Documents Ahola, Kirsi 3 results

"Objectives This study examined the association between employment status and specific DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, IVth edition) depressive, anxiety and alcohol use disorders and the association between employment status and service use for these disorders.Methods As part of the representative population-based “Health 2000 Study” of Finns aged 30 years or over, 3440 employed, 429 unemployed, and 820 economically inactive persons of working age (30–64 years) participated in a comprehensive health examination, including the standardized Composite International Diagnostic Interview.Results The risk of mental disorders was generally higher among the unemployed and the economically inactive than among the employed. The respective odds ratios were 1.79 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.26–2.54] and 1.54 (95% CI 1.06–2.25) for depressive disorders, 2.68 (95% CI 1.85–3.89) and 2.53 (95% CI 1.76–3.65) for anxiety disorders, and 2.58 (95% CI 1.82–3.65) and 1.43 (95% CI 0.91–2.22) for alcohol use disorders. Similar results were obtained for most of the specific categories of these disorders. Among the persons with anxiety disorders, the odds for treatment contact were 2.35 (95% CI 1.06–5.23) times higher for the unemployed than for the employed after control for disorder severity. For those with an alcohol use disorder, the corresponding odds ratio was 3.51 (95% CI 1.23–9.98).Conclusions Common mental disorders are less prevalent among the employed than among unemployed and economically inactive people. Among those with anxiety or alcohol use disorders, service use is less common among the employed than among the unemployed. This difference is not explained by the severity of the clinical state. "

"Background Prospective studies on the relationship between organisational merger and mental health have been conducted using subjective health indicators. The objective of this prospective occupational cohort study was to examine whether a negative change during an organisational merger is an independent predictive factor of psychiatric morbidity. Method Survey data on organisational characteristics, health and other factors were collected prior to (1996) and after the merger (2000); register data on psychiatric morbidity were collected at baseline (1/1/1994 - 30/9/2000) and during the follow-up (1/10/2000 - 31/12/2005). Participants were 6511 (77% men) industrial employees aged 21–65 years with no register-based diagnosed psychiatric events prior to the follow-up (the Still Working Study). During the follow-up, 252 participants were admitted to the hospital due to psychiatric disorders, were prescribed a psychotropic drug or attempted or committed suicide. Results A negative self-reported change in the work organisation during the merger was associated with increased risk of postmerger psychiatric event (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.14). This association was independent of mental health-related factors measured before the merger announcement, such as demographic characteristics, occupational status, personal orientation to life, self-rated health, self-reported psychiatric morbidity or chronic disease. Conclusion A negative change in work organisation during an organisational merger may elevate the risk for postmerger psychiatric morbidity. "