| 1. |
- Aronsson, Gunnar, et al.
(författare)
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Sickness presence, sickness absence, and self-reported health and symptoms
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 4:3, s. 228-243
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to compare sickness presence (SP) and sickness absence (SA) regarding the strength of their relationship to health/ill-health. In a previous Canadian study a stronger association between SP and health/ill-health than between SA and health/ill-health was shown.Design/methodology/approach - Five Swedish data sets from the years 1992 to 2005 provided the study populations, including both representative samples and specific occupational groups (n=425-3,622). Univariate correlations and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. The data sets contained questions on SP and SA as well as on various health complaints and, in some cases, self-rated health (SRH).Findings - The general trend was that correlations and odds ratios increased regularly for both SP and SA, with SP showing the highest values. In one data set, SRH was predicted by a combination of the two measures, with an explained variance of 25 percent. Stratified analyses showed that the more irreplaceable an individual is at work, the larger is the difference in correlation size between SP and SA with regard to SRH. SP also showed an accentuated and stronger association with SRH than SA among individuals reporting poor economic circumstances.Practical implications - The results support the notion that SA is an insufficient, and even misleading, measure of health status for certain groups in the labor market, which seem to have poorer health than the measure of SA would indicate.Orginality/value - A combined measure of sickness presence and absence may be worth considering as an indicator of both individual and organizational health status.
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| 2. |
- Aronsson, Gunnar, et al.
(författare)
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The long arm of the job – work characteristics and recovery windows in social welfare work
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 12:1, s. 15-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Social welfare work contains elements that may be difficult for employees to put out of their minds when the working day ends, which may affect the recovery. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the length of recovery in relation to different work characteristics and to two types of welfare work.Design/methodology/approach: All 1,365 employees, excluding managers, of two municipality administrations were invited to a survey study. Of these, 673 (49 percent) responded. After adjusting for partial missing, the effective sample included 580 employees (43 percent). Retrospective ratings of four recovery windows were analyzed: recovery after one night’s sleep, weekends, shorter holidays and vacations.Findings: Employees with a university education were less recovered than those with a shorter education. For those with a university education, the long arm of the job mainly involved failures regarding qualitative job demands (task difficulty). For those with a shorter education, quantitative job demands (too much to do) were most prominent for their prolonged recovery. Feedback from managers had consistent and positive associations with all four recovery windows among employees with a university education, but not among those with a shorter education for whom instead having too much to do and social support had significant spillover effects.Originality/value: The identified differences may relate to employees with a university education having more problem-solving tasks, which may result in a higher need of work-related feedback but also in difficulties detaching from work. Thus, education and job characteristics have differential associations with self-rated recovery.
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| 3. |
- Aronsson, Gunnar, et al.
(författare)
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Work conditions for workers with good long-term health
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 3:2, s. 160-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate which work- and private life factors are associated with long-term health, operationalized as low sickness absence and low sickness presence. Design/methodology/approach – A representative sample of 2,297 individuals responded to a questionnaire on two occasions at an interval of one year. In total, 28 percent were classified as having good long-term health. Findings – Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that some quality-related work environment factors were rather strongly associated with long-term health. For some variables women showed a clear dose-response pattern on the three-level scale alternatives in relation to health, while men had a more asymmetric response pattern. The results are discussed in relation to the symmetry in the work environment factors, i.e. if there are different factors that explain health and illness. Practical implications – Issues concerning health and health-enhancing factors are of considerable interest to practitioners concerned with management issues, organizational structure, and rehabilitation. Originality/value – The paper shows the importance of including a positive health variable within the health research paradigm to supplement the dominance of variables focusing on illness and disease.
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| 4. |
- Backström, Tomas, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Interaction training – an enabler for improvement measures within the psychosocial risk assessment process
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : Emerald. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 15:5, s. 553-571
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThe study objectives were to (1) identify if providing solution-focused interaction training enables managers and employees to develop and implement actions to improve their psychosocial work environment and (2) test a recontextualization of the psychosocial work environment as social structures affecting members of the workplace and verify if social interactions effectively change the local psychosocial work environment.Design/methodology/approachThe intervention involved training managers, supervisors and employees in solution-focused interaction. This study used a controlled interrupted time-series design, with an intervention and control group (CG) and pre- and post-measurements.FindingsThe psychosocial work environment improved, indicating that the training led to better social interactions, contributing to changes in the social structures within the intervention group (IG). Collective reflection between participants in the take action phase was the key to success. The recontextualization uncovered these mechanisms.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study supports a recontextualization of the psychosocial work environment as primarily decided by social structures that emerge in recurrent interactions within work teams. The same social structures also seem to be important for other features of the production system, like job performance.Practical implicationsTraining designed to enable high-quality social interactions, like dialogue and collective reflection, has proven to be effective in changing social structures. Moreover, managers may need training in facilitating the collective reflection between participants. Increased focus on social interactions within work teams is suggested for future study of organizational change processes, psychosocial work environment and practical psychosocial work environment management.Originality/valueThe intervention was delivered in the preparation phase to enable an effective take action phase. Both phases are less studied in psychosocial risk assessments research. The recontextualization has never been fully used in psychosocial research.
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| 5. |
- Blom, Victoria, et al.
(författare)
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Applying the demand-control-support model on burnout in managers and non-managers.
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 9:1, s. 110-122
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the demand-control-support (DCS) model on burnout in male and female managers and non-managers, taking into account genetic and shared family environmental factors, contributing to the understanding of mechanisms of how and when work stress is related to burnout. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 5,510 individuals in complete same-sex twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry were included in the analyses. Co-twin control analyses were performed using linear mixed modeling, comparing between-pairs and within-pair effects, stratified by zygosity and sex. Findings – Managers scored higher on demands and control in their work than non-managers, and female managers seem to be particularly at risk for burnout facing more demands which are not reduced by a higher control as in their male counterparts. Co-twin analyses showed that associations between control and burnout as well as between demands and burnout seem to be affected by shared family environmental factors in male non-managers but not in male managers in which instead the associations between social support and burnout seem to be influenced by shared family environment. Practical implications – Taken together, the study offers knowledge that shared environment as well as sex and managerial status are important factors to consider in how DCS is associated to exhaustion. Originality/value – Using twin data with possibilities to control for genetics, shared environment, sex and age, this study offers unique insight into the DCS research, which focusses primarily on the workplace environment rather than individual factors.
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| 6. |
- Blom, Victoria, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Stress in paid and unpaid work as related to cortisol and subjective health complaints in women working in the public health care sector
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 10:4, s. 286-299
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Focusing on 420 women employed within the woman-dominated health care sector, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how any variation in their total workload (TWL) in terms of paid and unpaid work relate to various subjective health complaints (SHC) (n=420) and the neuroendocrine stress marker cortisol (n=68).Design/methodology/approach: The authors explored how any variation in their TWL in terms of paid and unpaid work related cross-sectionally to SHC (n=420), and the neuroendocrine stress marker cortisol (n=68).Findings: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that stress of unpaid work was most strongly related to diurnal variations in cortisol. Both stress of paid and unpaid work as well as TWL stress, but not hours spent on TWL, were related to SHC.Practical implications: Taken together, objective measures of hours spent on various TWL domains were unrelated to outcome measures while perceptions of having too much TWL and TWL stress were linked to both cortisol and SHC, i.e. how individuals perceive a situation seem to be more important for health than the actual situation, which has implications for research and efforts to reduce individual TWL.Originality/value: This study is unique in showing that unpaid work and perceptions having too much TWL relate to stress markers in women working in the public health care sector.
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| 7. |
- Bäckström, Ingela, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Are healthy and successful organizations working accordingly to Quality Management?
- 2009
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Ingår i: International journal of workplace health management. - : Emerald. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 2:3, s. 245-257
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine if healthy and successful organizations are working accordingly to Quality Management. The purpose is also to describe in more detail how they are working. Methodology/Approach Three Swedish organizations that have shown excellence in leadership, internal partnership, working environment and profitability have been examined, to find out what methodologies they have used for their success. To discover whether these healthy and successful organizations are working accordingly to Quality Management, Deming’s 14-point list has been used as an analytical tool. Findings Identified methodologies used by the healthy and successful organizations are described. Viewed in the light of our analysis, a relationship between the three examined healthy and successful organizations and Quality Management is indicated. Practical implications Working with the methodologies described in the paper, the three organizations have improved co-worker health. Other organizations could probably adopt the identified and described methodologies to improve the health of their co-workers and effectiveness in the organization. Originality/value Concerning the performance evaluation and the continuous improvement component in Quality Management, substantial contributions could be made to the health area by applying the tools that the quality area have used over a considerable period to improve the quality outcomes. Quality and health aspects have common success factors, and a focus on high quality could be seen as positive for health outcomes.
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| 8. |
- Ebbevi, David, et al.
(författare)
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Boards of directors' influences on occupational health and safety : a scoping review of evidence and best practices
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 14:1, s. 64-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose To review the literature and identify research gaps in the role and influence boards of directors of companies have in occupational health and safety (OHS). Design/methodology/approach This was done in a scoping review built on a structured search in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, CCInfoWeb, EconLit, Web of Science, CINAHL and gray literature. Citations and reference lists were tracked. Inclusion criteria were publication in English. Exclusion criteria were studies covering companies using subcontractors to arrange OHS, or with Findings Forty-nine studies were included. The majority contained empirical data (n = 28; 57%), some were entirely normative (n = 16; 33%), and a few contained normative claims far beyond empirical data (n = 5; 10%). Empirical studies gave no insight into the scope of impact of board activities on OHS, and no studies assess the causal mechanisms by which board activities influence OHS outcomes. Most studies focused on both health and safety (n = 20; 41%) or only safety (n = 15; 31%). Context might explain the focus on safety rather than health, but is not clearly elucidated by the studies. Several studies are describing leadership behavior, although not framed as such. A narrative summary is presented to facilitate future research. Research limitations/implications Future research should include: (1) which board activities influence OHS, (2) how board activities influence OHS, (3) the influence of context and (4) the leadership role of boards of directors. Originality/value This study identifies a total lack of research on the basic mechanics of the relationship between boards and OHS.
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| 9. |
- Elling, Devy L., et al.
(författare)
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Workplace alcohol prevention : are managers' individual characteristics associated with organisational alcohol policy knowledge and inclination to initiate early alcohol interventions?
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 13:5, s. 543-560
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Individual factors associated with managers' organisational alcohol policy knowledge and inclination to initiate early alcohol interventions have been understudied. This study aims to examine differences in managers' policy knowledge and inclination across a range of socio-demographic, work-related and health characteristics, and it aims to examine the association between policy knowledge and inclination to intervene, net of these characteristics.Design/methodology/approach - Questionnaire data were collected from 430 managers. Organisational alcohol policy knowledge and inclination to intervene were measured using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). Socio-demographic, work-related and health characteristics included gender, age, education, managerial responsibility, years in current position, self-rated health and alcohol consumption. Associations were examined using multilevel ordinal regression analysis.Findings - Managers with a greater number of employees demonstrated the highest level of organisational alcohol policy knowledge and were more inclined to initiate early alcohol interventions. Alcohol policy knowledge was associated with inclination to intervene, net of individual characteristics.Practical implications - Considering how managers' characteristics might influence efforts to decrease hazardous alcohol consumption is potentially important when designing future workplace alcohol prevention programmes.Originality/value - Several individual factors related to managers' organisational alcohol policy knowledge and inclination to initiate early alcohol interventions were identified, particularly managerial responsibility. However, the association between policy knowledge and inclination to intervene remained strong after accounting for these individual factors. Future studies should explore alternative explanations at the individual and organisational levels.
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| 10. |
- Eriksson, Andrea, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Collaboration in workplace health promotion : A case study
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Workplace Health Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1753-8351 .- 1753-836X. ; 5:3, s. 181-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The aim of this article is to describe and analyze a case of interorganizational and intersectoral collaboration on workplace health promotion involving nine municipalities in a Swedish region. Design/methodology/approach - A holistic case study design was chosen. The work of a project group responsible for developing plans for collaboration in the target area of health promoting leadership was studied. Observations at project meetings, interviews with project members, and written project documents were analyzed by qualitative methods. Findings - Collaboration on health promoting leadership was seen as a strategy to reduce the sickness rate among the employees in the municipalities. The best way to develop such leadership was considered to be through supporting good leadership in general and improving the general working conditions of managers in the municipalities. Moreover, it was regarded as a critical condition to have structural arrangements and resources to continue this collaboration. Practical implications - An implication of the study is that collaboration on workplace health promotion should be organized initially on a small scale, giving time and opportunities for the participants to develop mutual trust with one another. It is also important to involve participants with different knowledge and experiences in the field. Thus, it may be possible to develop strategies for health-promoting leadership contributing to the overall aim of a decreased sickness rate. Originality/value - There is limited research on barriers and facilitating factors for interorganizational and intersectoral collaboration on workplace health promotion. This study contributes an analysis of important conditions for this kind of collaboration.
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