| 1. |
- Dunlavy, Andrea, 1979-
(författare)
-
Between Two Worlds : Studies of migration, work, and health
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to investigate the extent to which work-related factors contribute to the health inequalities often observed between foreign-origin and native-origin persons in Sweden. Four empirical studies using survey data and population-based registers assessed the health impact of different labor market adversities among groups of foreign-origin persons who were both in and outside the labor market relative to native-origin Swedes.Studies I and II examined associations between different measures of working life quality, including adverse psychosocial and physical working conditions and educational mismatch, and self-reported health among the employed. Adverse psychosocial and physical working conditions minimally contributed to the excess risk of poor health found among workers from low- and middle-income countries. Over-education had a stronger association with increased risk of poor health, most notably among foreign-born workers from countries outside of Western Europe. Under-educated women from these countries also demonstrated an elevated risk of poor health. There was no association between educational mismatch and poor health among native-born workers. Studies III and IV focused on the health implications of labor market exclusion, and examined relationships between employment status and risk of all-cause mortality and suicide. The majority of foreign-origin groups that experienced unemployment showed an elevated risk of both mortality and suicide. The magnitude of excess risk varied by generational status and region of origin. Variations in patterns of suicide risk were also evident among migrants by age at arrival and duration of residence. Yet within many foreign-origin groups, health advantages were observed among the employed.The health of migrants is affected by the confluence of several different pre- and post-migration factors. The extent to which health inequalities are found among persons of foreign-origin in Sweden is influenced by the degree to which they experience labor market adversities, as well as differential vulnerability to the negative effects of these adversities across foreign-origin groups.
|
|
| 2. |
- Wennerholm, Carina, 1964-
(författare)
-
Risks for cardiovascular disease in middle-aged women in different social environments
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: The importance of the social environment and human life conditions for public health was early recognized in community medicine. Despite major reductions in recent decades, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity for both genders in all European countries. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to increase our knowledge of factors in the social environment and of individual psychosocial factors that could explain why some women in working ages are affected by cardiovascular diseases.Methods: The Swedish sample comes from the urban population in two major cities in a region in the south-east of Sweden, the Twin cities. According to their social history they could be labelled a “blue-collar” and a “white-collar” city. Cardiovascular morbidity data in all papers for the Twin cities was derived from a computerized population-based administrative Health Care Register (HCR). In Paper IV, we made a comparative study between Sweden and Scotland, the Scottish data comes from the Scottish Health Survey.Results: In Paper I, the cumulative incidence of different cardiovascular diagnoses for younger and also elderly men and women were significantly higher in the population of the blue collar city in all ages and for both sexes. The qualitative interviews of women after an MI, in Paper II, the findings revealed a broad picture of social factors, life circumstances, personalities and, not least, psychosocial factors that are important to middle-aged women who have suffered an MI. Paper III demonstrated that women with a high level of the personality trait “being a Good Girl” reported significantly more psychosocial risk factors for CVD and more commonly report chest pain without seeking medical care, no increased incidence for various CVD-diagnoses were found. The comparative study (Paper IV) clearly showed that Scottish middle-aged women are – relative to Swedish women - particularly affected by a worse profile of CVD risks, even after adjustment for education. Conclusions: The social environment is of importance for cardiovascular risks and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This has been shown in Swedish Twin cities context and also in comparative studies between Swedish and Scottish women. The thesis gives strong implications for an upstream public health approach initiating long-term community intervention program in the blue collar city and among Scottish middle-aged women.
|
|
