The Interplay among Age and Employment Status on the Perceptions of Psychosocial Risk Factors at Work

Relationship between qualitative and quantitative loneliness and suicidal ideation by occupational classification in the working-age population: a nationally-representative survey

BACKGROUND

Rising digitalization and individualism in the workplace after the COVID-19 pandemic have increased loneliness and related problems in the working-age population. The potential effects of various forms of loneliness on suicidal ideation may differ depending on employment status.

METHOD

This is a cross-sectional study based on a national survey of mental health in the general Korean population. We classified occupations as "employed," "self-employed," or "unemployed." Loneliness was assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, which measures both qualitative and quantitative aspects of loneliness. Suicidal ideation was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

RESULTS

A total of 1770 participants aged 30-65 years (mean age: 47.7 years) were included. The mean loneliness score was 43.9 (SD = 10.4), and 28% of the participants experienced a high level of loneliness. The prevalence ratio for suicidal ideation in the group with high levels of loneliness was 3.06 (95% CI 2.57, 3.63) compared to the group with low levels of loneliness. In our subgroup analysis, we consistently observed an association between loneliness and suicidal ideation across the employed group; however, the employed was more related with qualitative loneliness, the self-employed and the unemployed were more related with quantitative loneliness.

CONCLUSIONS

Loneliness was associated with suicidal ideation. According to employment status, the associations were consistent, but there were interactions between type of loneliness and employment status. These findings suggest that interventions to reduce loneliness and prevent suicidal ideation should be tailored to specific employment groups, focusing on qualitative aspects for employed individuals and quantitative aspects for self-employed and unemployed individuals.

Towards an assessment of psychosocial work factors in a multi-level mental health intervention in the workplace: results from the MENTUPP pilot-study

BACKGROUND

Mental health in the workplace is a growing concern for enterprises and policy makers. MENTUPP is a multi-level mental health intervention implemented in small and medium size enterprises from three work sectors in nine countries. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, delivery, and instruments for the MENTUPP intervention to inform the planning of a clustered randomized controlled trial.

METHODS

We administered items from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study measuring psychosocial workplace factors. The questionnaire was answered by 382 participants at baseline, of which 98 participants also answered after six months at follow-up. We calculated mean scores of 19 psychosocial factors at baseline and conducted repeated measures ANOVAs to assess differences in eight psychosocial factors at follow-up. We also examined whether outcomes differed between work sectors and job positions at follow-up.

RESULTS

The construction sector and workers with no or a lower leadership role reported more negative working environment factors at baseline. We observed a statistically significant decline in social support from colleagues and social community at work, and a marginally significant decline in justice at work. For the rest of the constructs, we did not observe statistically significant changes.

CONCLUSIONS

We found significant differences in psychosocial work environment factors among work sectors and job positions at baseline. Contrary to our hypotheses, three psychosocial work environment factors decreased at follow-up. Possible explanations are the utilization of specific psychosocial factors as resources to cope with psychosocial stressors, high participant expectations that were not met by the intervention, insufficient time for structural changes, or the intervention prompting critical evaluations of the work environment. These findings will inform the design and implementation of the forthcoming clustered randomized controlled trial, where they will also be further investigated to validate their significance.

How Much Does My Work Affect My Health? The Relationships between Working Conditions and Health in an Italian Survey

BACKROUND

Working condition surveys are widely recognized as useful tools for monitoring the quality of working life and the improvements introduced by health and safety policy frameworks at the European and national level. The Italian Workers' Compensation Authority carried out a national survey (Insula) to investigate the employer's perceptions related to working conditions and their impact on health.

METHODS

The present study is based on the data collected from the Italian survey on health and safety at work (INSULA) conducted on a representative sample of the Italian workforce (n = 8,000). This focuses on the relationship between psychosocial risk factors and self-reported health using a set of logistic and linear regression models.

RESULTS

Working conditions such as managerial support, job satisfaction, and role act as protective factors on mental and physical health. On the contrary, workers' risk perceptions related to personal exposure to occupational safety and health risks, concern about health conditions, and work-related stress risk exposure determine a poorer state of health.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the link between working conditions and self-report health, and this aims to provide a contribution in the field of health at work. Findings show that working conditions must be object of specific preventive measures to improve the workers' health and well-being.

Styles of Coping with Stress as a Factor Influencing Professional Burnout among Professional Officers of the Polish Army in the Context of Their Age

The subject of this article is the issue of coping with stress in the context of the level of professional burnout among professional soldiers at the officer rank and the identification of the relationship between occupational burnout and the preferences of the style of coping with stress and the age of the respondents. The study aims to answer the following questions: how does occupational burnout (its individual dimensions according to the concept underlying the construction of a research tool) depend on the style of coping with stress, and whether and how the level of occupational burnout changes depending on the age of soldiers? The study consists of two parts: a theoretical one, in which the issues are presented in relation to the literature on the subject, and an empirical section, presenting the results of research in which 200 soldiers of the Polish Army with the officer rank participated. The research was carried out using questionnaires that met the requirements of psychometric correctness (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations—CISS and Link Burnout Questionnaire—LBQ). As a result of the research, it turned out that the level of occupational burnout depends on the choice of the style of coping with stress (a higher level of burnout is favored by the preference for an emotional coping strategy), while the style of coping with stress and the level of occupational burnout among professional soldiers with the rank of officer changes with age. The presented research, mainly due to the specifics of the research group, was not undertaken and described in the literature on the subject.

Salaried Workers' Self-Perceived Health and Psychosocial Risk in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Self-perceived health is an important indicator of occupational health. This research explored the relationship between poor self-perceived health and exposure to psychosocial risk factors, taking into account potential socio-demographic, occupational, and employment determinants. Using data from the First Survey of Occupational Safety and Health Conditions, covering 1049 salaried workers in Guayaquil, Ecuador, descriptive and stratified binary logistic regression analyses (odds ratios with corresponding 95% confidence intervals) were carried out. A significant relationship was found between exposure to psychosocial risk factors and the probability of presenting poor self-perceived health by socio-demographic, occupational, and employment characteristics. Occupational exposure factors to psychosocial risks were predictors of self-perceived ill health and were related to the variables analyzed; the most frequently expressed factors among the respondents were cognitive demands (DCOG) and job insecurity (IL). The results have implications in terms of designing effective workplace interventions pursuant to ensuring the health and well-being of employees.