The study indicates that a moderately intensive psychosocial manager program lasting for 1 year can be beneficial for the employees with regard to both lowered serum cortisol and improved authority over decisions.

Background: There is a scarcity of published studies of the effects of cardiac counselling among professional drivers (PD). Aims of the study were: (1) to examine explanatory variables for two classical ‘driver’ risk factors – body mass index (BMI), and smoking – and to analyse the interrelations among smoking cessation, losing weight and work-related life changes; (2) to assess the effectiveness of risk factor counselling after 6 months, and (3) to gain insight into possible discrepancies between PD perception of needed changes and compliance with the physician’s advice. Methods: There were 4 groups of male PD: 13 with ischemic heart disease, 12 hypertensives, 10 borderline hypertensives and 34 normotensives. Baseline cardiovascular risk factors as well as occupational and behavioral data were assessed via questionnaire. The counselling was aimed at smoking cessation, weight loss and promoting leisure-time physical activity. Qualitative methods were used to assess PD perceptions about the work environment and health promotion. Results: Baseline smoking intensity was best predicted by the total burden of occupational stress and number of smoking years. Baseline BMI was best predicted by long work hours behind the wheel, low availability of attachment outside work and low self-reported job strain. Self-initiated smoking cessation was best predicted by few smoking years, low coffee intake and admitting fear during driving. Physical activity was significantly increased after 6 months. Losing weight was associated with: quitting or diminishing smoking and making other, work-related, life changes. None of the heavy smokers decreased their daily number of cigarettes after 6 months, although expressing the need to do so in self-generated statements. Conclusions: Exposure to occupational stressors, mainly, long work hours and the concomitant denial of job strain, in combination with low availability of social attachment outside work, could contribute to maintenance of maladaptive behavior in PD. These findings could serve as a basis for designing standardized intervention trials and suggest that modification of the work environment, with participation of the drivers, is a needed component of such trials. Particular attention should be paid to the length and scheduling of work shifts.

BackgroundProspective studies on bystanding to workplace bullying and the health outcomes are scarce.AimTo investigate the work environmental risk factors of depressive symptoms among bystanders to bullying in both women and men in four large industrial organizations in Sweden.MethodThe number of respondents at four large industrial enterprises with more than one year at the workplace at T1: n = 2,563 (Women: n = 342; Men: n = 2,227). Bystanders to bullying at T1: n = 305 (Women: n = 30; Men: n = 275). The total number of those with symptoms of depression at T2: Women: n = 30; Men: n = 161. Two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven employees answered the questionnaire on T1 and T2 with an 18-month interval. “To have depressive symptoms” was defined as not having depressive symptoms at T1 but having depressive symptoms at T2.ResultsThe number of men who were bystanders to bullying was larger compared to women. However, the proportion of women who were bystanders to bullying and developed depressive symptoms 18 months later was higher in comparison with men (33.3 and 16.4 %, respectively). Further, “Being a bystander to bullying” 1.69 (1.13–2.53), “Rumors of changes in the workplace” 1.53 (1.10–2.14), “Reduced role clarity” 2.30 (1.21–4.32), “Lack of appreciation of being in the group” 1.76 (1.22–2.53) increased the risk of future symptoms of depression. “Job Strain” was not an adjusted risk factor for depression.ConclusionOur results support previous findings that bystanding to workplace bullying is related to future depressive symptoms.

Background: Hippocampal decrease in size in response to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is still a subject of controversy. The aims of this study were to: (1) confirm previous hippocampus findings in PTSD patients compared to controls, using ethnically similar study groups where alcohol and drug abuse were non-existent; (2) test influence of disease duration as well as depression scores on possible morphological changes; (3) test whether the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) data confirm the group differences seen in the region of interest (ROI) analysis, and (4) test the associations between the cognitive test scores and the morphological changes. Methods: VBM and ROI-based analysis were applied in 23 patients and 17 healthy controls. Culture-neutral cognitive tests were used. Results: The ROI-based method showed significantly decreased gray matter volumes for global hippocampal volume, as in a separate analysis of left and right sides in the PTSD group. Total volume of the hippocampus was significantly decreased on the left side, as in the global assessment. A multiple regression VBM model showed significant voxel clusters for group affiliation in the right hippocampus, modelling lowering of gray matter associated with the PTSD group. Disease duration was shown to be negatively correlated to bilateral hippocampal volume and high depression score to bilateral gray matter parahippocampal volume. No significant correlations were found between hippocampal or parahippocampal volumes and cognitive functions. Conclusion: The present and previous studies showed that morphologic differences do not appear to be due to drug or alcohol abuse. The VBM data partially confirm the group differences seen in the ROI-based method in the medial temporal lobe. The fact that the significantly lower score on the short-term memory test in the PTSD group is not correlated to hippocampal volume may suggest a more general basis for such memory impairment.

No abstract

Two work environment models, the self-reported job strain model (JSM) and the Occupational Stress Index (OSI), were applied among four groups of professional drivers (PD): 13 with ischaemic heart disease (IHD), 12 with hypertension (HTN), 10 with borderline hypertension (BHTN), 34 healthy PD and 23 non-PD referents. Neuro-and psychophysiologic models symbolically simulating aspects of the driving environment were applied; behavioural and standard risk factors were assessed. Among the PDs, there were signi®cant correlations between job strain and the total OSI score, implying that both the ratio of demand/control and total OSI measure overall burden of the work environment upon this cohort. There was no signi®cant between-groups eect for job strain. The total OSI scores diered signi®cantly between groups, with signi®cantly greater scores for each PD group compared to controls. The OSI includes a`potential for disaster' dimension, implicated in cardiac risk, whose score among PDs was over twice that of controls. A logistic regression model was used to ®nd which factors best distinguished normotensive PDs from the combined group of borderline plus hypertensive PDs. A greater body mass index, deadline pressure and amplitude of the event-related N2 component in response to an avoidance task and lower fear of driving score were signi®cant independent indicators of HTN±BHTN status. Professional drivers with IHD had signi®cantly smaller N2 amplitudes to the avoidance task, less activity recovery during the Glare Pressor Test and a greater fall in digital pulse amplitude with repeated glare exposure, compared to hypertensive PDs. Signi®cant independent indicators of IHD as opposed to HTN status were longer work hours and more fear of driving. These ®ndings indicate that the total burden of occupational stress is the backdrop for cardiovascular disease risk among these PDs, but a combination of neuro-and psychophysiologic and behavioural response patterns, together with exacerbating work stressors and standard risk factors, can contribute to this process. Further investigation in the direction of an integrated neurocardiologic approach is warranted.KEY WORDS Ð professional drivers; ischaemic heart disease; hypertension; job strain; psychophysiology; eventrelated potentials With respect to risk of a speci®c occupational group developing cardiovascular disease, the cumulative data from the literature are nowhere more consistent than for professional drivers.1 Focused reviews by the groups of Winkleby 2 and Belkic 3 have examined the extent of the published evidence about the high cardiac risk of this cohort. Urban mass transit drivers are particularly vulnerable.4 ±12

Background: There is a paucity of studies of possible impairments of figure logic in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Aim: To determine whether figure logic is impaired in the PTSD patients compared to healthy subjects with the same ethnic background (refugees from Iraq). Method: Thurstone's Picture Memory Test (TPMT), Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) and Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) were used in 30 PTSD patients, and 20 controls, all men. Results: Using ANCOVA, there was a significant difference between the PTSD group and the control group with regard to the TPMT scores, adjusted for age, number of years of education, and RSPM (M = 15.69, SD = 7.63 for those with PTSD versus M = 20.90, SD = 4.99 for the controls, F = 4.14, p = 0.05). RSPM was a factor, which significantly contributed to the group difference (RSPM: F = 7.43, p = 0.009), however age, and educational level could not explain the group difference. Mean number of incorrect responses in the BVRT were associated with TPMT score (unstandardized B = −0.36, t = −2.08, p = 0.05). Conclusion: Overall, the results provide support for and confirm the hypothesis that short term visual memory is impaired in PTSD patients. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract