Work and family: associations with long-term sick-listing in Swedish women – a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The number of Swedish women who are long-term sick-listed is high, and twice as high as for men. Also the periods of sickness absence have on average been longer for women than for men. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between factors in work- and family life and long-term sick-listing in Swedish women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This case-control study included 283 women on long-term sick-listing ≥90 days, and 250 female referents, randomly chosen, living in five counties in Sweden. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses with odds ratios were calculated to estimate the associations between long-term sick-listing and factors related to occupational work and family life.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Long-term sick-listing in women is associated with self-reported lack of competence for work tasks (OR 2.42 1.23–11.21 log reg), workplace dissatisfaction (OR 1.89 1.14–6.62 log reg), physical workload above capacity (1.78 1.50–5.94), too high mental strain in work tasks (1.61 1.08–5.01 log reg), number of employers during work life (OR 1.39 1.35–4.03 log reg), earlier part-time work (OR 1.39 1.18–4.03 log reg), and lack of influence on working hours (OR 1.35 1.47–3.86 log reg). A younger age at first child, number of children, and main responsibility for own children was also found to be associated with long-term sick-listing. Almost all of the sick-listed women (93%) wanted to return to working life, and 54% reported they could work immediately if adjustments at work or part-time work were possible.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Factors in work and in family life could be important to consider to prevent women from being long-term sick-listed and promote their opportunities to remain in working life. Measures ought to be taken to improve their mobility in work life and control over decisions and actions regarding theirs lives.</p

Perceived connections between information and communication technology use and mental symptoms among young adults - a qualitative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prospective associations have been found between high use of information and communication technology (ICT) and reported mental symptoms among young adult university students, but the causal mechanisms are unclear. Our aim was to explore possible explanations for associations between high ICT use and symptoms of depression, sleep disorders, and stress among young adults in order to propose a model of possible pathways to mental health effects that can be tested epidemiologically.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a qualitative interview study with 16 women and 16 men (21-28 years), recruited from a cohort of university students on the basis of reporting high computer (n = 28) or mobile phone (n = 20) use at baseline and reporting mental symptoms at the one-year follow-up. Semi-structured interviews were performed, with open-ended questions about possible connections between the use of computers and mobile phones, and stress, depression, and sleep disturbances. The interview data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis and summarized in a model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Central factors appearing to explain high quantitative ICT use were personal dependency, and demands for achievement and availability originating from the domains of work, study, social life, and individual aspirations. Consequences included mental overload, neglect of other activities and personal needs, time pressure, role conflicts, guilt feelings, social isolation, physical symptoms, worry about electromagnetic radiation, and economic problems. Qualitative aspects (destructive communication and information) were also reported, with consequences including vulnerability, misunderstandings, altered values, and feelings of inadequacy. User problems were a source of frustration. Altered ICT use as an effect of mental symptoms was reported, as well as possible positive effects of ICT on mental health.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The concepts and ideas of the young adults with high ICT use and mental symptoms generated a model of possible paths for associations between ICT exposure and mental symptoms. Demands for achievement and availability as well as personal dependency were major causes of high ICT exposure but also direct sources of stress and mental symptoms. The proposed model shows that factors in different domains may have an impact and should be considered in epidemiological and intervention studies.</p

Institutional effects on nurses’ working conditions: a multi-group comparison of public and private non-profit and for-profit healthcare employers in Switzerland

Background: In response to the need for competitive recruitment of nurses resulting from the worldwide nursing shortage, employers need to attract and retain nurses by promoting their competitive strengths in their working conditions (WCS) and by addressing their competitive weaknesses. This study investigated workplace differences between public hospitals (PuHs), private for-profit hospitals (PrHs), socio- medical institutions (SOMEDs), home care services (HCs), private medical offices (PrOs) and non-profit organisations (NPOs), helping to provide a foundation for competition-oriented institutional employer branding and to increase transparency in the labour market for nurses. Methods: Data from the Swiss Nurses at Work study of the career paths of 11 232 nurses who worked in Switzerland between 1970 and 2014 were subjected to secondary analysis, assessing the effect of institutional characteristics on self-reported determinants of job satisfaction (such as WCS) using multivariate linear regression and post hoc tests with Bonferroni-adjusted significance levels. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the number of WCS in the original study. Results: Nurses at PuHs and PrHs were less likely to experience autonomy, flexibility of work hours and participation in decision-making than those at other workplaces. Although PuHs were rated higher than PrHs in terms of satisfaction with salary and advancement opportunities, they were associated with more alienating work factors, such as stress and aggression. SOMED workplaces were significantly more often associated with alienating conditions and low job satisfaction, but were rated higher than the other institutions in terms of participation in decision-making. The nurses’ ratings implied that PrO workplaces were more likely to offer a mild work environment, social support and recognition than other institutions, but that advancement opportunities were limited. NPO workplaces were associated with the highest degree of autonomy, flexibility, participation, recognition, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. In these respects, HC and NPO workplaces received similar ratings, although the HC workplaces were associated with a significantly lower organisational commitment and significantly lower job satisfaction. Conclusions: Due to their structural characteristics, NPOs, SOMEDs and HCs can attract nurses seeking greater self-determination, PuHs can attract career-oriented nurses, and PrOs and PrHs are likely to attract nurses through offering less-stressful working conditions

Frikopplad eller frånkopplad Om innebörder och konsekvenser av gränslösa arbeten

Unattached or disconnected: On the meanings and consequences of boundaryless work The purpose of the study was to investigate the absences of boundaries in work. 14 interviews (eight women and six men), describing boundaryless working conditions, were selected from a total of 175 open interviews on modern working conditions for men and women. The interviews, taking about two hours in themselves, were recorded, fully transcribed and then subjected to a theory generating qualitative analysis. The analysis presents Òboundarylessness" in three different senses. In the first sense it refers to the flexibility of working conditions with regard to time, space, organisation and forms of employment. Working conditions can be understood as Òflexible" if they are individually and contextually regulated. In the second sense it refers to the manifold of different working conditions. Since different jobs have fundamentally different working conditions it is difficult to maintain a conceptual framework of jobs in general. In the third sense boundarylessness refers to the communicative character of the labour process. The labour process is understood as boundaryless if it can be described as a more or less continuous transformation of information, rather than as a linear, sequential and categorically outlined manufacturing process. The analysis also identifies a number of psychosocial consequences related to boundaryless working conditions in these different senses. Furthermore, it is suggested that the consequences directly related to the boundarylessness should be understood apart from the consequences related to clashes between new and traditional working conditions.Studiens syfte var att analysera gränslöshet i arbetet. Av sammanlagt 175 öppna intervjuer om moderna arbetsvillkor för kvinnor och män, har 14 intervjuer (åtta kvinnor och sex män) som skildrar gränslösa arbetsvillkor valts ut och analyserats. Intervjuerna som omfattade cirka 2 timmar dokumenterades i fullständiga bandutskrifter och analyserades därefter i enlighet med gängse metod för kvalitativ databearbetning. Analysen visar på tre olika betydelser av gränslöshet. Den första betydelsen är arbetsvillkorens flexibilitet med avseende på arbetstid, arbetsplats, arbetsorganisation och anställningsform. Med flexibilitet i arbetsvillkor menas här en reglering av arbetet som är individ- och situationsanpassad. Den andra betydelsen är arbetsvillkorens heterogenisering, varmed menas att villkoren skiljer sig väsentligt mellan olika arbetsåtaganden. Den tredje betydelsen är arbetsprocessens karaktär av en kommunikationsprocess. Arbetsprocessen är att betrakta som gränslös i den utsträckning den låter sig beskrivas som en mer eller mindre kontinuerlig transformering av information, snarare än som en linjär, sekventiell och välavgränsad tillverkningsprocess. Analysen identifierar också ett antal psykiska och sociala konsekvenser av arbetsvillkorens gränslöshet i dessa avseenden. Vidare hävdas att man bör skilja mellan de konsekvenser som följer av de gränslösa arbetsvillkoren i sig och de konsekvenser som följer av att nya och traditionella arbetsvillkor kommer i konflikt med varandra