Musculoskeletal diseases and pain (MSDs) are prevalent among dental professionals. They cause a growing inability to work and premature leaving of the occupation. Thus, the objective of this review was to summarize the evidence of ergonomic interventions for the prevention of MSDs among dental professionals. This review was conducted using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The literature search was carried out in May 2018, with an update in April 2019. Scientific databases such as MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed and Web of Science as well as reference lists of the included studies were used. Relevant data were extracted from the studies and summarized. The quality assessment was performed using a validated standardized instrument. Eleven studies were included in this review, of which four are of high quality. Eight studies focused on setting prevention strategies. Of those, in five studies, magnification loupes or prismatic spectacles were the subject of ergonomic interventions. Further subjects were the dental chair (n = 2) and dental instruments (n = 1). Three studies evaluated ergonomic training. In all studies, the ergonomic interventions had positive effects on the study outcome. Several ergonomic interventions to prevent MSDs among dental professionals were found to exert a positive effect on the prevalence of MSDs or working posture. This systematic review adds current evidence for the use of prismatic spectacles in order to prevent MSDs among dental professionals. Further intervention studies about the role of ergonomics for the prevention of MSDs among dental professionals are warranted.

No abstract

Until now few analyses of routine data relating to the health of migrants have been conducted in Germany. A major obstacle is that most data sources do not provide reliable information on the origin of migrants. While some sources contain the nationality of persons registered, this information does not allow one to identify migrants who have taken up German citizenship, i.e., a substantial part of second-generation migrants. In this paper we demonstrate how a computer-aided, name-based algorithm can be used to identify persons of Turkish origin in the German Childhood Cancer Registry in Mainz, Germany. The performance of the algorithm, as assessed against the gold standard of assessing names manually, was very good (sensitivity and specificity > or = 0.975). In total, we identified 1774 of the 37,259 cases in the registry as being of Turkish origin. The name algorithm proved to be a useful tool to identify Turkish migrants in routine data sources, thus avoiding potential bias due to changes in citizenship. This approach aims at improving migrant-sensitive health reporting and research in Germany. In future, additional information on migrant status should be obtained already during primary data collection so that health data for all migrant groups can be provided.

In most studies, nurses with a migrant background report experiences of interpersonal discrimination. These often occur in interaction with those in need of care. However, in Germany this topic has remained largely unexplored, although a large proportion of the employees in geriatric care have a migration background. The aim of the study was to investigate whether care workers with Turkish migration background in in-patient geriatric care are exposed to discrimination from residents. Furthermore, the reasons for discrimination, handling of discrimination and recommendations for in-patient geriatric facilities to avoid/reduce discrimination were examined. In a qualitative, explorative study, 24 employees with Turkish migrant background working in in-patient geriatric care were interviewed in 2017. The semi-structured interviews were evaluated using a qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. The majority (N = 20) experienced or observed discrimination. This occurred mainly in the form of xenophobic insults and rejections. They perceived visible traits (dark hair and eye color, clothing) as potential reasons. To deal with the discrimination, most of them temporarily left the scene. They recommend that institutions should primarily make the diversity of the workforce transparent to avoid/reduce discrimination. More research is needed about discrimination against care workers with migration background because discrimination may have serious psychological effects that impact employee retention and the quality of care.

Immigration entails the risk of feeling disconnected in the receiving society, in both everyday life and the workplace. This may affect the way immigrant employees relate to their job and their workplace. In this article, we investigate the affective commitment of Turkish immigrant employees in Germany (TG) and their subsequent work engagement, mental health, and turnover intention. Specifically, we compared TG (n = 201) to both German employees in Germany (GG; n = 1,406) and Turkish employees in Turkey (TT; n = 362). Our results show that the effect of immigration background on mental health, work engagement, and turnover through affective commitment depends on the level of perceived psychological safety at the workplace, specifically in terms of an open and inclusive work climate. The results suggest that psychological safety is particularly helpful in enhancing immigrant employees’ positive attitudes toward the workplace. Our study provides new insights on the well-being of immigrant employees, specifically TG, and the different needs of diverse workforces. Given our findings, future studies should explore more deeply the positive influences that psychological safety has on minority groups and their workplace attitudes.