Documents mental health 512 results

"S'il est aujourd'hui admis que la santé au travail a rarement occupé le haut de l'agenda des organisations syndicales, on sait aussi que ce sujet est loin d'avoir été oublié par les syndicalistes. Quel rôle ont donc joué ces militant·es dans la politisation de la santé au travail ? Cet article s'attaque à cette question en étudiant l'activité des acteurs et actrices des directions confédérales de la CFDT et de la CGT chargé·es du dossier de la santé au travail durant les années 1980-1990. À rebours de certains discours, militant·es et scientifiques, présentant cette période comme celle de la crise du syndicalisme et de son repli sur la défense de l'emploi, l'article montre la persistance d'un intérêt pour la santé professionnelle, en même temps que son maintien au second rang des préoccupations militantes. Nous montrons que les pratiques en matière de santé au travail des directions syndicales sont façonnées à la fois par les priorités politiques de ces directions et par les propriétés sociales des conseiller·ères qui assurent la gestion de ce dossier. Les pratiques varient selon les périodes et les militant·es qui s'en saisissent. En étudiant les interactions entre les conseiller·ères et des militant·es de terrain fortement engagé·es en faveur de la défense de la santé des salarié·es, l'article montre enfin comment les contraintes du travail des conseiller·ères peuvent faire obstacle à la prise en charge de ce sujet."

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"The HeSCare sector is a significant component of the EU economy, employing over 21.5 million people in 2022 and accounting for around 11% of the total EU workforce. This sector has experienced employment growth over the past decade across its three main subsectors: healthcare, residential care, and social work. However, the sector faces several challenges that impact occupational safety and health (OSH) conditions. One of the primary challenges is the ageing EU population, leading to increased demand for HeSCare services. While the population aged 65 or over is expected to grow by 23% by 2035, projected employment growth in the HeSCare sector over the same period is only 12%, indicating potential labour shortages. Additionally, the sector itself has a high proportion of older workers; this is notable given that age-related physical changes can increase vulnerability to OSH risks. Further lifestyle factors, such as increased sedentary behaviour, contribute to a general rise in preventable illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease, further straining the HeSCare sector. HeSCare workers are exposed to a wide range of OSH risks, including PSRs and musculoskeletal risks, and these risks interact with each other. The combination of these diverse risks makes HeSCare a high-risk sector for workers. In 2020, HeSCare was identified as the sector with the highest reported exposure to risks adversely affecting mental wellbeing in EU Member States. The overarching aim of the report is to provide a review of research on the topic of work-related PSRs and mental health-related outcomes in the EU's HeSCare sector. In order to do this, the report identifies 11 of the most common PSRs in the sector, according to triangulated evidence from the desk research and interviews that were conducted. For the purposes of the study, PSR factors for workers in the HeSCare sector have been categorised into two groups: PSRs linked to organisational factors and working conditions. These relate to the working environment and aspects of workers' terms and conditions of employment, for example, workload, time pressure, working time, work schedules, work–life balance, pay and job autonomy. PSRs linked to the social environment of work, namely the psychosocial environment in which work is performed. These include experiences of adverse social behaviour, exposure to high emotional or ethical burdens and potentially traumatic events, stigma against seeking support and low workplace social support."

"OBJECTIVES:
To clarify the associations between psychosocial work stressors and mental ill health, a meta-analysis of psychosocial work stressors and common mental disorders was undertaken using longitudinal studies identified through a systematic literature review.
METHODS:
The review used a standardized search strategy and strict inclusion and quality criteria in seven databases in 1994-2005. Papers were identified from 24,939 citations covering social determinants of health, 50 relevant papers were identified, 38 fulfilled inclusion criteria, and 11 were suitable for a meta-analysis. The Comprehensive Meta-analysis Programme was used for decision authority, decision latitude, psychological demands, and work social support, components of the job-strain and iso-strain models, and the combination of effort and reward that makes up the effort-reward imbalance model and job insecurity. Cochran's Q statistic assessed the heterogeneity of the results, and the I2 statistic determined any inconsistency between studies.
RESULTS:
Job strain, low decision latitude, low social support, high psychological demands, effort-reward imbalance, and high job insecurity predicted common mental disorders despite the heterogeneity for psychological demands and social support among men. The strongest effects were found for job strain and effort-reward imbalance.
CONCLUSIONS:
This meta-analysis provides robust consistent evidence that (combinations of) high demands and low decision latitude and (combinations of) high efforts and low rewards are prospective risk factors for common mental disorders and suggests that the psychosocial work environment is important for mental health. The associations are not merely explained by response bias. The impact of work stressors on common mental disorders differs for women and men."

"Objectives This study aimed to (i) identify family responsibilities associated with moderately long working hours (41–60 hours a week); (ii) examine the relationship between moderately long working hours and three health outcomes; and (iii) analyze whether patterns differ by welfare state regimes. Methods The sample was composed of all employees aged 16–64 years working 30–60 hours a week interviewed in the 2005 European Working Conditions Survey (9288 men and 6295 women). We fitted multiple logistic regression models separated by sex and welfare state regime typologies.Results Married males were more likely to work long hours in countries with male breadwinner models whereas family responsibilities were related to long working hours among both sexes in countries with dual breadwinner models. The association between long working hours and health was (i) stronger among men in countries with male breadwinner models, primarily in Anglo-Saxon countries [adjusted odds ratio (ORadj) associated with working 51–60 hours of 6.43, 6.04 and 9.60 for work-related poor health status, stress and psychological distress, respectively); (ii) similar among both sexes in Nordic countries; and (iii) stronger among women in Eastern European countries.Conclusions In the European Union of 25 members (EU-25), working moderately long hours is associated with poor health outcomes with different patterns depending on welfare state regimes. The findings from this study suggest that the family responsibilities and breadwinner models can help explain the relationship between long working hours and health status."

"Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate associations between psychosocial working conditions, occupational groups defined by sector, and disability pension (DP) with mental diagnoses while accounting for familial confounding. Methods A prospective population-based cohort study was conducted, including all Swedish twins who, in January 1993, were living and working in Sweden and not on old-age pension or DP (N=42 715). The twins were followed from 1993–2008 regarding DP. Data on DP, exposures, and covariates were obtained from national registries. Cox proportional hazards regression models with hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were constructed for the whole cohort, and for discordant twin pairs.Results The associations for the whole cohort between DP with mental diagnoses and (i) job demands (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.06–1.43), (ii) job control (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.83–0.99), (iii) healthcare and social work (HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.04–1.92), and (iv) service and military work (HR 2.07, 95% CI 1.37–3.14) remained after accounting for possible confounders, including familial factors, while the associations between DP and (i) social support, (ii) type of jobs, and (iii) some of the occupational groups were attenuated, becoming non-significant. In the discordant twin pair analyses, commercial work was significantly associated with lower risk of DP (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.32–0.95).Conclusions One unit increase in job demands and working in the occupational groups healthcare and social work or service and military work seem to be risk factors of DP with mental diagnoses, independent from various background factors including familial ones. However, one unit increase in job control or working in commercial work seem to be protective factors of such DP, accounting for confounding factors of this study."

"Objective The main aims of this longitudinal study were to (i) examine associations between changes in economic difficulties and health functioning among middle-aged employees and (ii) assess whether the associations remained after considering conventional domains of socioeconomic position. The associations were tested in two European welfare state occupational cohorts to strengthen the evidence base and improve generalizability. Methods Data came from two cohorts: the Finnish Helsinki Health Study (baseline 2000–2002, follow-up 2007, N=6328) and the British Whitehall II Study (baseline 1997–1999, follow-up 2003–2004, N=4350). Responses to the survey item “finding it hard to afford adequate food and clothes and pay bills” repeated at baseline and follow-up were used to examine persistent, increasing, and decreasing economic difficulties. Poor physical and mental health functioning were denoted as being in the lowest quartile of the Short Form 36 physical and mental component summary. Logistic regression analyses were adjusted for sex, age, childhood economic difficulties, household income at baseline and follow-up, employment status at follow-up, and baseline health functioning. Results We observed strong sex- and age-adjusted associations between increasing [odds ratio (OR) range 1.69–2.96] and persistent (OR range 2.54–3.21) economic difficulties and poorer physical and mental health functioning in both British and Finnish occupational cohorts. These associations remained after full adjustments. Those reporting decreasing difficulties over follow-up also had poorer functioning (OR range 1.30–1.61) compared to those who did not have difficulties at baseline, possibly reflecting residual effects of economic difficulties at baseline. Conclusion Changes in economic difficulties are associated with poorer physical and mental health functioning independent of income, employment status, and baseline health functioning.'

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the direction of shift rotation was related to the need for recovery, fatigue, sleep quality, work-family conflict, and leisure time among three-shift workers. ... A backward rotation schedule was prospectively related to an increased need for recovery [relative risk (RR) 2.88, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.06-7.81] and poor general health (RR 3.21, 95% CI 1.32-7.83), as compared with a forward rotation schedule. Adjustment for demographic and health variables and the characteristics of the work environment did not alter these relations considerably. Furthermore, a forward rotation schedule was prospectively related to less work-family conflict and better sleep quality over the 32 months of follow-up. Finally, high levels of fatigue, need for recovery, poor sleep quality, poor general health, insufficient leisure time, and work-family conflict at first measurement were associated with an increased risk of leaving shiftwork during the follow-up.Optimization of shiftwork schedules, in terms of shift rotation, seems a promising method for decreasing the negative impact accompanying shiftwork. Future studies should investigate whether these findings for three-shift workers are applicable to other shiftwork schedules as well. Furthermore, this study clearly illustrates the existence of secondary selection processes among shiftworkers and thereby emphasizes the complexity of valid shiftwork research."

This study explored the health and sickness absences of contingent employees. Analyses of self-reported health and recorded spells of sickness absence were based on a cohort of 5650 employees (674 men, 4976 women) in 10 Finnish hospitals.After adjustment for demographic and work-related characteristics, contingent employees had a better self-rated health status [odds ratio 0.76, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.62-0.94 of poor or average health status]. There were no differences in the prevalence of diagnosed chronic diseases and minor psychiatric morbidity between the groups. After adjustment for self-rated health and confounding, female, but not male, contingent employees had a lower rate of self-certified (1-3 days) sickness absences than permanent employees (rate ratio 0.90, 95% CI 0.85-0.95). Contingent employees, irrespective of gender, had a 0.77 (95% CI 0.71-0.84) times lower rate of medically certified (>3 days) sickness absence than permanent employees. Poor self-rated health status, reported diagnosed chronic diseases, and minor psychiatric morbidity were associated with medically certified absences to a less extent among contingent employees than among permanent employees.These findings suggest better self-rated health and a lower sickness absence rate for contingent employees than for permanent employees. The difference in sickness absence between the groups seems not only to be associated with actual differences in health, but also with different thresholds of taking sick leave or working while ill.