, 1997). Carver et al. (1989) also reported alpha coefficients for the COPE ranging from 0.45 to 0.92. With the exception of mental disengagement, which measures less than 0.60, all the subscales demonstrate good levels of reliability. Test-retest reliability varies from 0.46 to 0.86 and 0.42 to 0.89 after two weeks (Carver et al., 1989). Acceptable reliability and validity levels have been determined for the COPE in South Africa, rendering it suitable for use in this context (Van der Wateren, 1997).
The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) (Maslach & Jackson, 1986) was used to measure burnout in this study. The MBI-HSS consists of 22 items phrased as statements about personal feelings and attitudes that are selfscored on a seven-point frequency scale, ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (every day). The three subscales of the MBI-HSS include emotional exhaustion (nine items; e.g. 'I feel emotionally drained from my work'), depersonalisation (five items; e.g. 'I feel I treat some recipients as if they were impersonal objects'), and personal accomplishment (eight items; e.g. 'I have accomplished many worthwhile things in this job'). The psychometric soundness of the MBI-HSS is well documented in the literature, with internal consistencies usually well above the 0.70 Cronbach alpha level, except for the depersonalisation scale in some samples (Schaufeli, Bakker, Hoogduin, Schaap & Kladler, 2001). Test-retest reliability ranging from three months to one year has been reported in the range of 0.50 to 0.82 (Leiter & Durup, 1996). The three-factor structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) was confirmed. The factors showed acceptable construct equivalence for different language groups.
The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli et al., 2002) measures levels of engagement. The UWES is scored on a sevenpoint frequency scale, ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (every day). Three dimensions of engagement can be distinguished, namely vigour (six items; e.g. 'I am bursting with energy in my work'), dedication (five items; e.g. 'I find my work full of meaning and purpose') and absorption (six items; e.g. 'When I am working, I forget everything else around me'). In terms of internal consistency, reliability coefficients for the three subscales have been determined between 0.68 and 0.91. Improvement of the alpha coefficient (ranging from 0.78 to 0.89) seems possible without adversely affecting the internal consistency of the scale (Storm & Rothmann, 2003). The three-factor structure of work engagement (vigour, dedication and absorption) was not confirmed. Instead, a one-factor model of engagement reflected the best data fit. Van der Colff (2006) also found evidence for a one-factor model of work engagement. A biographical questionnaire was also administered. The participants were given the option of providing their names and contact details to be given feedback. Other information gathered included rank, unit, education, gender and language.
Statistical analysis
The statistical analysis was conducted by means of the SPSS Program Version 12 (SPSS Inc., 2003). Cronbach alpha coefficients (α) were used to assess the reliability of the measuring instruments (Clark & Watson, 1995). Descriptive statistics (e.g. means and standard deviations) were used to analyse the data. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationships between the variables. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Standard multiple regression analysis was carried out to assess the contribution of the independent variables (occupational stress and job satisfaction) to burnout and work engagement.
The descriptive statistics, alpha coefficients and Pearson correlations for the extracted factors of the measuring instruments for registered nurses are reported in Table 2.
According to Table 2, the scores of the MBI-HSS, UWES, NSI, COPE and OLQ are distributed normally. The Cronbach alpha coefficients of all the measuring instruments are considered to be acceptable compared to the guideline of α> 0.70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994), except for focus on and ventilation of emotions as a coping strategy, where the Cronbach alpha coefficient is slightly lower than 0.70 (i.e. 0.67). This correlates with the results reported by Carver et al. (1989), who reported alpha coefficients for the COPE ranging from 0.45 to 0.92. It therefore appears that MBI-HSS, UWES, NSI, COPE and OLQ have acceptable levels of reliability.
Moreover, Table 2 shows that emotional exhaustion is strongly related to depersonalisation and moderately related to organisational support, job demands, and focus on and ventilation of emotions. Emotional exhaustion is also moderately negatively related to work engagement and sense of coherence. Depersonalisation is moderately and negatively related to personal accomplishment, work engagement and sense of coherence. Personal accomplishment is moderately related to work engagement and sense of coherence, whereas work engagement is moderately related to approach coping and sense of coherence.
Multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess whether or not occupational stress, sense of coherence and coping strategies predict burnout and the work engagement of registered nurses. Table 3 shows the results of multiple regression analysis, with exhaustion (as measured by the MBI-HSS) as the dependent variable, and occupational stressors (as measured by the NSI), coping strategies (as measured by the COPE) and sense of coherence (as measured by the OLQ) as the independent variables.
The results in Table 3 indicate that two occupational stress dimensions, namely lack of organisational support and job demands, predicted 14% of the variance in emotional exhaustion (F = 44.21, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.14). Adding sense of coherence as an independent variable (in step 2) resulted in a statistically significant increase in the prediction of the variance in emotional exhaustion (ΔF = 184.61, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.16). Furthermore, entering coping strategies into the regression analysis (step 3) resulted in a statistically significant increase in the variance of emotional exhaustion predicted (ΔF = 7.02, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.03). The regression coefficients of two stressors, namely stress: lack of organisational support (β = 0.13, p < 0.01), and stress: job demands (β = 0.17, p < 0.01), sense of coherence (β = -0.37, p < 0.01), as well as three coping strategies, namely approach coping (β = 0.07, p < 0.05), seeking emotional/social support (β = -0.11, p < 0.01) and focus on and ventilation of emotions (β = 0.17, p < 0.01) were statistically significant. In sum, occupational stress, a weak sense of coherence, approach coping, focus on and ventilation of emotions, and low seeking of emotional/social support predicted 33% of the variance in emotional exhaustion.
Table 4 shows the results of the multiple regression analysis with depersonalisation (as measured by the MBI-HSS) as the dependent variable, and occupational stressors (as measured by the NSI), coping strategies (as measured by the COPE) and sense of coherence (as measured by the OLQ) as the independent variables. The results in Table 4 indicate that two occupational stress dimensions, namely lack of organisational support and job demands, predicted 7% of the variance in depersonalisation (F = 678.51, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.07). Adding sense of coherence as an independent variable (in step 2) resulted in a statistically significant increase in the prediction of the variance in depersonalisation (ΔF = 180.10, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.17). Furthermore, entering coping strategies into the regression analysis (step 3) resulted in a further statistically significant increase in the variance of depersonalisation predicted (ΔF = 6.16, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.03). The regression coefficients of stress: job demands (β= 0.09, p < 0.03), sense of coherence (β -0.35, p < 0.01) and three coping strategies, namely avoidance (β = 0.11, p < 0.01), turning to religion (β = -0.11, p < 0.01) and focus on and ventilation of emotions (β = 0.17, p < 0.01), were statistically significant. In total, occupational stress, a weak sense of coherence, avoidance coping, focus on and ventilation of emotions, and a low turning to religion predicted 27% of the variance in depersonalisation.
The results of a multiple regression analysis with occupational stressors (as measured by the NSI), coping strategies (as measured by the COPE), and sense of coherence (as measured by the OLQ) as independent variables, and personal accomplishment (as measured by the MBI-HSS) as the dependent variable, are reported in Table 5.
The results in Table 5 reveal that one occupational stress dimension, namely job demands, predicted 2% of the variance in personal accomplishment (F = 2.62, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.02). Adding sense of coherence as an independent variable (in step 2) resulted in a statistically significant increase in theprediction of the variance in personal accomplishment (ΔF = 94.42, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.10). Furthermore, entering coping strategies into the regression analysis (step 3) resulted in a statistically significant increase in the variance of personal accomplishment predicted (ΔF = 9.51, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.05). The regression coefficients of sense of coherence (β = 0.22, p < 0.01), and three coping strategies, namely approach coping (β = 0.13, p < 0.01), seeking emotional/social support (β = 0.11, p < 0.01) and avoidance (β = -0.17, p < 0.01), were statistically significant. In total, occupational stress because of job demands, a strong sense of coherence, approach-coping strategies, focus on and ventilation of emotion, and not making use of avoidance as a coping strategy predicted 17% of the variance in personal accomplishment.
Table 6 shows the results of a multiple regression analysis with work engagement (as measured by the UWES) as the dependent variable and occupational stressors (as measured by the NSI), coping strategies (as measured by the COPE) and sense of coherence (as measured by the OLQ) as the independent variables.
The results in Table 6 indicate that one occupational stress dimension, namely job demands, predicted 2% of the variance in engagement (F = 1683.06, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.02). Adding sense of coherence as an independent variable (in step 2) resulted in a statistically significant increase in the prediction of the variance in engagement (ΔF = 152.90, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.16). Furthermore, entering coping strategies into the regression analysis (step 3) resulted in a statistically significant increase in the variance of engagement predicted (ΔF = 13,36, p < 0.01, ΔR2 = 0.06). The regression coefficients of sense of coherence (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) and one coping strategy, namely approach coping (β = 0.25, p < 0.01), were statistically significant. In total, low levels of occupational stress because of job demands, a strong sense of coherence, and approach-coping strategies predicted 24% of the variance in engagement.
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between occupational stress, sense of coherence, coping, burnout and work engagement in registered nurses in South Africa, using a cross-sectional survey design.
The sample consisted of 818 registered nurses. Registered nurses experience the following stressors relating to lack of organisational support as relatively severe: staff shortage, inadequate salary, insufficient personnel to handle the workload, fellow workers not doing their jobs and poorly motivated coworkers. The following stressors relating to job demands were experienced as relatively severe: excessive administrative duties, demands from clients/patients and health risks posed by contact with patients. Regarding stress due to nursingspecific demands, performing painful procedures on patients and watching a patient suffer were identified as the two most intense stressors, although these items measured low on the frequency scale, hence the lower scores on the severity scale. Of all the stressors, staff shortage was rated as the most severe, with inadequate salaries and excessive administrative duties next in line. Most of the above stressors have already been noted in the literature (see Happel et al., 2003; McGrath et al., 2003), except for health risks posed by contact with patients. This could be explained by the high incidence of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Occupational stress due to a lack of organisational support and job demands contributed significantly to emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. This confirms the results of Demerouti et al. (2000), who explain that the relationship between a lack of resources (organisational support) and depersonalisation is to be found in theories about work motivation, e.g. Herzberg's two-factor hygiene theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. A lack of fulfilment of basic hygiene factors or basic needs (enough resources) will cause employees to withdraw and develop indifferent attitudes towards their jobs. In light of the results of this study regarding the lack of organisational support (lack of resources), this should be a concern for organisations, as disengagement from or depersonalised feelings towards patients (treating patients as nothing more than mere objects) should be prevented at all costs.
While occupational stressors seem to contribute to the distress of registered nurses (as indicated by emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation) in terms of engagement and personal accomplishment, the results suggest that no significant relationships exist between occupational stress on the one hand, and engagement and personal accomplishment on the other. In this regard, Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) stated that personal accomplishment and work engagement form part of an extended engagement factor, while emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation form part of a burnout factor.
Moreover, the results of this study show that burnout (emotional exhaustion) was moderately related to work engagement, while depersonalisation was related to both personal accomplishment and work engagement. Therefore, occupational stress could possibly impact on work engagement through its effect on burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation). However, empirical studies have revealed that engagement at work can prevail despite high job demands and long working hours (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2001). If one considers that statements regarding occupational stress were formulated in a negative way in the present study, the expected relationship with engagement would never be achieved due to the positive formulation of items measuring engagement. Furthermore, the measurement of job demands and lack of job resources was not done independently of experienced strain in the present study, which could have influenced the findings.
A statistical analysis of the effects of sense of coherence on burnout and work engagement revealed that a strong sense of coherence predicted lower levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, and vice versa. Thus, registered nurses seem to experience a depletion of emotional resources when they demonstrate a weak sense of coherence. This result was also found to be true for personal accomplishment and work engagement, where a strong sense of coherence predicted higher levels of personal accomplishment and work engagement, and vice versa. This could possibly be explained by a predisposition to experience stimuli from the environment in a positive interpretative manner. They could also perceive stimuli as making sense on a cognitive level, perceive to be in control of events by means of support networks, and view events as motivationally relevant and meaningful. This result is consistent with previous findings (e.g. Basson & Rothmann, 2002; Naudé & Rothmann, 2006; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Wissing et al., 1992). According to Hobfoll (2001), burnout and low work engagement are the result of failure to acquire sufficient resources. Burnout and low work engagement might thus occur due to a lack of resources. Demerouti et al. (2000) stated in this regard that job demands are related to feelings of exhaustion, but also agree with Hobfoll that a lack of job resources is related to disengagement from or feelings of depersonalisation towards patients.
It was also evident from the results that registered nurses with a strong sense of coherence coped better with occupational stress due to a lack of organisational support and job demands. Registered nurses with a weak sense of coherence would probably find it difficult to structure their world to be understandable, orderly and consistent. They might tend to experience the events of life as unmanageable, perceive that they lack the resources to meet the demands and thus feel that life does not make sense on an emotional level (Antonovsky, 1987). They would therefore understandably perceive situations as stressful. The results further revealed that a strong sense of coherence allows nurses to make use of active coping strategies (i.e. seeking emotional/social support) and thus to deal with occupational stressors in a positive, problem-solving manner.
Sense of coherence was the only variable in this study related to personal accomplishment. Several scholars have argued that personal accomplishment reflects a personality characteristic rather than a genuine burnout component (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993; Shirom, 1989). Antonovsky (1987) also regards sense of coherence as a personality disposition.
The results regarding coping strategies showed that a relationship exists between emotional exhaustion and focus on and venting of emotions, meaning that nurses who make use of this coping strategy revealed higher levels of emotional exhaustion. The other side of the coin might also be true, namely that focus on and ventilation of emotions could be a result of depleted energy levels due to burnout (emotional exhaustion), causing nurses to feel frustrated because they cannot perform their duties effectively. However, Payne (2001) warns that focus on and ventilation of emotions as a coping strategy will always be part of coping for nurses, since many stressors in nursing cannot be changed. On the other hand, approach coping was found to be related to work engagement and sense of coherence, where nurses with a strong sense of coherence make use of approach coping as a coping strategy and therefore are taking charge of their situation and problems or stressors in the workplace, which also enhances work engagement.
In summary, occupational stress, a weak sense of coherence, approach coping, focus on and ventilation of emotions, and low seeking of emotional/social support predicted 33% of the variance in emotional exhaustion. Twenty-seven percent of the variance in depersonalisation was predicted by occupational stress, a weak sense of coherence, avoidance coping, focus on and ventilation of emotions, and a low turning to religion. Occupational stress because of job demands, a weak sense of coherence, approach-coping strategies, focus on and ventilation of emotion, and not making use of avoidance as a coping strategy predicted 17% of the variance in personal accomplishment, while low levels of occupational stress because of job demands, a weak sense of coherence, and approach-coping strategies predicted 24% of the variance in engagement. The above results confirm both hypotheses, namely that 1) Occupational stress and a weak sense of coherence predict burnout and low work engagement; and 2) Approach coping and seeking emotional/social support predict low burnout and high work engagement; whilst passive coping strategies (i.e. avoidance, turning to religion and focus on and ventilation of emotions) predict burnout and low work engagement.
The limitations of the present study include the use of a crosssectional survey design, which makes it difficult to prove causal relationships. A longitudinal design would have been the preferred method to analyse causal relationships. Another limitation is the exclusive use of self-report measures, a strategy often associated with method variance. Sample size further limits the research results in such a way that results cannot be generally applied to all registered nurses in South Africa.
Organisations can contribute to the development of employees' sense of coherence by providing information in a consistent, structured, ordered and understandable format. In order for employees to perceive that work expectations are manageable and within their, or important other peoples power, employers should ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, material, instruments and other resources, and that there is a balance in the load of tasks to be handled. Employees should also be given the opportunity to perform work that requires thought and independent judgement. Employees will regard their work as meaningful when a degree of independence and freedom of choice is allowed in the performance of their tasks. Participation in decision making will enhance the employees' feeling of membership and contribute to the meaningfulness component of sense of coherence. Moreover, the employee should have the freedom to disagree with his/her supervisor, to be able to discuss what to do with his/her supervisor and to act autonomously.
Job demands and a lack of organisational support should be managed by the organisation to prevent burnout of nurses and to contribute to their work engagement. Coping strategies are also important areas of intervention. It is necessary to analyse the results of this study in each hospital or institution before any intervention is planned. While some occupational stressors were found consistently in all the hospitals included in this study, the stressors in the different hospitals were quite different. Tailor-made interventions for a specific hospital are necessary to ensure that the planned effects are yielded (Kompier & Cooper, 1999).
Better relationships amongst members of the professional team (e.g. doctors and other nurses, including supervisors) may also relieve stress. McGrath et al. (2003) suggest that this could be achieved by means of closer integration during training to enhance an understanding of each other's role, as well as implementing a higher level of education for nurses, which might lead to increased confidence and an ability to discuss issues as equals with professional colleagues. The problem of staff shortages needs to be addressed. A re-evaluation of salaries might be a good point of departure in addressing this problem. Inadequate salaries might cause registered nurses to leave the profession, and often even the country, for the sake of opportunities that offer better financial rewards. More research is needed regarding the organisational factors that affect burnout and work engagement.
The material described in this article is based on work supported by the National Research Foundation under grant number 2053917.
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Correspondence to:
Sebastiaan Rothmann
Postal address: PO Box 8660, Swakopmund
e-mail: email@example.com
Received: 08 Apr. 2008
Accepted: 26 Sept. 2008
Published: 09 Apr. 2009
This article is available at: http://www.sajip.co.za
© 2009. The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.


text:
PITTSBURGH — The A's welcomed former first-round draft pick Sonny Gray to the clubhouse, then to the bullpen, and then perhaps to better things.
In the midst of a 5-0 loss to Pittsburgh tempered by a rain delay of almost three hours Wednesday night, the A's top starting pitching prospect at Triple-A Sacramento took over in the fifth inning with the club in a five-run hole and halted the bleeding.
Gray faced seven hitters, retired six of them, and showed manager Bob Melvin a slider to go with his curveball, changeup and upper-90 mph fastball.
The idea was to have Gray come up for a few weeks and just get the feel for what the big leagues is like, but there may be more that Gray can do.
"When you have stuff like that," Melvin said, "we'll make a spot for him."
By the time Gray got into the game, the A's were already in a hole, and he was asked to clean up the mess. To his credit, Gray did just that. He threw a 96 mph heater on his first pitch, struck out the first man he faced, Clint Barmes, on three pitches and set the side down in order in his first major league inning.
He wound up pitching two innings, giving up one hit and no runs while striking out three.
Nerves? It didn't seem like that in Gray's big league debut.
"I don't know what it was," he said, "but I felt more relaxed tonight than I've felt in Sacramento."
He had less time to warm up as a reliever, but that didn't seem to be a problem. Melvin brought two other relievers in the middle of innings, then brought in Gray to start the fifth so he wouldn't come in with men on base.
"I enjoyed it," Gray said of coming out of the bullpen. "It wasn't that hard an adjustment. I had a good slider and good location with my fastball."
It had been a whirlwind 36 hours for Gray, the former Vanderbilt right-hander taken by the A's with the 18th overall pick in the 2011 draft. He'd been awakened by Sacramento manager Steve Scarsone pounding on his hotel room door Tuesday morning, flew from Colorado Springs to Pittsburgh that night, then had to wait out a lengthy rain delay before taking part in his first big league game.
When he did, he looked as if he belonged. And if Wednesday's game was a loss for the A's, their sixth time being shut out this season, at least that much was a plus.
There wasn't much else positive for the A's in this one, particularly for starter Tommy Milone. He was out of the rain-delayed debacle after just 22/3 innings, the shortest start of his major league career. And he needed 80 pitches to get just those eight outs, giving up seven hits, two walks and three runs, all the runs in the third inning.
"Obviously I threw a lot of pitches in the third," Milone said. "They did a good job putting the ball in play. They gave themselves a chance to do some damage."
Milone pitched 81/3 innings the last time out and came close to his first big league shutout, but in large his recent games haven't been memorable. His last five starts have seen him go 2-2 with a 6.49 ERA, kicking his overall ERA to 4.24.
With a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox starting Friday in the Coliseum followed by a four-day break for the All-Star game, Milone could go 10 or 11 days before his next start.
"When you have a game like this, you want to get right back out there," Milone said. "But you like to have a break, so maybe I'll get the break and come back fresh and start putting up some quality innings."
Friday's game
Boston (John Lackey 6-6) at A's (Jarrod Parker 6-6), 7:05 p.m. CSNCA