Sickness absence frequency among women working in hospital care

Background Frequent short sickness absences result in understaffing and interfere with work processes. We need more knowledge about factors associated with this type of absence. Aims To investigate associations between the frequency of previous sickness absence and self-reported perceptions of health and work. Methods Cross-sectional study of female hospital care workers in which health, work characteristics and coping styles were assessed by questionnaire and linked to the number of sickness absence episodes recorded in the preceding 5 years using negative binomial regression analysis for counts distinguishing between short (1-7 days) and long (>7 days) episodes of absence after adjusting for age and duration of employment in December 2007 and hours worked between 2003 and 2007. Results Of 350 women employed for at least 5 years, 237 (68%) answered the questionnaire. The hours worked over the 5 year period [rate ratio (RR) = 1.2] and problem solving coping style score (RR = 1.1) were positively associated with the number of short sickness absence episodes. Age (RR = 0.8) and good general health (RR = 0.7) were inversely related to the number of both short and long episodes. Self-reported mental health and work characteristics were not shown to be related to the frequency of sickness absence. Conclusions Hours worked, problem-solving coping style, age and general health showed associations with the frequency of previous sickness absence among women who had worked at least 5 years in health care. Future prospective studies on the frequency of sickness absence should consider the impact of these factors further

Effort-reward imbalance is associated with the frequency of sickness absence among female hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study

Background: Most research on sickness absence among nurses has focused on long-term work disability. Absence from work due to short-term sickness, however, is more common and frequent short absences result in understaffing and increased workload of nursing teams. Objectives: To investigate health and work factors in relation to the frequency of short-term sickness absence among nurses. Design: A cross-sectional study linking self-reported health and work factors to the frequency of registered sickness absence episodes in the preceding 3 years. Settings: A regional hospital in the Dutch province Friesland employing 1153 persons. Participants: 459 female nurses working at least 3 years in the clinical wards (n = 337) or the outpatient clinic (n = 122) of the hospital. Methods: Perceived general health, mental health, demand/control (DC) ratio, workplace social support, effort/reward (ER) ratio, and over-commitment (i.e. the inability to withdraw from work obligations) were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire. The associations between the questionnaire results and the registered number of sickness absence episodes were analysed by negative binomial regression analysis, distinguishing between short (1-7 days) and long (>7 days) sickness absence episodes and controlling for age, hours worked, and duration of employment. Results: 328 (71%) female nurses completed their questionnaires and of these 291 were eligible for analysis. High frequent absentees perceived poorer health, had lower over-commitment scores, and reported higher ER-ratios than low frequent absentees. Esteem rewards were related to sickness absence whereas monetary rewards were not. Feeling respect from the supervisor was associated with fewer short sickness absence episodes and respect from co-workers was associated with fewer long sickness absence episodes. Conclusions: Effort-reward imbalance was associated with frequent short sickness absence episodes among nurses. Work efforts and rewards ought to be potentially considered when managing nurses who are frequently absent from work as these factors can be dealt with by managers. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Health measures in prediction models for high sickness absence: single-item self-rated health versus multi-item SF-12

Background: Self-rated health (SRH) has been found to predict sickness absence (SA). The present study investigated the effect of replacing single-item SRH by a multi-item health measure on SA predictions. Methods: Longitudinal study of 2059 Norwegian nurses with assessments in three waves each separated by 1 year. Health was measured by single-item SRH and multi-item SF-12 in waves 1 and 2. SA was self-reported in all three waves and high SA was defined as more than or equal to 31 SA days within the last 12 months. Predictions of high SA by a model including age, prior SA and single-item SRH were compared with predictions by a model including age, prior SA and multi-item SF-12. Both models were bootstrapped to correct for over-optimism and prospectively validated for their predictions in a new time frame. Results: 1253 nurses (61%) had complete data for analysis. The SF-12 model predicted the risk of high SA more accurately (χ2 = 4.294; df = 8) and was more stable over time than the SRH model (model χ2 = 14.495; df = 8). Both prediction models correctly discriminated between high-risk and low-risk individuals in 73% of the cases at wave 2 and in 71% of the cases at wave 3. Conclusions: The accuracy of predictions increased when single-item SRH was replaced by multi-item SF-12, but the discriminative ability did not improve. Single-item SRH suffices to identify employees at increased risk of high SA

Updating and prospective validation of a prognostic model for high sickness absence

Objectives To further develop and validate a Dutch prognostic model for high sickness absence (SA). Methods Three-wave longitudinal cohort study of 2,059 Norwegian nurses. The Dutch prognostic model was used to predict high SA among Norwegian nurses at wave 2. Subsequently, the model was updated by adding person-related (age, gender, marital status, children at home, and coping strategies), health-related (BMI, physical activity, smoking, and caffeine and alcohol intake), and work-related (job satisfaction, job demands, decision latitude, social support at work, and both work-to-family and family-to-work spillover) variables. The updated model was then prospectively validated for predictions at wave 3. Results 1,557 (77 %) nurses had complete data at wave 2 and 1,342 (65 %) at wave 3. The risk of high SA was under-estimated by the Dutch model, but discrimination between high-risk and low-risk nurses was fair after re-calibration to the Norwegian data. Gender, marital status, BMI, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, job satisfaction, job demands, decision latitude, support at the workplace, and work-to-family spillover were identified as potential predictors of high SA. However, these predictors did not improve the model's discriminative ability, which remained fair at wave 3. Conclusions The prognostic model correctly identifies 73 % of Norwegian nurses at risk of high SA, although additional predictors are needed before the model can be used to screen working populations for risk of high SA. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

High prevalence of immunoglobulin E [IgE] sensitization among sisal [Agave sisalana] processing workers in Tanzania

Allergic sensitization among workers exposed to sisal is scarcely documented. We examined whether sisal processing is associated with IgE sensitization and its relationship to the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among Tanzanian processors. 138 sisal exposed workers and 78 non-exposed controls were skin prick tested (SPT) using dry sisal extract and fresh sisal sap. Sera from a subset of 43 participants were analyzed for total and sisal specific IgE. SPT wheal size, prevalence of positive SPTs and adjusted relative risk (RR) for sisal sensitization were determined and compared between exposed and controls. Prevalences for respiratory symptoms were compared between sensitized and non-sensitized sisal workers. Significantly higher prevalence of positive SPTs to sisal was found among 74 % of sisal workers compared to 17 % among controls. Compared to controls, the RR of sensitization to sisal was 4 times higher (95 % CI; 2.4-6.7) among exposed workers. All exposed workers had elevated IgE levels (>100 kU/l) and 27 % of tested sera had elevated sisal specific IgE. A high prevalence of respiratory symptoms was found in both sensitized and non-sensitized sisal workers. Sisal processing is associated with increased risk of IgE sensitization, but its clinical implication is not obvious

Coping styles relate to health and work environment of Norwegian and Dutch hospital nurses: A comparative study

Nurses exposed to high nursing stress report no health complaints as long as they have high coping abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate coping styles in relation to the health status and work environment of Norwegian and Dutch hospital nurses. This comparative study included a random sample of 5400 Norwegian nurses and a convenience sample of 588 Dutch nurses. Coping, health, and work environment were assessed by questionnaire in both samples and associations were investigated bivariately and multivariately. We found that active problem-solving coping was associated with the health and work environment of Norwegian nurses but not with the health and work environment of Dutch. Passive coping (avoiding problems or waiting to see what happens) was found to relate to poor general health, poor mental health, low job control, and low job support in both Norwegian and Dutch nurses. Improvements in the nursing work environment may not only result in better mental health, but may also reduce passive coping