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Influence of change in psychosocial work characteristics on sickness absence: the Whitehall II study
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Objectives: To study the influence of change in self perceived psychosocial work characteristics on subsequent rates of sickness absence. Methods: Prospective cohort study of British civil service employees. Job control, job demands, and work social supports were measured in 1985/88 and in 1991/93. Analyses included 3817 British civil servants with sickness absence records at baseline (1985–89) and for two follow up periods, early (1994–95) and later follow up (1996–98). Results: Change in work characteristics predicted subsequent incidence of long spells of sickness absence (>7 days) in the early follow up period after adjustment for covariates including baseline work characteristics, health status, and sickness absence. Adjusted rate ratios were 1.23 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.46) for decreased compared with stable decision latitude; 1.17 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.36) for increased compared with stable job demands and 0.79 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.93) for increased compared with stable work social support. These associations were also seen in a sub-sample who did not change employment grade. In the later follow up period, associations between work change and long spells of sickness absence were similar for decision latitude, less pronounced for job demands, and no longer apparent for social supports. Changes in work characteristics were not associated with subsequent short spells of sickness absence (⩽7 days). Conclusions: Adverse changes in the psychosocial work environment may lead to increased rates of sickness absence. These findings suggest that workplace interventions to improve psychosocial working conditions may reduce levels of sickness absence.
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The psychosocial work environment (job strain, low social support, effort-reward imbalance, organisational injustice, job insecurity) impacts on employee well-being and risk of sickness absence.
“There is empirical evidence including several meta-analyses, showing that the psychosocial work environment in terms of job strain, low social support at work from managers and colleagues, effort-reward imbalance, organisational injustice and job insecurity impacts on employee well-being and risk of sickness absence.”
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Stansfeld, S. A., Kerry, S., Chandola, T., Russell, J., Berney, L., Hounsome, N., Lanz, D., Costelloe, C., Smuk, M., & Bhui, K. (2015) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-007981 · Cited by 53
“Interpretation of findings The small difference in well-being between the intervention and control groups may be due to several factors: (1) insufficient interval between intervention and follow-up employee well-being measurements, (2) choice of well-being measure, (3) the confounding effects of considerable organisat…”
BackgroundMethod
Metadata
- Authors
- Head, J., Kivimäki, M., Martikainen, P., Vahtera, J., Ferrie, J. E., & Marmot, M. G.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Head, Jenny
- Venue
- Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2005-12-16
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 55-61
- ISSN
- 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
- 0143-005X
- 1470-2738
- PMC
- PMC2465520
- OpenAlex
- W2137558255
- Cited by
- 149
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 18.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- British Heart Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS06516)
- National Institute on Aging (AG 13196, R37AG013196, R01AG013196)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL36310, R01HL036310)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Keywords
- sick leave, psychosocial work characteristics, job control, job demands, public sector employees, occupational health
- MeSH terms
- Absenteeism, Adult, Employment, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, London, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Cohort Studies, Occupational Health, Workplace, Sick Leave
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