Psychosocial risk factors and well-being: An application of the Job Demands-Resources model at the Italian justice department

The general aim of the present study was to identify the factors more associated to health and well-being of workers of an Italian Justice Department, by testing either the health impairment process and the motivational process of the Job Demands-Resources model. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 195 participants working at Justice Department. The central hypothesis was that job demands would be the most important predictors of ill health, through their relationship with need for recovery, whereas job resources would be the most important predictors of affective commitment, through their relationship with work engagement. Results of a series of SEM analyses supported these dual processes and gained insight about the psychosocial risk factors in order to understand how prevent organizational malfunctioning and promote a good work environment. This means that, in order to understand the processes that are involved in fostering well-being, it is important to take into account both job demands and resources because the increase of job resources promote positive organizational outcomes, and decreases in job demands prevent ill-health.