Fear of HIV contagion as workplace stress: behavioral consequences and buffers.

Abstract

This article conceptualizes employees' fears for their health on the job as a form of stress with a collective, detrimental impact on work behavior. It tests a job-control of stress reduction that focuses on reducing uncertainty. Results indicate that fear levels are lower in organizations that have policies providing employees with certain types of information about the stressor. Analysis reveals that mechanisms conveying explicit information, rather than information that is indirect or implied, have the strongest association with lower fear levels. Hypotheses are tested in the context of nursing staff fears of contagion from HIV-infected patients, using data from 558 randomly selected hospitals nationwide. Implications for the policymaking dilemma of conflicting rights to privacy and disclosure are discussed.