Importance of psychosocial work factors on general health outcomes in the national French SUMER survey

Abstract

AimTo examine the associations between psychosocial work factors and general health outcomes, taking into account other occupational risk factors, within the national French working population. MethodsThe study was based on a large national sample of 24 486 women and men of the French working population who filled in a self-administered questionnaire in 2003 (response rate: 96.5%). Psychosocial work exposures included psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, workplace bullying and violence from the public. The three health indicators studied were self-reported health, long sickness absence (.8 days of absence) and work injury. Adjustment was made for covariates: age, occupation, work status, working hours, time schedules, physical, ergonomic, biological and chemical exposures. Men and women were studied separately. ResultsLow levels of decision latitude, and of social support, and high psychological demands were found to be risk factors for poor self-reported health and long sickness absence. High demands were also found to be associated with work injury. Workplace bullying and/or violence from the public also increased the risk of poor health, long sickness absence and work injury.Conclusion Psychosocial work factors were found to be strong risk factors for health outcomes; the results were unchanged after adjustment for other occupational risk factors. Preventive efforts should be intensified towards reducing these psychosocial work exposures.

Shiftwork and Sickness Absence Among Police Officers: The BCOPS Study

“…A similar study on nurses indicated a 96% increased risk for those on night shift and a 67% increased risk for those on evening shift relative to day workers (Bourbonnais et al, 1992). Male shiftworkers were also reported to have higher likelihood or prevalence of sickness absence compared with those on day shift (Bockerman & Laukkanen, 2010;Eyal et al, 1994;Foss et al, 2011;Higashi et al, 1988;Kaerlev et al, 2004;Morikawa et al, 2001;Niedhammer et al, 2008;Ohayon et al, 2002). Other studies were either inconclusive (Kleiven et al, 1998;Tüchsen et al, 2008a) or in disagreement (Alexopoulos et al, 2008;d'Errico & Costa, 2012) with current results.…”

“…In addition, there is a wide variation in assessment of the outcome measure (sickness absence), the exposure (shiftwork), length of the observation or recall period, and the reported measure of association to allow direct comparisons across studies. For example, duration of sick leave was broadly defined as ≥1 day (Ohayon et al, 2002), ≥2 days (Bockerman & Laukkanen, 2010), ≥3 days (Duijts et al, 2007;Kleiven et al, 1998), 1-5 days (Nakata et al, 2004), 1-7 days (Morikawa et al, 2001), ≥6-8 days (Bourbonnais et al, 1992;d'Errico & Costa, 2012, Niedhammer et al, 2008, and ≥2 weeks (Lund et al, 2006;Tüchsen et al, 2008aTüchsen et al, , 2008b. With respect to shiftwork, some studies classified participants using finer categories such as day-, evening-, night-, and rotating-shift workers, whereas others utilize the general shift-(i.e., outside the regular work hours) versus day workers classification system.…”

“…Shiftwork, particularly night or rotating shift, is regarded as a significant occupational stressor and has been linked to adverse health outcomes including metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease (CVD) (Andrzejczak et al, 2011;De Bacquer et al, 2009;Knutssen & Boggild, 2000;Koller, 1983;Violanti et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2011;Zimmerman, 2012). In addition, shiftworkers have higher morbidity than day workers (Bockerman & Laukkanen, 2010;Bourbonnais et al, 1992;Eyal et al, 1994;Foss et al, 2011;Higashi et al, 1988;Kaerlev et al, 2004;Morikawa et al, 2001;Niedhammer et al, 2008;Ohayon et al, 2002;Tüchsen et al, 2008b), although the significance and magnitude of the increased risk varies widely across studies (Alexopoulos et al, 2008;d'Errico & Costa, 2012;Kleiven et al, 1998;Merkus et al, 2012;Tüchsen et al, 2008a). Sick leave absenteeism is an important source of productivity loss (Henderson et al, 2005;van den Heuvel et al, 2010) and constitutes the largest part (60-70%) of total absence from work (Luz & Green, 1997).…”

Longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying and psychological distress

“…A number of studies have established an evident relationship between workplace bullying and psychological and physical health problems (eg, 4,5). For instance, cross sectional evidence has shown that exposure to bullying is associated with mental and psychosomatic complaints (6)(7)(8), such as musculoskeletal problems, and in particular depression and anxiety (7,9,10).…”

Perceived Workplace Stress and Co-Occurrence of Health Problems and Burnout in Different Occupational Groups

“…Na ravni poklicnih skupin so bili zdravstveni problemi pri zaposlenih primerljivi z zdravstvenimi težavami podobnih poklicnih profilov iz drugih raziskav. Tudi v naši raziskavi se je namreč pri zaposlenih v proizvodnji glede na druge poklicne skupine pojavljalo več mišično-skeletnih obolenj, glavobolov, težav z vidom in nespečnostjo (3,5,22), pri zdravstvenem in administrativnem osebju pa povečan obseg mišično-skeletnih obolenj, bolečin v mišicah ramenskega obroča in vratu ter utrujenost (23,24). Podobno kot izsledki slovenske študije, ki je vključevala tudi menedžerje manjših podjetij (15), tudi izsledki naše raziskave odražajo sorazmerno dobro zdravstveno stanje vodilnih delavcev v primerjavi z drugimi poklicnimi skupinami.…”