Multicohort study of change in job strain, poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease

Objectives: Several recent large-scale studies have indicated a prospective association between job strain and coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Job strain is also associated with poorer mental health, a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. This study investigates the prospective relationships between change in job strain, poor mental health and cardiometabolic disease, and whether poor mental health is a potential mediator of the relationship between job strain and cardiometabolic disease.Methods: We used data from five cohort studies from Australia, Finland, Sweden and UK, including 47 757 men and women. Data on job strain across two measurements 1-5 years apart (time 1 (T1)-time 2 (T2)) were used to define increase or decrease in job strain. Poor mental health (symptoms in the top 25% of the distribution of the scales) at T2 was considered a potential mediator in relation to incident cardiometabolic disease, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, following T2 for a mean of 5-18 years.Results: An increase in job strain was associated with poor mental health (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.76), and a decrease in job strain was associated with lower risk in women (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.60-0.84). However, no clear association was observed between poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96-1.23), nor between increase (HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.90-1.14) and decrease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96-1.22) in job strain and cardiometabolic disease.Conclusions: The results did not support that change in job strain is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and yielded no support for poor mental health as a mediator.</p

История развития физической культуры и спорта на Урале в дореволюционный период

На сегодняшний день становится чрезвычайно актуальным рассмотрение феномена физической культуры и спорта сквозь призму принципа историзма. Существует еще много неизвестного в истории физической культуры, что требует переоценки событий, фактов с позиции современност

Encounters between workers sick-listed with common mental disorders and return-to-work stakeholders. Does workers' gender matter?

Introduction: The aims of this paper were to examine how disabled workers assess encounters with return-to-work (RTW) stakeholders during sickness absence due to common mental disorders (CMD) and to investigate gender differences in these assessments. Method: Data on contact with and assessment of encounters with RTW-stakeholders were obtained from a questionnaire investigation (N = 226). The participants were recruited from employees applying for sickness benefits due to CMD from the Municipality of Copenhagen. Results: High support was most often reported from the personal and health system, especially from the psychologists (83%), while encounters with social insurance officers were least often reported to be highly supportive (16%). Colleagues were more often reported to be highly supportive (49%) than supervisors (30%). Gender differences were found both in contact with and assessments of encounters. Women were less likely to participate in a sickness absence interview with the employer, to receive care from a psychiatrist, and also assessed the encounter with the supervisor as less supportive and respectful. Gender differences remained statistically significant after controlling for several covariates, including depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The study findings strongly indicate that further attention needs to be directed towards improving the workers' relationship with supervisors and social insurance officers. Findings apply in particular to women

Influence at work is a key factor for mental health – But what do contemporary employees in knowledge and relational work mean by ‘influence at work’?

Common mental health problems are a substantial burden in many western countries. Studies have pointed out that work related factors can both increase and decrease the risk of developing mental health problems. Quantitative studies have concluded that influence at work is a key factor relating the psychosocial work environment to employees mental health. However, little is known regarding how contemporary employees experience and understand influence at work. To study this we conducted semi-structured interviews with 59 employees in knowledge and relational work and analyzed the data using principles from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). We found that the interviewed employees had a multifaceted understanding of influence at work and that influence at work mattered to them in different but very important ways. We identified three themes each consisting of two interrelated parts, where the second part describes the consequences of the identified type of influence for employees: 1) work tasks and performance, 2) relations and belonging, 3) identity and becoming. Our hope is that managers, employees and consultants will be inspired by the three themes when designing work tasks, organizations and interventions in order to increase the level of influence and thereby help enhance the mental well-being of employees

Health, work, and personal-related predictors of time to return to work among employees with mental health problems

Purpose: To identify health-, personal- and work-related factors predictive of return to work (RTW) in employees sick-listed due to common mental health problems, such as, stress, depression, burnout, and anxiety. Methods: We distributed a baseline questionnaire to employees applying for sickness absence benefits at a large Danish welfare Department (n = 721). A total of 298 employees returned the questionnaire containing information on possible predictors of RTW. We followed up all baseline responders for a maximum of one year in a national registry of social transfer payments, including sickness absence benefits. Results: At baseline, about 9% of respondents had quit their job, 10% were dismissed and the remaining 82% were still working for the same employer. The mean time to RTW, measured from the first day of absence, was 25 weeks (median = 21) and at the end of follow-up (52 weeks) 85% had returned to work. In the fitted Cox model we found that fulfilling the DSM-IV criteria for depression predicted a longer time to RTW (HR: 0.61, CI: 0.45-0.84), whereas a better self-rated health predicted a shorter time to RTW (HR: 1.18, CI: 1.03-1.34). Employees working in the municipal (HR: 0.62, CI: 0.41-0.94) and private sector (HR: 0.65, CI: 0.44-0.96) returned to work slower compared to employees working in the governmental sector. Gender, education, cohabitation, size of workplace, low-back and upper-neck pain and employment at baseline did not predict RTW. Conclusion: Our results indicate that time to RTW is determined by both health- and work-related factors