Sickness Presence among Health Care Professionals: A Cross Sectional Study of Health Care Professionals in Slovenia

Abstract

Background and objectives: Presenteeism is a relatively new phenomenon that people, despite complaints and ill health that should prompt them to rest and take sick leave, go to work in any case. The highest sickness presence is largely to be found in the care and welfare and educational sectors. The aim of the study is to investigate the relations between different factors and sickness presence among health care professionals. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the largest hospital in Slovenia involving 5865 health care professionals employed at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana in the period between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2010. Logistic regression methods were used to assess the associations between risk factors and their interactions and sickness presence. Results: Besides high odds for sickness presence in multivariate modelling for acute (OR = 359.7; 95%CI = 89.1–1452.8) and chronic disease (OR = 722.5; 95%CI = 178.5–2924.5) the highest odds were calculated for poor self-related health (OR = 3.0; 95%CI = 1.9–4.8), no possibility of replacement (OR = 1.9; 95%CI = 1.5–2.3), sickness absence > two times a year (OR = 1.6; 95%CI = 1.2–2.1), disabled workers (OR = 1.6; 95%CI = 1.0–2.5), and lower salary when on sick leave (OR = 1.5; 95%CI = 120–1.9). Risk factors interactions were not found to be associated with sickness presence among health care workers. Conclusions: The pre-requisite for higher sickness presence is workers’ bad health. The results indicate that sickness presence was associated with psycho social risk factors at work and their economic consequences. Continued sickness presence might have negative rather than positive consequences on work and health care professionals’ health in the future. Sickness presence needs to be taken into account for health care organizers.

Presenteeism in nurses: comparative study of Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian nurses

“…In addition, Portuguese (Laranjeira 2013;Martinez & Ferreira 2012), Spanish (Revuelta Reyes 2014) and Brazilian (Paschoalin et al 2013;Santos et al 2018) researchers have found significant prevalence of presenteeism in these professionals. Moreover, our sample showed rates similar to other studies that established prevalence between 30% and 68% (Graf et al 2016;Skerjanc & Fikfak 2020) and a mean score comparable with our results (Santos et al 2018).…”

Reasons for presenteeism in different occupational branches in Sweden: a population based cross-sectional study

“…The found differences in the present study that presenteeism was related to employment sector and educational level have also been reported in one other study (Johansen et al 2014). Other studies have found that the reasons for presenteeism also varies in relation to health differences (Bockerman and Laukkanen 2010), and income (Navarro et al 2018;Skerjanc and Dodic Fikfak 2020;Webster et al 2019). High psychosocial job demands and low supervisor support among different groups of employees could explain the differences in prevalence and reasons for presenteeism in the present study as well as in previous studies (Brborovic et al 2017;Dudenhöffer et al 2017;Hansen and Andersen 2008;Johns 2010;Nordenmark et al 2019;Webster et al 2019).…”

Employee Affiliation and Presenteeism in Health-care Settings

“…• Personal [24], [28], [31], [35], [42], [43], [44], [45], [46], such as: Denial of illness, financial situation, emotional instability, feelings of guilt, motivation, lack of interest in lifestyle change, knowledge, marital status, length of employment, workplace; • Organizational [24], [28], [31], [36], [47], such as: Lower-paid sick leave, job insecurity, shift work, staff shortages, high job demands, job insecurity or fear of job loss, job permanence, and the form of employment; • Social [28], [36], [39], [47], such as: Economic crisis fear of job loss, employers' intolerance of sickness absence, reactions to the social system -productivity is more important than employee well-being.…”

“…The most common factors of presenteeism include an organizational culture that supports such behavior, working conditions, and the nature of work that do not allow employees to take sick leave in case of illness, employee characteristics (e.g., psychological characteristics of the individual), and environmental influences (e.g., These include the organization's overall positive (supportive) attitude toward presenteeism, bonuses, rewards and incentives [47], strong organizational loyalty [24], [47], interpersonal relationships between employees [35], [46], managerial behavior [47], the nature of the profession [27], work ethics, and the negative consequences of reducing absenteeism [48].…”

“…Presenteeism is prevalent in the nursing workforce in many countries [33]. However, much is unknown about presenteeism in nursing and it is more prevalent among nurses than in other professional groups [34], [35], [36] and has serious implications for patient outcomes [37]. Presenteeism in the nursing workforce undermines the ability of nurses to care for patients in a safe, responsible, and holistic manner [38].…”