The objectives of this study were to investigate whether psychological job demands, personal control and social support affect the negative health measure of depression differently than the positive measure of work engagement and to investigate whether work engagement mediates the effects of job demands and resources on the level of depression. We discuss the implications of using engagement as an outcome measure in workplace health promotion. We performed a cross-sectional questionnaire study among a general working population in Norway (n = 605). In the multivariate analysis, high psychological job demands as well as high control and social support correlated significantly with high work engagement. High demands as well as low control and social support correlated significantly with high levels of depression. When we included engagement as an independent variable together with demands, control and social support in the multivariate analysis, the positive correlation between demands and depression remained as well as the significant correlations between the level of depression and control and social support became non-significant. This indicates that engagement mediates the effects of control and social support on the level of depression. Encouraging enterprises to improve engagement in addition to focusing on preventing diseases may be worthwhile in workplace health promotion. Promoting engagement may have more positive organizational effects than a more traditional disease prevention focus, because engagement is contagious and closely related to good work performance and motivation.
Background: Norway is internationally known today for its political and socio-economic prioritization of equity. The 2012 Public Health Act (PHA) aimed to further equity in the domain of health by addressing the social gradient in health. The PHA’s main policy measures were (1) delegation to the municipal level of responsibility for identifying and targeting underserved groups and (2) the imposition on municipalities of a "Health in All Policies" (HiAP) approach where local policy-making generally is considered in light of public health impact. In addition, the act recommended municipalities employ a public health coordinator (PHC) and required a development of an overview of their citizens’ health to reveal underserved social segments. This study investigates the relationship between changes in municipal use of HiAP tools (PHC and health overviews) with regard to the PHA implementation and municipal prioritization of fair distribution of social and economic resources among social groups. Methods: Data from two surveys, conducted in 2011 and 2014, were merged with official register data. All Norwegian municipalities were included (N=428). Descriptive statistics as well as bi- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Thirty-eight percent of the municipalities reported they generally considered fair distribution among social groups in local policy-making, while 70% considered fair distribution in their local health promotion initiatives. Developing health overviews after the PHA’s implementation was positively associated with prioritizing fair distribution in political decision-making (odds ratio [OR] = 2.54; CI: 1.12-5.76), compared to municipalities that had not developed such overviews. However, the employment of PHCs after the implementation was negatively associated with prioritizing fair distribution in local health promotion initiatives (OR = 0.22; CI: 0.05-0.90), compared to municipalities without that position. Conclusion: Development of health overviews — as requested by the PHA — may contribute to prioritization of fair distribution among social groups with regard to the social determinants of health at the local level.
This study suggests that the municipality's implementation of HiAP, as well as lower socio-economic indicators, is associated with the use of PHCs in Norway, but not factors related to municipal structure.
Worldwide, inequalities in health are increasing, even in well-developed welfare states such as Norway, which in 2012, saw a new public health act take effect that enshrined equity in health as national policy and devolved to municipalities' responsibility to act on the social determinants of health. The act deems governance structures and "Health in All Policies" approaches as important steering mechanisms for local health promotion. The aim of this study is to investigate whether Norway's municipalities address living conditions - economic circumstances, housing, employment and educational factors - in local health promotion, and what factors are associated with doing so. All Norway's municipalities (n= 428) were included in this cross-sectional study, and both register and survey data were used and were subjected to descriptive and bi- and multivariate regression analyses. Eighty-two percent of the municipalities reported that they were capable of reducing inequalities in health. Forty percent of the municipalities defined living conditions as a main challenge in their local public health promotion, while 48% cited it as a main health promotion priority. Our study shows that defining living conditions as a main challenge is positively associated with size of municipality, and also its assessment of its own capability in reducing inequalities in health. The latter factor was also associated with actually prioritizing living conditions in health promotion, as was having established cross-sectorial working groups or inter-municipal collaboration related to local health promotion. This study underlines the importance of inter-sectoral collaboration to promote health and well-being.
Aims:The gradient in health inequalities reflects a relationship between health and social circumstance, demonstrating that health worsens as you move down the socio-economic scale. For more than a decade, the Norwegian National government has developed policies to reduce social inequalities in health by levelling the social gradient. The adoption of the Public Health Act in 2012 was a further movement towards a comprehensive policy. The main aim of the act is to reduce social health inequalities by adopting a Health in All Policies approach. The municipalities are regarded key in the implementation of the act. The SODEMIFA project aimed to study the development of the new public health policy, with a particular emphasis on its implementation in municipalities. Methods: In the SODEMIFA project, a mixed-methods approach was applied, and the data consisted of surveys as well as qualitative interviews. The informants were policymakers at the national and local level. Results: Our findings indicate that the municipalities had a rather vague understanding of the concept of health inequalities, and even more so, the concept of the social gradient in health. The most common understanding was that policy to reduce social inequalities concerned disadvantaged groups. Accordingly, policies and measures would be directed at these groups, rather than addressing the social gradient. Conclusions: A movement towards an increased understanding and adoption of the new, comprehensive public health policy was observed. However, to continue this process, both local and national levels must stay committed to the principles of the act.
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