Maria José Chambel

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Lisbon

Emergency professionals (soldiers, policemen, and firefighters) are often exposed to adverse situations in high risk and stressful environments that may confer increased risk for problems such as suicidal thoughts and behaviors, suicide attempts and, ultimately, death by suicide.Objectives:To discuss suicide rate, as well as protec-tive factors aga...

Work-family practices are defined as instruments which are used to facilitate reconciliation between work and family. However, research regarding the role of boundary management in shaping such interconnection is still needed. Based on border theory, this study aims to explore boundary control and work-family segmentation enactment as mechanisms to...

Telework gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for this #exible work arrangement to be a favourable option nowadays, speci!c conditions may be necessary such as supervisory support (FSSB) and boundary management strategies. Nonetheless, telework conditions during COVID-19 may have di$ered from those after the pandemic. Drawing on...

In recent decades, in response to changes in work dynamics, demographics, and technological advancements, organizations have sought to implement practices that facilitate transitions between work and family—so-called work-family practices. Previous research has focused on identifying antecedents for a more positive work-family relationship, employe...

Background Digital nomads face unique challenges in maintaining a sustainable work-life balance. The fluid nature of their work, characterized by frequent changes in location and the absence of traditional workplace boundaries, can blur the lines between professional and personal life. We draw upon boundary theory and Conservation of Resources Theo...

Background: In peacekeeping operations, soldiers are often exposed to the same traumatic factors as in conventional war and may also be subject to physical risks and psychological stressors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), PTSD stems from resource depletion and inadequat...

Despite ongoing war scenarios, on today’s global, socio-political stage there are many situations that call for noncombat deployments. However, humanitarian missions have been understudied, particularly from a positive perspective. This study aims to ascertain the moderating role of work–family facilitation in the influence of work engagement on li...

Objective: Determine the prevalence and risk factors for anxiety, stress and depression among higher education students in a sample from Portugal and Brazil. Methods: Students from Portugal (n =709) and Brazil (n =487) answered the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and demographic and academic characteristics questions. Results: Rates...

Research has postulated the impact of work-family practices on work-family relationship. Nevertheless, there is still more to explain about this relationship's mechanisms and/or enhancers. Based on border theory, this study aims to explore boundary control and work-family segmentation enactment as mechanisms to explain the relationship between work...

ABSTRACT: The study “Motivations and well-being in teleworking” was developed by Rita Couto (PhD student at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon), Sílvia Lopes (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra), Vânia Sofia Carvalho (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychol...

Objective To know the incidence of aggressions in Primary Care, and to determine the psychological symptoms that may accompany these experiences. A transversal study was carried out in North-Eastern Spain, in 2022. Methods 207 participants (60.9% women, mean age 48.8 years), primary care professionals (nurses and doctors), responded to Questionnai...

The present study aims to understand the influence of time spent in higher education on academic burnout and engagement, exploring the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap). To this end, a data analysis was conducted on a sample of 4242 Portuguese undergraduate students. The results support a significant and negative relationship between...

Informed by Social Exchange Theory, this study has developed a mediation model that explains the role of I-deals in the relationship between perceived supervisor support and employees’ discretionary behaviors (i.e., voice and silence). Using a sample of 140 Chile employees, results from our structural equation modeling, indicated that the relations...

Background This study aimed to explore the role of psychological detachment from work in the relationship of boundary violations and flourishing, as well as gender differences among university teachers during mandatory telework. We developed and tested a moderate mediation model where psychological detachment was the explanatory mechanism of the re...

Background: Firefighters are subject to a variety of stressors, hence the importance of equipping them with resources that contribute to the management of these stressors. Aims: Considering that a healthy lifestyle is one of these resources, this study aimed to characterize the lifestyle of a Portuguese firefighters sample, rate their general lifes...

Police officers are part of a demanding professional activity with a high risk of occupational health and work–family conflict, and this is a topic of relevance to understanding occupational health sustainability. Based on this, this study developed and tested a mediation model that accounts for the work–family conflict (WFC) in the relationship be...

The military police officers of Rio de Janeiro are often exposed to critical incidents in routine work that may have a potentially traumatic effect on their mental health, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aims to explore the protective role of work social support (i.e., emotional, instrumental, and informational) and affect...

Relationally enriched jobs can foster psychological states, which, with respect to the beneficiaries of one’s work, drive one’s motivation. These states can be measured with the psychological effects of relational job characteristics scale, an instrument for which the validity is, at present, only supported by preliminary evidence. Accordingly, the...

A teacher’s relationship with students can be a source of more than stress. The attributes of relational jobs either promote positive (e.g., work engagement) or inhibit negative (e.g., exhaustion) psychological states that constitute potential predictors of teachers’ general well-being (e.g., health perception). The present study tests hypotheses r...

Although work is increasingly globalized and mediated by technology, little research has accumulated on the role of culture in shaping individuals' preferences regarding the segmentation or integration of their work and family roles. This study examines the relationships between gender egalitarianism (the extent a culture has a fluid understanding...

In this study, a quantitative diary design was used to examine within- person relationships among daily negative events, emotional intelligence facets, and levels of academic exhaustion and engagement. The research was conducted with a sample of 63 Portuguese health science students (48 females and Mage = 22.3 years) from medicine (n = 33) and psyc...

Background This study aimed to explore the role of psychological detachment from work in the relationship of boundary violations and flourishing, as well as gender differences. We developed and tested a moderate mediation model where psychological detachment was the explanatory mechanism of the relationship between boundary violations with flourish...

Purpose Although research on job insecurity (JI) and its relationship with employee performance has increased in recent years, results are mixed and inconclusive. The objectives of this paper are to explore 1) the conceptualizations of JI, 2) the relationship between JI and different performance dimensions, 3) the theoretical perspectives used to e...

Citation: Curral, L.; Carmona, L.; Pinheiro, R.; Reis, V.; Chambel, M.J. The Effect of Leadership Style on Firefighters Well-Being during an Emergency. Fire 2023, 6, 233. Abstract: Leaders are crucial to ensuring the well-being of their subordinates. This study aims to understand the effects of two leadership styles (empowering vs. directive) on su...

Although cross-national work–family research has made great strides in recent decades, knowledge accumulation on the impact of culture on the work–family interface has been hampered by a limited geographical and cultural scope that has excluded countries where cultural expectations regarding work, family, and support may differ. We advance this lit...

Resumo O artigo tem como objetivo geral apresentar evidências de validade da escala ‘conflito trabalho-família’ junto a uma amostra de 10.383 profissionais que atuam na segurança pública brasileira. Optou-se pela condução dos procedimentos de validação cruzada, por meio da definição de duas subamostras, foram realizadas análises fatoriais explorató...

The aim of this article is to present evidence of validity for the ‘work-family conflict scale’ with a sample of 10,383 professionals working in Brazilian public security. Cross-validation procedures were applied through the definition of two subsamples, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. All ethical procedures were follow...

This study aims to contribute to an analysis of the well-being of military personnel who are deployed on humanitarian aid missions, taking their work-family (personal life) boundary management into consideration by analyzing the relationship between their preferences and enacted boundaries and military personnel’ well-being. Specifically, this stud...

Introduction Work-family conflict is a public health concern due to the effects it has on the health of family members and on the work life and performance. During the COVID-19 pandemic work-family boundary management was a challenge for workers, with important consequences to the conflict between both domains, and was crucial for well-being at wor...

Mindfulness-, compassion- and acceptance-based (i.e., “third wave”) psychotherapies are effective for treating chronic pain conditions. Many of these programs require that patients engage with systematic autonomous practice of meditation exercises so they can develop the skills associated with many positive health outcomes. This systematic review a...

A growing number of studies have tested the relationship between personal resources (e.g. emotional intelligence) and indicators of occupational well-being, including work engagement. However, few have examined health-related factors moderating or mediating the pathway from emotional intelligence to work engagement. A better knowledge of this area...

Introduction The main objective of this study is to analyze the effect of transformational leadership on firefighters’ well-being and understand the moderating role of the frequency of intervention in rural fires in this relationship. Methods A total of 90 responses of Portuguese professional firefighters were analyzed in two waves (T1 and T2) sep...

The phenomenon of information and communication technology (ICT)-assisted after-hours work has led to rising academic interest in examining its impact on workers’ lives. ICT-assisted after-hours work may intrude on the home domain and contribute to higher work–family/life conflict, lower work–family/life balance, or higher work–family/life enrichme...

The WHOQOL-bref is the reduced version of the quality-of-life assessment instrument developed by the World Health Organization. It was developed through collaboration among research centers of different countries, seeking to cover various attributes of the quality-of-life construct from a cross-cultural perspective. This study aimed to present the...

The purpose of this article is to understand the experience of workers’ perceptions of job insecurity and its relation to performance. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 38 workers in the retail, services, education, financial, construction, and pharmaceutical industries in Chile. Using content analysis based on workers’ acco...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations are forced to adopt teleworking. However, little is known about this work modality longitudinally. This study aims to clarify the impact of continuing to work on the organization’s premises and shifting to a telework situation on the work and family relationship and employees’ well-being. Using a sample o...

Workers’ motivations and the work–family relationship are two subjects that have been capturing the attention of researchers and practitioners. However, to date, little is known about the link between the two subjects. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the relationships among each type of motivation conceptualized in self-determination theor...

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it the generalisation of working methods that existed beforehand, such as teleworking. Remote work has shown significant advantages, both for companies and for employees. However, teleworking has shown itself prone to certain psychosocial risks, even being viewed as an “accelerator” of the burnout process. Althoug...

he main objective of this study is to analyze well-being at work, considering burnout and engagement distributed in profiles, and to observe how they relate to well-being outside work. The data came from a representative sample of workers (n = 565) at the University of Extremadura (Spain), both teaching and research academic staff (TRAS) and servic...

There is currently great concern over the increase in the cases of university students with mental health problems as the numbers have doubled over recent years. Nevertheless, there is also total agreement concerning the relationship between positive psychological variables and mental health. The objective of this study was to know the relationship...

This study sought to examine how operational demands hinder individual well-being in firefighters, and also the extent to which fire chiefs’ transformational leadership style acts as an operational resource to attenuate this relationship. A total of 115 firefighters participated in the study and completed surveys over seven consecutive days. The re...

In this study, we analysed the effects of team leadership style on the well-being of firefighter teams operating under conditions of a simulated rural fire. Twenty teams of firefighters (composed of five elements each) took part in a computer‐based fire‐fighting simulation task and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (leadership style:...

The imposition of telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it the need for individuals to readjust their work-non-work boundaries. In this crisis situation, individuals’ needs to manage these boundaries may have been influenced by contextual factors, such as family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) and macro-structural aspects, such...

Firefighters are an occupational group exposed to multiple agents, such as heat, fatigue, noise and chemical substances. Exposure to these agents can have a severe impact on their health. In addition, lifestyle behaviors may also affect their health and well-being. As such, the aim of this study was to assess health-related lifestyle behaviors in P...

O objetivo desse artigo é verificar as propriedades psicométricas da Escala de Demandas Profissionais de Bombeiros Militares (EDP-BM-BR), adaptada para o contexto brasileiro. A prospecção das variáveis deu-se por meio de grupos focais com bombeiros militares de equipes operacionais. Uma amostra de 1327 bombeiros respondeu ao questionário com 12 ite...

Status – one’s position and influence within a social network – is a psych-social resource which fulfills one’s need for social esteem. Striving to gain status in a social setup, including organizational settings, can cause conflict and reduce employees’ positive work behavior. This study is aimed at discussing two questions: first, how status conf...

Using social exchange theory as the foundation, this research examines the consequences of qualitative job insecurity on voice behavior, considering the indirect effect of affective organizational commitment. The hypotheses raised are tested using data drawn from a sample of 137 employees of a retailer in Chile at three time points. Workers with hi...

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived overqualification, perceived employability, perceived job insecurity and global psychological needs satisfaction, considering the moderating role of age groups. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 350 individuals was used in this study....

Based on the Conservation of Resources theory, this research investigates the association between work-family relationships and employees’ well-being in teleworking situations, and explores the role of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB) as an important resource to help employees balance the exchange between work and life domains and impr...

Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, this longitudinal study analyzes the contribution of organizational affective commitment during the preparation phase of a peacekeeping mission (T1) to explain the well-being of soldiers during that mission (T2). A sample of 409 Brazilian army participants in the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization...

In this study, we analyzed how organization-level demands and organizational-level social support relate to the core dimensions of burnout and work engagement, controlling for individual resources (i.e., proactive coping) and demands (i.e., acute demands) using the Job Demands-Resources Theory. In a sample of 1487 Portuguese firefighters nested wit...

There has been little consensus around the sequential relationship between organizational affective commitment and workers’ wellbeing. In line with the Conservation of Resources Theory, results of this two-wave study with a contact center employee sample (N = 483) showed that organizational affective commitment decreases work ill-being (i.e., burno...

Many employees experienced a high degree of satisfaction with the forced telework situation adopted as a result of COVID-19. Additionally, many companies also concluded the efficiency of this employment arrangement. However, since this specific employment arrangement implies a change in beliefs (e.g., what constitutes an effective worker) and value...

O período entre 2018 e 2022 mostrou-nos que o problema dos incêndios à escala global não está a diminuir, antes pelo contrário. Parece que as consequências das alterações climáticas já estão a afectar a ocorrência de incêndios florestais em várias partes do Mundo, de uma forma que só esperaríamos que acontecesse vários anos mais tarde. Em muitos pa...

The success of current and future military operations not only depends significantly on the explicit, technical, and tactical knowledge of the military personnel who execute them but also on their attitudes and behavior, such as courage, commitment, and high levels of readiness. Thus, using a sample of 336 military personnel exclusively from the op...

Introduction Although research on leadership has privileged its effect on performance, there is also some empirical evidence that leadership can have a beneficial effect on the well-being of subordinates. The analysis of this effect in professions with high demands that can affect stress and well-being, as is the case with firefighters, is especial...

Introduction Although research on work-family relationship have shown the relevance of balance between these two life domains to explain well-being, the analysis of this effect during COVID-19 lockdown has not yet been examined. Objectives In this study based on the work-family boundary theory management, we considered that the segmentation from w...

An individual can simultaneously develop the three dimensions of the commitment (affective - AC; continuance – CC; normative – NC), and these can combine and interact by defining their organizational commitment profile. Based on this premise, this study aimed to identify profiles of organizational commitment in the Portuguese Navy Officers. Besides...

Atualmente, percebe-se que as novas configurações do trabalho permeiam as relações da vida profissional e familiar, assim, podemos definir conflito trabalho-família como uma forma de conflito entre papéis em que as pressões dos domínios de trabalho e família são mutuamente incompatíveis em algum nível. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a produ...

A obra intitulada “Fudamentos e práticas nas ciências da saúde vol. 1”, publicada pela Brazilian Journals Publicações de Periódicos e Editora, apresenta um conjunto de trinta capítulos que visa abordar diversos assuntos do conhecimento da área da saúde. Logo, os artigos apresentam os seguintes temas: comportamento alimentar entre estudantes de medi...

The suicide rate in the police force (Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad-FFCCSS) is estimated to be greater than that of the general population. The objectives of this paper are to detect mental health problems, in particular depression and anxiety, and to analyze the moderating effect of coping strategies on the relation between mental health and suic...

Purpose To analyze the relationship between technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW) and well-being in the workplace – burnout and engagement. Furthermore, this study aims to test the relationship between TASW and burnout, mediated by work-to-family conflict (WFC) and the relationship between TASW and engagement mediated by work-to-family enric...

The lockdown, in the COVID-19 pandemic, is considered an external crisis that evokes innumerous changes in individuals lives. One of the changes is the work and family dynamics. Based on boundary theory we examine the mediated role of work and family balance and boundary segmentation behavior in the relationship between boundary violations and tele...

The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) establishes that human motivations can take different forms (e.g., amotivation, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation), yet it is only recently that the theory has been advanced to explain how these different forms combine to influence temporary agency workers’ (TAWs) affective commitment and their perception over t...

This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence (IE) and engagement among medical students. Emotional intelligence was evaluated through the WLEIS scale and engagement by the UWES-9 in a sample of medical students (n = 522) from three countries: Mexico (National Autonomous University of Mexico, n = 27); Portugal (Universi...

This investigation aimed to explore the mediator role of study engagement (i.e., study vigor and dedication) in the association between self- and other-focused emotion regulation abilities and occupational commitment in a sample of pre-service teachers. The sample was comprised of 249 students (65.5% female; Mage = 27 years) of a master’s degree in...

Using the Conservation of Resources Theory and the Self-Determination Theory1-3 as theoretical frameworks, a model for this study was tested, which considers firefighters' autonomous motivation, work-family conflict, and well-being. The hypothesized model was tested using a sample of 201 firefighters from the Special Civil Protection Force in Portu...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the direct effect of the perceived overqualification on the burnout syndrome and the indirect effect through the workers’ autonomous and controlled motivation. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses were tested with a sample of 3,256 contact center operators from one Portuguese company and data w...

It is broadly acknowledged that contact center employees are subject to high levels of stress. In this profession, there is a distinction between back-office and front-office employees. In addition, employees may perform duties in various companies with different characteristics (i.e. human resources practices, job characteristics, social support,...

Background: Significant exposure to critical incidents characteristic of military police work has a potentially traumatic effect and multiple consequences for the mental health of these professionals, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study aims to investigate the occurrence of PTSD in this occupational group and its correlations...

Based on the work-family enrichment theory, this study analyzes the contribution of work-family and family-work enrichment to explain the military's well-being during a peacekeeping mission. The data used were collected in a sample of 306 Brazilian soldiers, who were married and/or had children, during the phase named "employment of troops" (i.e.,...

El objetivo de este estudio es doble: analizar el rol mediador del bienestar laboral, entendido como la coexistencia de burnout y de engagement, en la relación entre la satisfacción con el trabajo y la satisfacción con la vida, y observar el efecto moderador de la inteligencia emocional sobre la relación satisfacción con el trabajo-bienestar labora...

Purpose This study aims to explore the serial mediation effect of perceived internal employability and affective commitment in the relationship between the organisational practices of competences development and turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach The methodology was quantitative and is based on a survey with a sample of 313 participa...

Design/methodology/approach The methodology was quantitative and is based on a survey with a sample of 313 participants, all of whom were employed in several organisations located in Portugal. Findings A significant and negative effect of organisational practices of competences development, perceived internal employability and affective commitment...

In this study, the work-family border was analysed during the homeworking period imposed by Covid-19 in a sample of university teachers in a Brazilian state. Our first objective was to analyse the relationship between the support of a supervisor that is specifically geared towards family issues, that is, Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviour (FSSB...

This study used a cross-sectional design and a person-centered approach in order to test the addictive and interactive strain hypotheses of Job Demands–Control Model to explain burnout. A large sample (n = 6357) of Portuguese workers (nurses, bank employees, retail traders, and contact center agents) was used. Through latent profile analysis (LPA),...

This study, including 658 nurses, tested the mediating effect of work–family conflict (WFC) and family–work conflict (FWC) in the relationship between family characteristics (i.e. cohesion and flexibility) and family satisfaction. Using the circumplex model of family systems by Olson and the conflict between work and family, regression analysis usi...

Previous studies on the work-family relationship have analyzed the influence of work-family conflict and work-family enrichment on an individuals’ lives, namely on their well-being and health. Besides, attempts have been made to analyze the influence of other aspects of the labor context on this relationship, such as job insecurity. However, few ha...

This article aimed at determining the social support strategies used by Brazilian Army military personnel and their relatives to face possible adverse effects on the mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study showed an overview of the effects to COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. More specifically, appointed some guidelines proposed by the Br...

This paper has two goals: examine the effect of job characteristics proposed in the Job Demands-Control (JDC) model on work-family conflict (WFC) and the effect of this variable on employees’ mental health; examine the mediate role of WFC between these job characteristics and employees’ mental health. The hypotheses, using structural equation model...

Purpose – The increasing interest of organizations to innovate and survive in the market, combined with a decreasing level of trust in their leaders, has now led thinkers and researchers to begin exploring beyond traditional leadership theories. The literature indicates that, due to the lack of a strong and explicit moral dimension, positive leader...

High quality contact and customer relationships are key services for all types of firms. To achieve this high quality perfomance standard, companies need highly motivated and committed employees, and human resources managers are responsible for designing and implementing practices capable of satisfying both economic exchanges and social exchanges i...