Documents anxiety 76 results

"ObjectivesThe aims of this study were to examine reciprocal longitudinal associations between exposure to workplace bullying and symptoms of psychological distress and to investigate how self-labeled victimization from bullying explains the effects of bullying on health.Methods Logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying and psychological distress in a representative cohort sample of 1775 Norwegian employees. The time-lag between baseline and follow-up was two years. Exposure to bullying behavior was measured with the revised version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire. Perceived victimization from bullying was measured by a single self-labeling question. Psychological distress was measured with the 25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist. All variables were measured at both baseline and follow-up.Results After adjustment for psychological distress at baseline, exposure to bullying behavior [odds ratio (OR) 1.68, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.07–2.62) was found to predict subsequent psychological distress. This effect of bullying behaviors disappeared when victimization from bullying (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.17–5.22) was entered into the regression. Both psychological distress (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.64–3.80) and victimization (OR 2.61, 95% CI 1.42–4.81) at baseline were associated with increased risks of being a target of bullying behaviors at follow-up. Psychological distress (OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.39–4.52) and bullying behaviors (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.39–4.52) at follow-up were associated with victimization. Conclusion The mutual relationship between bullying and psychological distress indicates a vicious circle where bullying and distress reinforce their own negative effects. This highlights the importance of early interventions to stop workplace bullying and provide treatment options to employees with psychological distress."

"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. "

"Objective: Our objective was to examine the impact of shift work on mental health at the population level. We expected that this impact would depend on duration of exposure, type of shift work, and gender.Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data (1995–2005) from the British Household Panel Survey. From the 2005 wave, we selected a subsample of people aged 21–73 years who had been followed annually from 1995 to 2005. We used responses in 2005 to the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, 12-item) and self-reported anxiety/depression as dependent variables. Controlling for age, marital status, education, number of years working in six occupational categories (1995–2005), and baseline mental health, we performed nested logistic regression models to examine the effect of the duration of night work and varied shift patterns on mental health for men and women.Results: Undertaking night work for =4 years in men was associated with an increased risk of having a GHQ score reflecting mental ill health and reporting anxiety/depression [odds ratios (OR) 2.58, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.22–5.48; OR 6.08, 95% CI 2.06–17.92, respectively]. Women were significantly more likely to report anxiety/depression (OR 2.58, 95% CI 1.53–4.35 ) and to have a GHQ score reflecting mental ill health (OR 4.17, 95% CI 1.45–11.98), after working varied shift patterns for 2–3 years, and =4 years, respectively.Conclusions: Different types of shift work had a differential impact on mental health, but this impact varied according to gender. Women's mental health was more adversely affected by varied shift patterns, while night work had a greater negative impact on men's mental health."

"Objectives
This study compared the longitudinal change in the mental health of healthcare and non-healthcare workers during two months of the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan.
Methods
Data were derived from a prospective online cohort study of 1448 full-time employees in Japan. Participants were surveyed at baseline from 19–22 March 2020 (T1) and at follow-up from 22–26 May 2020 (T2). A self-administered online questionnaire was used to assess participants' fear and worry of COVID-19, psychological distress, and physical symptoms at T1 and T2. A series of generalized linear models were created to assess changes in outcomes between healthcare and non-healthcare workers. Demographic variables (ie, sex, age, marital status, child[ren], education, and residential area) were included in the models as covariates.
Results
A total of 1032 participants completed the follow-up questionnaire at T2 (follow-up rate, 72.6%). After excluding unemployed respondents (N=17), the final sample comprised 1015 full-time employees (111 healthcare and 904 non-healthcare workers). After adjusting for the covariates, psychological distress (and subscales of fatigue, anxiety, and depression) as well as fear and worry of COVID-19 increased statistically significantly more among healthcare than non-healthcare workers from T1 to T2.
Conclusions
Psychological distress, together with fear and worry of COVID-19, increased more among healthcare compared to non-healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak. The study confirmed that healthcare workers are an important target for mental healthcare during the COVID-19 outbreak."

"Objective
Effective interventions to reduce sick leave in people with mental illnesses remain unknown. This systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessed the impact of various interventions on reducing sick leave among individuals with mental illnesses.
Methods
We conducted searches in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and PsycInfo until February 2024 and included RCTs with parallel designs. Two reviewers assessed the quality of trials using the Cochrane risk of bias tool (ROB-2).
Results
Out of 5109 publications, 75 RCTs were included. Ten RCTs with no serious risk of bias demonstrated that certain interventions could reduce sick leave. Interventions based on cognitive behavioral therapy and problem-solving therapy reduced sick leave within a year, but the effect was not long-lasting. Enhanced care approaches, where physicians and care managers encouraged patients to start and maintain pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy, also decreased absenteeism. Online cognitive behavioral therapy yielded a modest decrease in absenteeism. An intervention involving both employees and supervisors to modify the workplace and address stress reduced long-term sick leave. Involving employees in stressor management initiatives decreased sick leave, and a combination of work-focused and online cognitive behavioral therapy reduced short-term sick leave but did not affect long-term (≥15 days) rates. Group therapy led by a clinical psychologist for stress management also showed benefits in the short term (3 months).
Conclusion
Multifaceted approaches that combine individual therapy and workplace adjustments are more effective in managing sick leave for individuals with mental illnesses than either approach alone."

This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

"Objectives This study examines whether precarious employment increases the risk of serious psychological distress (SPD) in a nationally representative cohort of Japanese middle-aged people.Methods From 2005–2009, we followed 8486 male and 6736 female participants (aged 50–59 years) in the Longitudinal Survey of Middle-aged and Elderly Persons. All individuals were employed and free of SPD, cardiovascular disease, and cancer at baseline. The participants were classified into two groups based on their baseline employment contract: precarious and full-time permanent work. SPD was assessed at each year during the study, using the K6 scale, a self-rated 6-item scale that screens for mood or anxiety disorders. We used discrete-time survival analysis, with a complementary log-log link, to examine the effect of precarious employment on SPD incidence.Results During a maximum follow-up period of four years, 374 men and 364 women developed SPD. Male precarious employees were more likely to develop SPD than male full-time permanent employees (hazard ratio 1.79, 95% confidence interval 1.28–2.51) in the full model, after adjusting for sociodemographic and occupational factors, cardiovascular disease risk, and K6 scores at baseline. By contrast, no significant association was observed among female employees. However, an analysis stratified by marital status revealed an association similar to that found among men but only among unmarried women.Conclusions The findings suggest that precarious employment is associated with double the risk of SPD incidence among middle-aged Japanese men and – when stratified by marital status – among unmarried women. This highlights a major gender difference in the association between precarious employment and risk of SPD."