Documents Josephson, Malin 5 results

"OBJECTIVE: To prospectively investigate whether sickness presenteeism (SP), ie, going to work despite illness, has an impact on future sickness absenteeism. METHODS: Two study populations were used, one female dominated from the public sector that included 3757 employees, and one male dominated from the private sector comprising 2485 employees. RESULTS: SP on more than five occasions during the baseline year (2000) was a statistically significant risk factor for future sick leave (2002 and 2003) of more than 30 days among both populations even after adjusting for previous sick leave, health status, demographics, lifestyle, and work-related variables (2002, public sector, relative risk = 1.40; private sector, relative risk = 1.51). CONCLUSIONS: SP may be an important phenomenon to consider when evaluating measures aimed at decreasing sickness absenteeism because more SP may lead to future sickness absence."

"Burnout is assumed to occur after unsuccessful self-esteem strivings, activated and maintained by enduring or recurring stressors in central life domains and roles. People high in performance-based self-esteem are vulnerable to such strivings and a scale for performance-based self-esteem, the Pbse scale, has been developed. Data from this scale is presented for a total of 17,177 persons from four studies, three of which were based on nationally representative samples of adult Swedes. The Pbse scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties with similar outcomes in the four samples, and the scale also showed convergent validity. These results are commented on and it is discussed whether or not performance-based self-esteem has increased in Western countries in recent decades. The self-esteem striving approach to burnout seems to have merits both from theoretical and preventive perspectives."

"This study investigated whether there is a relationship between high physical work load and adverse psychosocial work factors, and whether this relationship is different for women and men. Separate analyses for female registered nurses and assistant nurses were made because these are common occupations involving high physical and psychological demands. This study was part of the MUSIC-Norrtälje study, a population study with the overall aim of identifying risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. The respondents, 1423 gainfully employed men and women, were randomly selected from the study population. The exposure assessments referred to a typical workday during the previous 12 months. Physical exposure was investigated by interview, psychosocial work factors by interview and questionnaire. For the women, but not the men, mainly routine work and a job strain situation, according to the model of Karasek and Theorell, increased the probability of having a high physical work load, assessed as a time-weighted average of energy expenditure in multiples of the resting metabolic rate. Results indicated that in female-dominated occupations, high physical work load might also imply adverse psychosocial conditions. A higher frequency of high physical work load and job strain was observed among assistant nurses compared with registered nurses. Covariance between physical and psychosocial demands makes it difficult to determine the relative influence of each in health problems. Results of the present study imply that this is a larger problem in studies of women than men. "