Psychosocial work environment and well-being: a cross-sectional study at a thermal power plant in China

To investigate the effects of the job demand-control (DC) model and the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model on worker's well-being, self-reports for psychosocial work conditions and well-being were made by a sample of 878 workers at a thermal power plant in China using the main dimensions of DC and ERI questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses were employed controlling for age, gender, and educational level, and negative and positive affection among others. Workers reporting high job demands and low job control or high efforts and low rewards had elevated risks of job dissatisfaction, psychosomatic complaints and depressive symptoms. Odds ratios were generally higher in workers reporting both high efforts and low rewards. Furthermore, low reward proved to be a stronger predictor of poor well-being when both job stress models were simultaneously adjusted. To some extent, interaction effects were found for social support, but no interaction effects were found for overcommitment. The findings indicate independent effects of both the DC model and the ERI model on well-being. Future work should explore the combined effects of these two models of psychosocial stress at work on health more thoroughly.     

Reviewing the effort-reward imbalance model: drawing up the balance of 45 empirical studies

The present paper provides a review of 45 studies on the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Model published from 1986 to 2003 (inclusive). In 1986, the ERI Model was introduced by Siegrist et al. (Biological and Psychological Factors in Cardiovascular Disease, Springer, Berlin, 1986, pp. 104-126; Social Science & Medicine 22 (1986) 247). The central tenet of the ERI Model is that an imbalance between (high) efforts and (low) rewards leads to (sustained) strain reactions. Besides efforts and rewards, overcommitment (i.e., a personality characteristic) is a crucial aspect of the model. Essentially, the ERI Model contains three main assumptions, which could be labeled as (1) the extrinsic ERI hypothesis: high efforts in combination with low rewards increase the risk of poor health, (2) the intrinsic overcommitment hypothesis: a high level of overcommitment may increase the risk of poor health, and (3) the interaction hypothesis: employees reporting an extrinsic ERI and a high level of overcommitment have an even higher risk of poor health. The review showed that the extrinsic ERI hypothesis has gained considerable empirical support. Results for overcommitment remain inconsistent and the moderating effect of overcommitment on the relation between ERI and employee health has been scarcely examined. Based on these review results suggestions for future research are proposed.     

The incorporation of different demand concepts in the job demand-control model: effects on health care professionals

This paper reports a study of 212 health care professionals that focuses on job characteristics as predictors of employee health. By means of covariance structure modelling (LISREL 8) we tested the interactive assumptions of the Karasek (1979) Job Demand-Control (JD-C) Model [Karasek, R.A., Jr., 1979. Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285-307.] using three different concepts of job demands (i.e. psychological job demands, physical demands and emotional demands) in combination with a more focused measure of decision latitude (i.e. job autonomy) to predict employee health (i.e. job satisfaction, job involvement, emotional exhaustion and psychosomatic health complaints). Controlling for gender and age, the results partly support the JD-C hypotheses by finding three out of twelve assumed interaction effects. More specifically, different outcome variables are predicted by different combinations of job autonomy with the three kinds of job demands, respectively. In conclusion, although we refute the central hypotheses of the JD-C model to a large extent, the current (interactive) findings are quite illuminating and will be discussed in the context of their theoretical and practical implications. Researchers as well as practitioners have to broaden their perspective on 'job demands' in health care work and need to focus on different kinds of job demands to capture the complexity of this work setting.     

职业应激与抑郁症状关系的性别差异

目的 探讨职业应激与抑郁症状关系的性别差异.方法 采用横断面研究设计和问卷调查方法对13家企业5338名工人进行调查,采用抑郁自评问卷调查抑郁症状,采用工作内容问卷和付出-回报失衡模式问卷调查职业应激.结果 调查对象抑郁症状检出率为31.8％,其中男性抑郁症状检出率为33.8％,女性抑郁症状检出率为27.7％,差异有统计学意义(x2=19.62,P＜0.01).男性工作心理需求、躯体需求、工作控制、付出、内在投入、负性情感评分高于女性,社会支持、回报、工作满意感评分低于女性,差异均有统计学意义(P＜0.01,P＜0.05).有抑郁症状者的工作心理需求、躯体需求、付出、内在投入、负性情感评分均高于无抑郁症状者,工作控制、社会支持、回报、工作满意感、正性情感评分低于无抑郁症状者,差异均有统计学意义(P＜0.01).男性抑郁症状者的工作心理需求、躯体需求、工作控制、内在投入、负性情感评分高于女性抑郁症状者,社会支持、回报、工作满意感评分低于女性抑郁症状者,差异均有统计学意义(P＜0.01).男性以及男性抑郁症状者的工作紧张和付出-回报失衡指数＞1者、高需求低控制和高付出低回报者的比例大于女性以及女性抑郁症状者.在心理需求和躯体需求方面,女性高需求低控制者发生抑郁症状的风险是低需求高控制者的2倍,略高于男性(OR值分别为2.04和2.17).男女高付出低回报者发生抑郁症状的风险是低付出高回报者的2.70倍.性别与工作紧张以及付出-回报失衡与抑郁症状无交互作用.结论 男女抑郁症状检出率以及与职业应激关系的差异可能是因为男女经历的工作中社会心理因素的差异造成的,工作中社会心理因素与性别对抑郁症状可能无交互作用.     

Effort-reward imbalance and depression among private practice physicians

Purpose  

Current private practice physicians provide medical services in a harsh economic situation. The effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model puts its emphasis on an imbalance between high efforts spent and low rewards received in occupational life. ERI model includes three different reward factors from task to organizational levels. We examined whether ERI in terms of low organizational reward (poor prospective and job insecurity) could be the most relevant and strongly associated with depression among private practice physicians.     

Job demands, job resources, and work engagement of Japanese employees: a prospective cohort study

Purpose

Research on the prospective association of job demands and job resources with work engagement is still limited in Asian countries, such as Japan. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prospective association of job demands (i.e., psychological demands and extrinsic effort) and job resources (i.e., decision latitude, supervisor support, co-worker support, and extrinsic reward), based on the job demands-control (JD-C) [or demand-control-support (DCS)] model and the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model, with work engagement among Japanese employees.

Methods

The participants included 423 males and 672 females from five branches of a manufacturing company in Japan. Self-administered questionnaires, including the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERIQ), the nine-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9), and demographic characteristics, were administered at baseline (August 2009). At one-year follow-up (August 2010), the UWES-9 was used again to assess work engagement. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted.

Results

After adjusting for demographic characteristics and work engagement at baseline, higher psychological demands and decision latitude were positively and significantly associated with greater work engagement at follow-up (β = 0.054, p = 0.020 for psychological demands and β = 0.061, p = 0.020 for decision latitude).

Conclusions

Having higher psychological demands and decision latitude may enhance work engagement among Japanese employees.     

Psychosocial work characteristics and incidence of newly diagnosed depression: a prospective cohort study of three different models

This study explored the association between psychosocial work characteristics and incidence of depression as indicated in three complementary models (the Job Strain Model, the Team Climate Model, and the Procedural Justice Model). Participants were 4815 Finnish hospital personnel (4278 women and 537 men) free from diagnosed depression at entry into the study. A baseline survey in 1998 measured psychosocial work characteristics, health-related behaviours, psychological distress, and doctor-diagnosed depression. The factor analysis of pooled questionnaire items on psychosocial work characteristics supported a five-factor solution with the following distinct dimensions: team climate, relational justice, procedural justice, job control, and job demands. Items in these dimensions were used as scales and job strain was modelled as a combination of job demands and job control. A follow-up survey in 2000 identified 225 incident cases of depression. After adjustment for age, sex and income, poor team climate, low procedural justice, and low relational justice were associated with a higher risk of new depression, the odds ratios (ORs) 1.58 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-2.24), 1.45 (95% CI 1.03-2.04), and 1.39 (95% CI 1.00-1.96), respectively. After additional adjustment for lifestyle factors and exclusion of those with psychological distress at baseline, there was still an association between poor team climate and risk of depression (ORs 1.55 and 1.75, respectively). Job control, work demands, and job strain did not predict the 2-year incidence of depression, and the effects of all psychosocial work characteristics were attenuated when entered simultaneously in the model. In conclusion, work unit social factors seem to be predictive of subsequent doctor-diagnosed depression, but other aspects of psychosocial work environment may also be important.     

When reciprocity fails: effort-reward imbalance in relation to coronary heart disease and health functioning within the Whitehall II study

Background: A deleterious psychosocial work environment, as defined by high efforts expended in relation to few rewards reaped, is hypothesised to increase the risk of future poor health outcomes.

Aims: To test this hypothesis within a cohort of London based civil servants.

Methods: Effort–reward imbalance (ERI) was measured among 6895 male and 3413 female civil servants aged 35–55 during the first phase of the Whitehall II study (1985–88). Participants were followed until the end of phase 5 (1997–2000), with a mean length of follow up of 11 years. Baseline ERI was used to predict incident validated coronary heart disease (CHD) events during follow up and poor mental and physical functioning at phase 5.

Results: A high ratio of efforts in relation to rewards was related to an increased incidence of all CHD (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.36, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.65) and fatal CHD/non-fatal myocardial infarction (HR = 1.28, 95% CI 0.89 to 1.84) during follow up, as well as poor physical (odds ratio (OR) = 1.47, 95% CI 1.24 to 1.74) and mental (OR = 2.24, 95% CI 1.89 to 2.65) functioning at phase 5, net of employment grade. A one item measure of high intrinsic effort also significantly increased the risk of these health outcomes, net of grade. ERI may be particularly deleterious with respect to CHD risk among those with low social support at work or in the lowest employment grades.

Discussion: Within the Whitehall II study, a ratio of high efforts to rewards predicted higher risk of CHD and poor physical and mental health functioning during follow up. Although the increased risk associated with ERI was relatively small, as ERI is common it could be of considerable public health importance.

     

Reciprocal relations between effort-reward imbalance at work and adverse health: a three-wave panel survey

Siegrist's [1996. Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1, 27-41.] Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Model assumes that ERI at one point in time influences health at a later point in time. Empirical cross-sectional and longitudinal findings have supported the influence of ERI on adverse health. However, the ERI model does not explicitly take into account that the relation between ERI and adverse health may be also explained by reversed causal relations, or even reciprocal (bi-directional) relations in which ERI and health mutually influence each other. The present 3-wave panel study among 211 Japanese male blue-collar workers in one construction machinery company examined reciprocal relations between ERI and adverse health (i.e., psychological distress and physical complaints) with a 1-year time-lag per wave. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (Amos 7.0J). Results showed cross-lagged and causally dominant effects of ERI on both psychological distress and physical complaints after 1 year for both Time 1-Time 2 and Time 2-Time 3. In addition, cross-lagged effects of psychological distress on ERI were found after 1 year for both Time 1-Time 2 and Time 2-Time 3. These findings suggest that (perceived) ERI and employee health influence each other reciprocally rather than uni-directionally, and underline the importance of studying reversed causal effects in the relation between ERI and employee health.     

Job stress,fatigue, and job dissatisfaction in Dutch lorry drivers: towards an occupation specific model of job demands and control

Objectives: Building on Karasek's model of job demands and control (JD-C model), this study examined the effects of job control, quantitative workload, and two occupation specific job demands (physical demands and supervisor demands) on fatigue and job dissatisfaction in Dutch lorry drivers.     

Lebensqualit?t und k?rperliche Aktivit?t im betrieblichen Kontext

Background

An efficient and hard working employee is one of many requirements an employer depends on to remain competitive in today??s economy. Yet growing mechanisation facilitates the daily routine continuously. Increased sedentary work and media consumption pander to today??s inactivity and the many risk factors it is connected to. It is essential to respect the protection and promotion of each employee??s health and well-being. Hence, occupational health management, i.e. workplace health promotion, occupational rehabilitation and occupational safety, may come into play as it controls and integrates all processes at work.

Method

Employees of a medium-sized company (n = 221) were examined to determine their individual physical and psychological condition. The relation between physical demands on the job, health-related quality of life and level of physical activity is the focus of this study. The quality of life questionnaire, a questionnaire regarding sports activity, a questionnaire concerning physical demands on the job and the IPN test were used for gathering the data.

Results

Overall, physically active persons show significantly better data in the physical, social, psychological and contextual test range. Further, physically active employees are more satisfied with their state of health and contribute to the business success to a greater extent.

Conclusion

It appears fundamental that companies should also be instrumental in raising employees?? awareness of physical activity as a balance to everyday life and its effects on health and well-being. A commitment to more physical activity and exercise offers an opportunity to influence the quality of life strongly.     

Psychosocial working conditions and psychological well-being among employees in 34 European countries

Purpose

The aim of this study was to explore the associations between psychosocial working conditions and psychological well-being among employees in 34 European countries. Another objective was to examine whether these associations varied according to occupation and country.

Methods

The study was based on data from the European Working Conditions Survey 2010 including 33,443 employees, 16,512 men and 16,931 women, from 34 European countries. Well-being was measured by the WHO-5 well-being index. Twenty-five psychosocial work factors were constructed including job demands, role stressors, work hours, job influence and freedom, job promotion, job insecurity, social support, quality of leadership, discrimination and violence at work, and work-life imbalance. The associations between these factors and well-being were examined using multilevel logistic regression analyses. Different models were performed including interaction tests.

Results

When all 25 psychosocial work factors were studied simultaneously in the same model with adjustment variables, 13 showed a significant association with poor well-being among both genders: quantitative demands, demands for hiding emotions, low possibilities for development, low meaning of work, low role conflict, low quality of leadership, low social support, low sense of community, job insecurity, low job promotion, work-life imbalance, discrimination, and bullying. The association with low sense of community on poor well-being was particularly strong.

Conclusions

A large number of psychosocial work factors were associated with poor well-being. Almost no country and occupational differences were found in these associations. This study gave a first European overview and could be useful to inform cross-national policy debate.     

Job demands, health perception and sickness absence

BACKGROUND: Investigation of the relations between job demands, health and sickness absence is required to design a strategy for the prevention of absence and disability. AIM: To study the relationships between (physical and psychological) job demands, health perception and sickness absence. METHODS: Prospective study of 414 male employees working in two organizations with low company absence levels. Job demands and health were examined using the Basic Occupational Health Questionnaire. Sickness absence was followed for 1 year thereafter. The number of days and episodes of absence were counted. RESULTS: The questionnaires of 247 workers (60%) were suitable for statistical analysis. Physical job demands (r = 0.41; P <0.01) and, to a lesser extent, psychological job demands (r = 0.16; P = 0.01) were related to the number of health complaints. Short (1-7 days) duration absence was neither related to job demands nor to the number of health complaints. Longer (>7 days) duration absence was positively related to psychological job demands and to the number of health complaints. CONCLUSIONS: Job demands, particularly physical demands, correlated with perceived health. Poor health predicted long-term sickness absence. Early recognition of poor health should be the basis of a strategy that prevents long-term sickness absence.     

Zur Organisationsdiagnose psychischen Befindens in der Arbeitswelt

Along with the structural changes of the economy, the psychological well-being of employees becomes increasingly important for their performance. The reporting of mental well-being at the organizational level is an essential precondition for occupational health interventions. This article deals with the mental health of employees from ten different companies. These data show that almost 1?in 5?employees rate their mental well-being as poor. Most notably, women with lower status in the services sector are affected. Those who are temporarily in a bad mood are often affected by strong physical complaints and tend to assess the quality of their work as rather poor. Moreover, the data from 3,349 employees show that the extent of social capital of an organization highly correlates with the mental well-being of their employees. Our results show that work-related stress factors and (psychological) illnesses can be detected and prevented more often if the influence of social parameters on mental well-being are taken into consideration.     

职业应激与下肢肌肉骨骼系统疾患的关系

目的 探讨职业应激与下肢肌肉骨骼系统疾患的关系.方法 采用横断面研究设计和自报式问卷调查方法对13家企业5338名工人进行整群调查,采用修订的工作内容问卷和付出-回报失衡模式问卷调查职业应激状况.采用肌肉骨骼系统疾患调查表调查过去1年内下肢肌肉骨骼系统疾患和不良姿势情况.使用logistic回归分析职业应激因素与下肢肌肉骨骼系统疾患检出率之间的关系.结果 2个职业应激模式主要因子中,躯体需求和付出是臀部疾患的危险因素,而工作控制是臀部疾患的保护因素.当2个模式的主要因素一起分析时,仅有躯体需求是臀部疾患的危险因素.以4种工作类型的分类变量进行分析时,工作紧张是臀部疾患的危险因素,而付出-回报失衡是臀和膝部疾患的危险因素.随着患病部位的增多,工作紧张和付出-回报失衡的危险增加.工作控制的保护作用随患病部位的增加而增大.以连续变量进行分析时,以躯体需求计算的工作紧张是臀部疾患的危险因素,而付出-回报失衡是臀和膝部疾患的危险因素.结论 职业应激与下肢肌肉骨骼系统疾患存在统计学意义的相关,下肢肌肉骨骼系统疾患的预防应考虑控制职业应激因素和增加工作控制.     

Assessment of work intensification by managers and psychological distressed and non-distressed employees: a multilevel comparison

Work intensification is a popular management strategy to increase productivity, but at the possible expense of employee mental stress. This study examines associations between ratings of work intensification and psychological distress, and the level of agreement between compared employee-rated and manager-rated work intensification. Multi-source survey data were collected from 3,064 employees and 573 company managers from the private sector in 2010. Multilevel regression models were used to compare different work intensification ratings across psychological distress strata. Distressed employees rated higher degree of total work intensification compared to non-distressed employees, and on three out of five sub ratings there were an increased prevalence of work intensification in the case group. In general, there was poor agreement between employee and company work intensification rating. Neither manager-rated work intensification nor employee/manager discrepancy in work intensification ratings was associated with psychological distress. Distressed employees had a higher total score of employee/manager agreed work intensification, and a higher prevalence of increased demands of labour productivity. This study demonstrates higher ratings of employee/manager agreed work intensification in distressed employees compared to non-distressed employees, challenging previous findings of reporting bias in distressed employees’ assessment of work environment.     

Organizational practices, work demands and the well-being of employees: a follow-up study in the metal industry and retail trade

BACKGROUND: Rapid technological change and increased international competition have changed working life and work organizations. These changes may not be considered when researching employee work ability and well-being. AIM: This study investigates the impact of organizational practices, work demands and individual factors on work ability, organizational commitment and mental well-being of employees in the metal industry and retail trade. METHOD: A follow-up study was conducted to examine these connections among 1389 employees (mean age 42 years at baseline) in 91 organizations. The first survey was conducted in 1998 and was repeated in 2000. RESULTS: Changes in organizational practices and the demands of work were strongly associated with changes in employee well-being. Work ability, organizational commitment and the mental well-being of employees were increased most if the opportunities for development and influence and the promotion of employee well-being were increased and if the supervisory support and organization of work were improved. Well-being also improved with less uncertainty at work and with decreasing mental and physical work demands. In addition physical exercise and affluence also had favourable effects. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm that several features of organizational practices are strongly associated with employees' well-being. Organizational development is an important method of improving employees' work ability, commitment and well-being.     

Design of the DIRECT-project: interventions to increase job resources and recovery opportunities to improve job-related health,well-being,and performance outcomes in nursing homes

Background  

Because of high demands at work, nurses are at high risk for occupational burnout and physical complaints. The presence of job resources (such as job autonomy or social support) and recovery opportunities could counteract the adverse effect of high job demands. However, it is still unclear how job resources and recovery opportunities can be translated into effective workplace interventions aiming to improve employee health, well-being, and performance-related outcomes. The aim of the current research project is developing and implementing interventions to optimize job resources and recovery opportunities, which may lead to improved health, well-being and performance of nurses.     

Job strain and the risk of depression: is reporting biased?

It is unknown whether the relation between job strain and depression reflects causal characteristics of the working environment or reporting bias. The authors investigated reporting bias by analyzing individual versus work-unit measures of job strain and the risk of depressive symptoms (n = 287) and a diagnosis of depression (n = 97) among 4,291 employees within 378 work units in Aarhus, Denmark, 2007. All participants reported psychological demands and decision latitude, and the authors estimated mean values for each work unit. The odds ratios predicting depressive symptoms or a diagnosis of depression for the highest versus the lowest levels of individual, self-reported high psychological demands and low decision latitude were significantly increased above 2.5. When participants were classified by the work-unit mean levels, these associations were substantially smaller. For depressive symptoms, the odds ratios were 1.49 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88, 2.53) and 1.08 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.39), respectively, for psychological demands and decision latitude. For a diagnosis of depression, the odds ratios were 1.33 (95% CI: 0.57, 3.09) and 1.02 (95% CI: 0.68, 1.56), respectively, for psychological demands and decision latitude. These findings indicate that reporting bias inflates associations between job strain and the occurrence of depression, if studies rely on individual self-reports.     

两种理论联合评估某电子企业员工职业紧张状况

目的 联合使用两种职业紧张理论评估某电子企业员工的职业紧张状况, 并分析其影响因素。
方法 采用整群随机抽样方法, 使用基于工作要求-自主模式(job demand-control model, JDC模式)和付出-回报失衡模式(effort-reward imbalance model, ERI模式)两种理论的中文版问卷对892名员工的职业紧张状况进行调查, 并分析其影响因素。
结果 892名员工的JDC和ERI模式职业紧张检出率分别为48.5%和10.5%。多因素logistic回归分析结果显示:婚姻状况、健康状况、月收入和教育程度是JDC模式职业紧张的主要影响因素; 以已婚者为对照, 未婚组的OR为1.66(P < 0.01);以健康状况好组为对照, 健康状况一般和较差组的OR值为2.25、3.09(P < 0.01或0.05);以月收入≥ 4 000元为对照, < 3 000元组的OR值为2.20(P < 0.01);以初中及以下学历为对照, 大学本科及以上学历组的OR值为2.20(P < 0.05)。ERI模式职业紧张的主要影响因素是婚姻状况和健康状况; 以已婚组为对照, 未婚组的OR值为1.97(P < 0.05);以健康状况好组为对照, 健康状况较差组的OR值为6.16(P < 0.01)。
结论 该电子企业员工职业紧张状况不佳, 应关注重点员工的健康状况, 定期举办心理健康知识宣传教育, 促进员工的身心健康。