Psychosocial work conditions and registered sickness absence: a 3-year prospective cohort study among office employees

Purpose To investigate associations between a wide variety of psychosocial work conditions and sickness absence in a medium-sized company. Methods Prospective cohort study of 395 employees working in an insurance office. Self-reported psychosocial work conditions were measured by questionnaire in January 2002 and linked to registered sickness absence in the period January 2002 to December 2004 adjusting for earlier sick leave and psychological distress. Results The questionnaires of 244 employees were eligible for analysis. Decision authority and co-worker support were associated with sickness absence days, but their associations with sickness absence episodes were not significant. Role clarity was associated with the number of sickness absence days, but only with the number of short sickness absence episodes in women. Conclusions The wide variety of investigated psychosocial work conditions contributed little to the explanation of sickness absence in the medium-sized insurance office

Job Strain, Health and Sickness Absence: Results from the Hordaland Health Study

MW and SBH are funded by NSW Health. M. Henderson and M. Hotopf were supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. AM and SO were funded by the Norwegian Research Council

The development of instruments to measure the work disability assessment behaviour of insurance physicians

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Variation in assessments is a universal given, and work disability assessments by insurance physicians are no exception. Little is known about the considerations and views of insurance physicians that may partly explain such variation. On the basis of the Attitude - Social norm - self Efficacy (ASE) model, we have developed measurement instruments for assessment behaviour and its determinants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Based on theory and interviews with insurance physicians the questionnaire included blocks of items concerning background variables, intentions, attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy, knowledge, barriers and behaviour of the insurance physicians in relation to work disability assessment issues. The responses of 231 insurance physicians were suitable for further analysis. Factor analysis and reliability analysis were used to form scale variables and homogeneity analysis was used to form dimension variables. Thus, we included 169 of the 177 original items.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Factor analysis and reliability analysis yielded 29 scales with sufficient reliability. Homogeneity analysis yielded 19 dimensions. Scales and dimensions fitted with the concepts of the ASE model. We slightly modified the ASE model by dividing behaviour into two blocks: behaviour that reflects the assessment process and behaviour that reflects assessment behaviour.</p> <p>The picture that emerged from the descriptive results was of a group of physicians who were motivated in their job and positive about the Dutch social security system in general. However, only half of them had a positive opinion about the Dutch Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (WIA). They also reported serious barriers, the most common of which was work pressure. Finally, 73% of the insurance physicians described the majority of their cases as 'difficult'.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The scales and dimensions developed appear to be valid and offer a promising basis for future research. The results suggest that the underlying ASE model, in modified form, is suitable for describing the assessment behaviour of insurance physicians and the determinants of this behaviour. The next step in this line of research should be to validate the model using structural equation modelling. Finally, the predictive value should be tested in relation to outcome measurements of work disability assessments.</p

The use of computers among the workers in the European Union and its impact on the quality of work

For many people it is impossible to imagine working life today without a computer. What the increase of the use of computers means for the quality of the work, is still under discussion. The object of this study is to show the recent developments (1992-2000) in the use of computers among the working population in the European Union and its impact on the quality of working life. The data used for these analyses were collected on a five-year basis by means of a questionnaire. Results show that the use of computers has increased between 1992 and 2000. The increase in computer use is almost completely the result of developments within white-collar occupations. In general, the use of a computer results in more qualified work and less physical strain. However, those who work with a computer permanently, clearly show more signs of physical and mental strain than those who use the computer only part of the time. This could mean that adding other tasks than computer tasks could improve the working conditions of those using the computer permanently. These results suggest that the increase of the use of computers will further improve the quality of work except when one neglects the dangers connected with a permanent use of computers.status: publishe

Employment Contracts: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Relations with Quality of Working Life, Health and Well-being

Contains fulltext : 77018.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)ployment Contracts: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Relations with Quality of Working Life, Health and Well-being: Michiel KOMPIER, et al. Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands-Objectives: The aim of this study was to enhance (i) insight in the relationship between different types of employment contract and the quality of working life, health and well-being, and (ii) our causal understanding of these relationships by comparing employees whose contract type changes across time. Methods: Analyses were based on a two-year prospective cohort study. Cross-sectional analyses were based upon a sample of 2,454 Dutch employees (2004). Longitudinal data were available for 1,865 respondents (2004-2006). We distinguished among 5 contract types, and subgroups of 'Upward' (i.e., towards permanent employment) and 'Downward' (towards temporary employment) movers across time. Data were analysed with analysis of variance and cross table analysis. Results: Cross-sectionally, we found differences between contract types in quality of working life: generally permanent employees had better jobs, whereas temporary agency workers and on call workers had more 'bad work characteristics'. We also found a difference in health behaviour (smoking) and that psychological health was worst among temporary agency workers. In longitudinal analyses we found some evidence that a positive change in employment contract was associated with a better quality of working life and better psychological health, whereas the opposite was true for a negative contract change. Conclusions: The quality of working life, health and well-being are unequally distributed over employment contract groups. Temporary agency workers and on-call workers deserve special attention in terms of job design and human resource management.11 p

Health-related and work-related aspects associated with sick leave: a comparison of chronically ill and non-chronically ill workers.

Contains fulltext : 47758.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)OBJECTIVES: Our aims were to study to what extent chronically ill workers (CIWs) take more sick leave than non-chronically ill workers (NCIWs) and to explore which health-related and work-related aspects are associated with the sick leave patterns of the two groups. METHODS: A questionnaire on work, health and sick leave was sent to all employees of a university in The Netherlands (response: 49.1%). Analyses were conducted for 444 CIWs and 1,347 NCIWs. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to quantify the contribution of being chronically ill to sick leave in general, frequent sick leave, prolonged sick leave, and present sick leave. The contributions of health-related and work-related aspects to sick leave were investigated by multiple logistic regression analyses for both CIWs and NCIWs separately. RESULTS: CIWs showed significantly increased ORs for general, frequent, prolonged and present sick leave when compared with NCIWs. Fatigue, emotional exhaustion and perceived health complaints showed stronger associations with sick leave for both CIWs and NCIWs than various work-related aspects. Workers of 46 years of age and older showed less sick leave than workers under the age of 36. Male respondents and scientific personnel showed less frequent sick leave than the other respondents, and so did respondents working more than 40 h a week, compared with part-timers. The final regression models explained 8%-16% of the variance in sick leave. CONCLUSIONS: CIWs take two to three times more and longer sick leave than NCIWs. Health-related aspects are more strongly associated with sick leave than work-related aspects for both CIWs and NCIWs. Sick leave patterns were, nevertheless, only partly explained by health-related and work-related aspects. In any case, future studies of sick leave should certainly take the presence of chronic disease into account as an important determinant of sick leave