ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5811-5906
Current Organisations
Deakin University
,
Harvard School of Public Health
,
Harvard University
,
University of Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
,
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Epidemiology | Public Health and Health Services | Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety | Migration | Care for Disabled | Demography | Mental Health | Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified | Applied Economics not elsewhere classified | Mental Health | Environmental And Occupational Health And Safety | Health and Community Services | Industrial And Organisational Psychology | Applied Sociology, Program Evaluation and Social Impact Assessment | Population Trends and Policies | Econometric and Statistical Methods | Psychology | Social Policy | Policy and Administration | Health Promotion |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Social Structure and Health | Mental Health | Disability and Functional Capacity | Occupational Health | Changing work patterns | Workforce Transition and Employment | Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified | Economic Framework not elsewhere classified | Occupational health (excl. economic development aspects) | Ethnicity, Multiculturalism and Migrant Development and Welfare | Health Related to Ageing | Mental health | Social Class and Inequalities | Health Inequalities
Related Links
Publications
Does Workplace Social Capital Buffer the Effects of Job Stress? A Cross-Sectional, Multilevel Analysis of Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. Manufacturing Workers
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2010
Work-related accidents, injuries and illnesses in migrant workers in Australia and duration of residence
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-2011
The need for expanded job stress intervention effort at the organizational level
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-2010
A New Online Mental Health Training Program for Workplace Managers: Pre-Post Pilot Study Assessing Feasibility, Usability, and Possible Effectiveness
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 03-07-2018
DOI: 10.2196/10517
Abstract: Mental health has become the leading cause of sickness absence in high-income countries. Managers can play an important role in establishing mentally healthy workplaces and coordinating their organization’s response to a mentally ill worker. This pilot study aims to evaluate the feasibility, usability, and likely effectiveness of a newly developed online training program for managers called HeadCoach. HeadCoach aims to build managers’ confidence in supporting the mental health needs of staff and promote managerial behavior most likely to result in a more mentally healthy workplace. In total, 66 managers from two organizations were invited to participate in this pre-post pilot study of HeadCoach, which was made available to managers to complete at their own pace over a 4-week period. Data were collected at baseline and post intervention via an online research platform. The difference in mean scores for each outcome between these two time points was calculated using paired s les t tests. Of all the invited managers, 59.1% (39/66) participated in the trial, with complete pre–post data available for 56.4% (22/39) of the participants. The majority of respondents reported positive engagement with the program. During the study period, managers’ knowledge regarding their role in managing mental health issues (P=.01) and their confidence in communicating with employees regarding mental illness (P .001) significantly increased. In addition, a significant increase was observed from the baseline in managers’ self-reported actions to use strategies to prevent and decrease stress among their team members (P=.02). Although caution is needed due to the absence of a control group, preliminary results of this study suggest that HeadCoach could be a feasible, acceptable, and efficient method of training managers in best workplace practices to help support the mental health needs of their staff.
Childcare providers’ mental health: a systematic review of its prevalence, determinants and relationship to care quality
Publisher: Computers, Materials and Continua (Tech Science Press)
Date: 15-07-2014
COVID-19: An opportunity to combat the burden of poor mental health in Australian workplaces
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
Associations of Device-Measured Sitting, Standing, and Stepping Time With Informal Face-to-Face Interactions at Work
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 05-2019
O21-1 The interplay between workplace factors and health care providers on return to work among workers’ compensation claimants in victoria, australia
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Date: 09-2016
The leaders’ guide to work-related stress
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Date: 27-03-2015
Commentary: Precarious employment: Adding a health inequalities perspective
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-08-2010
DOI: 10.1057/JPHP.2010.25
Unwanted sexual advances at work: Variations by employment arrangement in a sample of working Australians
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1753-6405.2009.00366.X
Abstract: We tested the hypothesis that the risk of experiencing unwanted sexual advances at work (UWSA) is greater for precariously-employed workers in comparison to those in permanent or continuing employment. A cross-sectional population-based telephone survey was conducted in Victoria (66% response rate, N=1,101). Employment arrangements were analysed using eight differentiated categories, as well as a four-category collapsed measure to address small cell sizes. Self-report of unwanted sexual advances at work was modelled using multiple logistic regression in relation to employment arrangement, controlling for gender, age, and occupational skill level. Forty-seven respondents reported UWSA in our s le (4.3%), mainly among women (37 of 47). Risk of UWSA was higher for younger respondents, but did not vary significantly by occupational skill level or education. In comparison to Permanent Full-Time, three employment arrangements were strongly associated with UWSA after adjustment for age, gender, and occupational skill level: Casual Full-Time OR = 7.2 (95% Confidence Interval 1.7-30.2) Fixed-Term Contract OR = 11.4 (95% CI 3.4-38.8) and Own-Account Self-Employed OR = 3.8 (95% CI 1.2-11.7). In analyses of females only, the magnitude of these associations was further increased. Respondents employed in precarious arrangements were more likely to report being exposed to UWSA, even after adjustment for age and gender. Greater protections from UWSA are likely needed for precariously employed workers.
A comprehensive worksite cancer prevention intervention: Behavior change results from a randomized controlled trial (United States)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2002
Abstract: Workplace cancer prevention initiatives have been least successful with blue-collar workers. This study assess whether an intervention integrating health promotion with occupational health and safety results in significant and meaningful increases in smoking cessation and consumption of fruits and vegetables, compared to a standard health promotion intervention, for workers overall and for blue-collar workers in particular. A randomized controlled design was used, with 15 manufacturing worksites assigned to a health promotion (HP) or a health promotion plus occupational health and safety intervention (HP/OHS), and compared from baseline (1997) to final (1999). The response rates to the survey were 80% at baseline (n = 9019) and 65% at final (n = 7327). Both groups targeted smoking and diet the HP/OHS condition additionally incorporated reduction of occupational exposures. Smoking quit rates among blue-collar workers in the HP/OHS condition more than doubled relative to those in the HP condition (OR = 2.13, p = 0.04), and were comparable to quit rates of white-collar workers. No statistically significant differences between groups were found for mean changes in fruits and vegetables. Integration of occupational health and safety and health promotion may be an essential means of enhancing the effectiveness of worksite tobacco control initiatives with blue-collar workers.
Le suicide chez les travailleurs du secteur agriculture, sylviculture et pêche : une revue systématique de la littérature et méta-analyse
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2018
In Memoriam: Dr. Allison Joy Milner (1983-2019)
Publisher: Hogrefe Publishing Group
Date: 2020
The COVID‐19 response: the health impacts of austerity measures
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 24-01-2021
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.50925
1150Changes in job security and mental health over 14 waves of a working population survey
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-2021
Abstract: We examined whether job security improvements were associated with improvements in mental health in a large Australian nationally representative panel study. We used both within-person fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) regression to analyse data from 14 annual waves covering calendar years 2002—2015 (19,169 persons, 106,942 observations). Mental Health Inventory-5 scores were modeled in relation to self-reported job security (categorical, quintiles), adjusting for age, year, education, and job change in the past year. Both FE and RE models showed stepwise improvements in MHI-5 scores with improving job security, with stronger exposure-outcome relationships in the RE models and for men compared to women. The RE coefficients for improvements in job security in males were 2.06 [1.67, 2.46] for one quintile, steadily increasing for two- (3.94 [3.54, 4.34]), three- (5.82 [5.40, 6.24]), and four- (7.18 [6.71, 7.64]) quintile improvements. The FE model for males produced slightly smaller coefficients, reaching a maximum of 5.55 [5.06, 6.05]. Supplementary analyses investigated whether six waves of cumulative exposure to job security (higher value = higher security) predicted MHI-5 score (improvement in mental health) in the seventh wave: results showed a strong dose-response (beta cumulative security was 0.60 [0.53-0.68]), with the difference between lowest and highest values of exposure corresponding to a 14-point increase in MHI-5 score. These analyses, with improved causal inference over previous observational research, showed that improving job security is strongly associated with decreasing depression and anxiety symptoms. Policy and practice intervention to improve job security could benefit population mental health.
Comparison of two measures of work functioning in a population of claimants with physical and psychological injuries
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-02-2017
Psychosocial working conditions in a representative sample of working Australians 2001-2008: an analysis of changes in inequalities over time.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 30-05-2013
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2012-101171
Abstract: A number of widely prevalent job stressors have been identified as modifiable risk factors for common mental and physical illnesses such as depression and cardiovascular disease, yet there has been relatively little study of population trends in exposure to job stressors over time. The aims of this paper were to assess: (1) overall time trends in job control and security and (2) whether disparities by sex, age, skill level and employment arrangement were changing over time in the Australian working population. Job control and security were measured in eight annual waves (2000-2008) from the Australian nationally-representative Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia panel survey (n=13 188 unique in iduals for control and n=13 182 for security). Observed and model-predicted time trends were generated. Models were generated using population-averaged longitudinal linear regression, with year fitted categorically. Changes in disparities over time by sex, age group, skill level and employment arrangement were tested as interactions between each of these stratifying variables and time. While significant disparities persisted for disadvantaged compared with advantaged groups, results suggested that inequalities in job control narrowed among young workers compared with older groups and for casual, fixed-term and self-employed compared with permanent workers. A slight narrowing of disparities over time in job security was noted for gender, age, employment arrangement and occupational skill level. Despite the favourable findings of small reductions in disparities in job control and security, significant cross-sectional disparities persist. Policy and practice intervention to improve psychosocial working conditions for disadvantaged groups could reduce these persisting disparities and associated illness burdens.
An integrated approach to workplace mental health: an Australian feasibility study
Publisher: Computers, Materials and Continua (Tech Science Press)
Date: 11-07-2014
Underemployment and its impacts on mental health among those with disabilities: Evidence from the HILDA cohort
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 29-09-2017
Abstract: Underemployment (defined as when a person in paid employment works for fewer hours than their desired full working capacity) is increasingly recognised as a component of employment precarity. This paper sought to investigate the effects of underemployment on the mental health of people with disabilities. Using 14 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, we used fixed-effects models to assess whether the presence of a disability modified the association between underemployment and mental health. Both disability and underemployment were assessed as time-varying factors. Measures of effect measure modification were presented on the additive scale. The experience of underemployment was associated with a significantly greater decline in mental health when a person reported a disability (mean difference -1.38, 95% CI -2.20 to -0.57) compared with when they did not report a disability (mean difference -0.49, 95% CI -0.84 to -0.14). The combined effect of being underemployed and having a disability was nearly one point greater than the summed independent risks of having a disability and being underemployed (-0.89, 95% CI -1.75 to -0.03). People with disabilities are more likely to experience underemployment and more likely to have their mental health adversely affected by it. There is a need for more research and policy attention on how to ameliorate the effects of underemployment on the mental health of persons with disabilities.
Economically inactive, unemployed and employed suicides in Australia by age and sex over a 10-year period: what was the impact of the 2007 economic recession?
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-07-2014
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYU148
Abstract: Suicide is higher among economically inactive and unemployed persons than employed persons. This paper investigates differences in this relationship by sex and age over the period 2001 to 2010 in Australia. It also examines changes in suicide among employed, unemployed and economically inactive persons during the recession of 2007-09. Suicide data from the National Coroners Information System were utilised for this retrospective study. Negative binomial and Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between suicide and employment status and to investigate differences in suicide rates over the period of the recession (2007-09) compared with the year before the recession (2006). Results suggest that during 2001-10 economically inactive/unemployed males had a suicide rate ratio (RR) of 4.62 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.10, 5.19 P<0.001] compared with employed males (RR=1.00), whereas economically inactive/unemployed females had a suicide RR of 8.44 compared with employed females (95% CI 7.38, 9.67 P<0.001). There was an increase in suicide among both employed (7% rise in 2007, P=0.003) and economically inactive/unemployed males during the GFC (22% in 2008, P<0.001). Suicide also increased among economically inactive/unemployed females (12% in 2007, P=0.03 19% in 2008, P=0.001) but not among employed females. These results suggest the need for adequate policy and social welfare responses to ameliorate the effects of the economic recession on the working age population. Particularly, these should target unemployed and economically inactive men and women in Australia, who may be at higher risk of suicide than previously thought.
Feasibility and acceptability of reducing workplace sitting time: a qualitative study with Australian office workers
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-09-2016
An integrated workplace mental health intervention in a policing context: Protocol for a cluster randomised control trial.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-02-2016
Assessment of occupational safety and health programs in small businesses
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-03-2004
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.10336
Abstract: Occupational safety and health (OSH) programs are a strategy for protecting workers' health, yet there are few peer-reviewed reports on methods for assessing them, or on the prevalent characteristics of OSH programs, especially in small businesses. We adapted an occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) survey instrument to assess: management commitment and employee participation, workplace analysis, hazard prevention and control, and education and training. This was supplemented by a series of open-ended questions. We administered the survey in 25 small worksites. Scores for each element ranged widely, with distribution of most scores being positively skewed. Barriers to addressing OSH included lack of time and in-house expertise, and production pressures. External agents, including corporate parents, liability insurers, and OSHA, played an important role in motivating OSH programs. Small businesses were able to mount comprehensive programs, however, they may rely on outside resources for this task. Being small may not be a barrier to meeting the requirements of an OSHA program management rule.
Contact & connect - an intervention to reduce depression stigma and symptoms in construction workers
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-10-2015
Employment and occupational outcomes following adolescent-onset mental illness: analysis of a nationally representative French cohort
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 25-09-2019
Abstract: There has been little work into the relative effects of adolescent-onset, as compared to lifetime, mental illness on employment, income and occupational outcomes in adulthood. Using data from the Santé et Itinéraire Professionnel Survey, a nationally representative survey of 13 648 French working-age people to investigate prospective associations between self-reported mental illness and employment, income and occupational outcomes. We further investigated whether these outcomes would differ for those reporting an onset of mental illness prior to 18 years of age. Adolescent-onset mental illness was associated with poorer employment outcomes, significantly increased risk of employment in low-skilled occupations, as well as reduced monthly wage earnings. Results extend understandings of the risks of adolescent-onset mental illness on employment and occupational outcomes and suggest that vocational recovery services should take these factors into account when designing support services for adolescents with mental health problems, particularly for males.
Combining fixed effects and instrumental variable approaches for estimating the effect of psychosocial job quality on mental health: Evidence from 13 waves of a nationally representative cohort study.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 23-06-2018
Abstract: Previous studies suggest that poor psychosocial job quality is a risk factor for mental health problems, but they use conventional regression analytic methods that cannot rule out reverse causation, unmeasured time-invariant confounding and reporting bias. This study combines two quasi-experimental approaches to improve causal inference by better accounting for these biases: (i) linear fixed effects regression analysis and (ii) linear instrumental variable analysis. We extract 13 annual waves of national cohort data including 13 260 working-age (18-64 years) employees. The exposure variable is self-reported level of psychosocial job quality. The instruments used are two common workplace entitlements. The outcome variable is the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5). We adjust for measured time-varying confounders. In the fixed effects regression analysis adjusted for time-varying confounders, a 1-point increase in psychosocial job quality is associated with a 1.28-point improvement in mental health on the MHI-5 scale (95% CI: 1.17, 1.40 P < 0.001). When the fixed effects was combined with the instrumental variable analysis, a 1-point increase psychosocial job quality is related to 1.62-point improvement on the MHI-5 scale (95% CI: -0.24, 3.48 P = 0.088). Our quasi-experimental results provide evidence to confirm job stressors as risk factors for mental ill health using methods that improve causal inference.
Protecting and promoting mental health in the workplace: developing a systems approach to job stress
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1071/HE07221
Abstract: Job stress has been linked to a wide range of adverse effects on mental, physical, and organisational health. Despite the evidence that systems approaches are most effective in reducing the adverse impact of job stress, prevalent practice is dominated by worker- or in idual-focused strategies in the absence of commensurate intervention on working conditions. A literature review and cross-disciplinary conceptual synthesis were combined in the articulation of a systems approach to job stress. An outline of the job stress process is followed by explanation of how a systems approach addresses the various steps in the stress process. Systems approaches to job stress emphasise primary prevention or focusing on stressors as the upstream determinants of job stress. Additionally, systems approaches integrate primary with worker-directed secondary and illness-directed tertiary intervention, include the meaningful participation of groups targeted by intervention, and are context-sensitive. Systems approach intervention principles are illustrated by concrete ex les of intervention strategies and activities. Further efforts are needed to promote, disseminate, implement, and evaluate systems approaches to job stress and to improve cross-disciplinary co-operation in this effort.
Occupational Stress
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 23-11-2017
DOI: 10.1093/OSO/9780190662677.003.0017
Abstract: This chapter describes sources of stress in the work environment, their adverse effects on the health of workers, and how they are influenced by economic globalization, political systems, laws, government policies, and the changing labor market. Models of occupational stress, in particular job strain and effort-reward imbalance, are presented. Additional occupational stressors are described, including long work hours, shift work, precarious work and job insecurity, work-family conflict and organizational injustice, including discrimination, harassment, and bullying. The health and safety consequences of exposure to occupational stressors are detailed, including musculoskeletal disorders, acute traumatic injuries, mental disorders (such as depression), health behaviors, and cardiovascular disease and its risk factors (including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome). Finally, there is a discussion of efforts on work reorganization and job redesign, workplace policies and programs, and laws and regulations designed to reduce occupational stress and improve the health and safety of workers.
What strategies do desk-based workers choose to reduce sitting time and how well do they work? Findings from a cluster randomised controlled trial 11 Medical and Health Sciences 1117 Public Health and Health Services
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-10-2018
Using three cross-sectional surveys to compare workplace psychosocial stressors and associated mental health status in six migrant groups working in Australia compared with Australian-born workers
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 28-02-2019
Abstract: Migrant workers may be more likely to be exposed to workplace psychosocial stressors (WPS) which have an affect on physical and mental health. Given the relative lack of research on this topic, the study objectives were to estimate and compare the prevalence of WPS in migrant and Australian workers and investigate associated mental health problems. Three cross-sectional surveys, two with migrant workers and one with Australian workers, were pooled to provide estimates of prevalence. Regressions were conducted to investigate associations between workers and WPS. All WPS, except unfair pay, were associated with higher probability of mental health problems. The association between WPS and mental health did differ between some migrant groups. Compared with Australian-born workers, all other migrant groups tended to have a lower risk of mental health outcomes. Interactions between WPS and migrants showed variable levels in the risk of having a mental health problem, some attenuated and some increased. The study showed that country of birth does play a part in how treatment in the workplace is perceived and responded to. Any interventions to improve workplace conditions for migrant workers need to be aware of the different experiences related to migrant ethnicity.
Educational and Employment Outcomes among Young Australians with a History of Depressive Symptoms: A Prospective Cohort Study
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-03-2021
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether depressive symptoms reported during adolescence are associated with subsequent educational and employment outcomes, including whether experiences of depressive symptoms in adolescence are associated with higher exposures to adverse psychosocial job stressors among those who were employed in emerging adulthood. We used data from the Victorian arm of the International Youth Development Study (IYDS). Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to model the association of depressive symptoms reported in 2002 (wave one) and/or 2003 (wave two) and self-reported completion of compulsory secondary schooling, employment status, and exposure to a number of psychosocial job stressors roughly a decade later (i.e., at wave three in 2014). In fully adjusted models, reporting high depressive symptoms at waves one or two (odds ratio (OR) 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55 to 0.92), as well as at both waves (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.75) were associated with a reduced likelihood of completing secondary schooling by wave three. High depressive symptoms reported at multiple waves were also associated with a reduced likelihood of employment (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.66). Amongst those employed at wave three (n = 2091 72.5%), adolescent depressive symptoms were associated only with workplace incivility. Psychosocial job stressor exposures should be considered in the design and selection of jobs for young workers with a history of depressive symptoms in order to increase employment participation and sustainability for young people experiencing symptoms of depression.
Does the effect of disability acquisition on mental health differ by employment characteristics? A longitudinal fixed-effects analysis
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-10-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-019-01783-X
Abstract: Longitudinal studies have suggested a causal relationship between disability acquisition and mental health, but there is substantial heterogeneity in the magnitude of the effect. Previous studies have provided evidence that socioeconomic characteristics can buffer the effect but have not examined the role of employment characteristics. We used data from 17 annual waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to compare the mental health of working age in iduals before and after disability acquisition, using the Mental Health Inventory, a subscale of the SF-36 health questionnaire. Linear fixed-effects regression models were used to estimate the effect of disability acquisition on mental health. We tested for effect modification by two characteristics of people’s employment prior to disability acquisition: occupational skill level and contract type. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to handle missing data. Disability acquisition was associated with a substantial decline in mental health score (estimated mean difference: − 4.3, 95% CI − 5.0, − 3.5). There was evidence of effect modification by occupational skill level, with the largest effects seen for those in low-skilled jobs (− 6.1, 95% CI − 7.6, − 4.5), but not for contract type. The findings highlight the need for social and health policies that focus on increasing employment rates, improving the sustainability of employment, and providing employment services and education and training opportunities for people who acquire a disability, particularly for people in low-skilled occupations, to reduce the mental health inequalities experienced by people with disabilities.
Does Gender Explain the Relationship Between Occupation and Suicide? Findings from a Meta-Analytic Study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-05-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S10597-015-9889-X
Abstract: This report investigated whether suicide risk by occupational groups differed for males and females. We examined this using a sub-set of articles examined in a recent meta-analysis and stratified by gender. For certain occupational groups, males and females had a similar risk of suicide (the military, community service occupations, managers, and clerical workers). There was some indication of gender differences for other occupations (technicians, plant and machine operators and ship's deck crew, craft and related trades workers, and professionals), although these did not reach statistical significance. These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between occupation and suicide and suggest the possible role of a range of in idual, work-related and social-environmental risk factors that may differ for males and females.
Workplace stress: What is the role of positive mental health?
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 08-2014
Evaluating OSHA's ethylene oxide standard: exposure determinants in Massachusetts hospitals
Publisher: American Public Health Association
Date: 03-2001
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: This study sought to identify determinants of workplace exposures to ethylene oxide to assess the effect of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) 1984 ethylene oxide standard. METHODS: An in-depth survey of all hospitals in Massachusetts that used ethylene oxide from 1990 through 1992 (96% participation, N = 90) was conducted. Three types of exposure events were modeled with logistic regression: exceeding the 8-hour action level, exceeding the 15-minute excursion limit, and worker exposures during unmeasured accidental releases. Covariates were drawn from data representing an ecologic framework including direct and indirect potential exposure determinants. RESULTS: After adjustment for frequencies of ethylene oxide use and exposure monitoring, a significant inverse relation was observed between exceeding the action level and the use of combined sterilizer-aerators, an engineering control technology developed after the passage of the OSHA standard. Conversely, the use of positive-pressure sterilizers that employ ethylene oxide gas mixtures was strongly related to both exceeding the excursion limit and the occurrence of accidental releases. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence of a positive effect of OSHA's ethylene oxide standard and specific targets for future prevention and control efforts.
Psychosocial Work Factors of the Job Strain Model and All-Cause Mortality: The STRESSJEM Prospective Cohort Study
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 20-10-2020
DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000878
Abstract: The objectives were to examine the prospective associations between psychosocial work factors of the job strain model and all-cause mortality in a national representative cohort of French employees using various measures of time-varying exposure. The study was based on a s le of 798,547 men and 697,785 women for which data on job history from 1976 to 2002 were linked to mortality data from the national death registry. Psychosocial work factors from the validated job strain model questionnaire were imputed using a job-exposure matrix. Three time-varying measures of exposure were explored: current, cumulative, and recency-weighted cumulative exposure. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to study the associations between psychosocial work factors and mortality. Within the 1976–2002 period, 88,521 deaths occurred among men and 28,921 among women. Low decision latitude, low social support, job strain, isostrain, high strain, and passive job were found to be risk factors for mortality. The model using current exposure was the best relative-quality model. The associations of current exposure to job strain and mortality were found to have hazard ratios of 1.30 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24–1.36) among men and 1.15 (95% CI = 1.06–1.25) among women. The population fractions of mortality attributable to job strain were 5.64% (95% CI = 4.56%–6.71%) among men and 4.13% (95% CI = 1.69%–6.71%) among women. This study supports the role of the psychosocial work factors of the job strain model on all-cause mortality. Preventive intervention to improve the psychosocial work environment may help to prevent mortality in working populations.
Biologic Markers in Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2005
Estimating fatality rates in occupational light vehicle users using vehicle registration and crash data
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1753-6405.2010.00498.X
Abstract: To estimate occupational light vehicle (OLV) fatality numbers using vehicle registration and crash data and compare these with previous estimates based on workers' compensation data. New South Wales (NSW) Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) vehicle registration and crash data were obtained for 2004. NSW is the only Australian jurisdiction with mandatory work-use registration, which was used as a proxy for work-relatedness. OLV fatality rates based on registration data as the denominator were calculated and comparisons made with published 2003/04 fatalities based on workers' compensation data. Thirty-four NSW RTA OLV-user fatalities were identified, a rate of 4.5 deaths per 100,000 organisationally registered OLV, whereas the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC), reported 28 OLV deaths Australia-wide. More OLV user fatalities were identified from vehicle registration-based data than those based on workers' compensation estimates and the data are likely to provide an improved estimate of fatalities specific to OLV use. OLV-use is an important cause of traumatic fatalities that would be better identified through the use of vehicle-registration data, which provides a stronger evidence base from which to develop policy responses.
The role of social support in protecting mental health when employed and unemployed: A longitudinal fixed-effects analysis using 12 annual waves of the HILDA cohort
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2016.01.050
Abstract: Perceived social support is associated with overall better mental health. There is also evidence that unemployed workers with higher social support cope better psychologically than those without such support. However, there has been limited research about the effect of social support among people who have experienced both unemployment and employment. We assessed this topic using 12 years of annually collected cohort data. The s le included 3190 people who had experienced both unemployment and employment. We used longitudinal fixed-effects modelling to investigate within-person changes in mental health comparing the role of social support when a person was unemployed to when they were employed. Compared to when a person reported low social support, a change to medium (6.35, 95% 5.66 to 7.04, p < 0.001) or high social support (11.58, 95%, 95% CI 10.81 to 12.36, p < 0.001) was associated with a large increase in mental health (measured on an 100 point scale, with higher scores representing better mental health). When a person was unemployed but had high levels of social support, their mental health was 2.89 points (95% CI 1.67 to 4.11, p < 0.001) higher than when they were employed but had lower social support. The buffering effect of social support was confirmed in stratified analysis. There was a strong direct effect of social support on mental health. The magnitude of these differences could be considered clinically meaningful. Our results also suggest that social support has a significant buffering effect on mental health when a person is unemployed.
Changes in Job Security and Mental Health: An Analysis of 14 Annual Waves of an Australian Working-Population Panel Survey
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-04-2020
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWAA038
Abstract: We examined whether job security improvements were associated with improvements in mental health in a large, nationally representative panel study in Australia. We used both within-person fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) regression to analyze data from 14 annual waves covering the calendar period of 2002–2015 (19,169 persons 106,942 observations). Mental Health Inventory–5 scores were modeled in relation to self-reported job security (categorical, quintiles), adjusting for age, year, education, and job change in the past year. Both FE and RE models showed stepwise improvements in Mental Health Inventory–5 scores with improving job security, with stronger exposure-outcome relationships in the RE models and for men compared with women. The RE coefficients for improvements in job security in men were 2.06 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.67, 2.46) for 1 quintile, steadily increasing for 2- (3.94 (95% CI: 3.54, 4.34)), 3- (5.82 (95% CI: 5.40, 6.24)), and 4-quintile (7.18 (95% CI: 6.71, 7.64)) improvements. The FE model for men produced slightly smaller coefficients, reaching a maximum of 5.55 (95% CI: 5.06, 6.05). This analysis, with improved causal inference over previous observational research, showed that improving job security is strongly associated with decreasing depression and anxiety symptoms. Policy and practice intervention to improve job security could benefit population mental health.
Asbestos Disease in Australia: Looking Forward and Looking Back
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 30-09-2008
DOI: 10.2190/NS.18.3.J
Abstract: This article provides an overview and analysis of recent developments in policy and practice in relation to asbestos disease in Australia. It complements three other concurrent publications in this issue representing important contributions of people and organizations toward addressing the health and social impacts of Australia's asbestos disease epidemic. The c aign to “Make James Hardie Pay” as well as the efforts of workers and advocates are profiled in this article as well as in this issue's Documents and Voices sections. Discussion of recent developments in asbestos-related disease research and mesothelioma surveillance is followed by articulation of the comprehensive public and social health response that is needed to fully engage and address the asbestos disease legacy and to apply lessons learned to help revive the currently waning societal commitment to occupational health and safety in Australia and elsewhere.
Prevalence and predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among Australian police and emergency services employees
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-07-2021
Abstract: This study presents rates of suicide thoughts and behaviours of police and emergency services personnel around Australia. In addition, it examines personal (i.e. mental health, substance use) and working environment risk and protective factors. A stratified random s le of personnel from 33 Australian emergency services organisations were invited to participate in a mental health and wellbeing survey. In total, 14,868 Australian ambulance, fire and rescue, police and state emergency services employees participated and self-reported any suicidal thoughts, plans and/or attempts in the 12 months prior to the survey or at any stage in their life. Logistic regressions assessed factors associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Employees reported notably higher rates of suicidal thoughts and plans than the general Australian adult population, but not attempts. Male, single/ orced, non-heterosexual or longer-serving employees reported higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviours across each sector. Perceptions of stigma regarding mental health conditions from others in the workplace, negative impact of work on one’s private life and low meaning of work were associated with suicidal thoughts, while bullying significantly differentiated who planned and attempted suicide from those who reported suicidal thoughts only. Higher resilience and social support were associated with lower suicidal thoughts, while intermittent explosive anger and illegal drug use were associated with higher rates of suicidal thoughts. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms significantly differentiated who planned suicide, while misuse of prescription drugs and psychological distress differentiated who attempted suicide from those who only reported suicidal thoughts. Amid inherently stressful occupations, it is important that workplaces function in a way that supports their personnel. Access to mental health services should be promoted and readily available to personnel.
Risk factors for worker injury and death from occupational light vehicles crashes in New South Wales (Australia)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.20854
Abstract: To identify risk and protective factors for crash casualty outcomes in occupational light vehicles (OLV), a previously under-recognized work context for injuries and fatalities. A register-based study was conducted using linked vehicle crash and registration data (n = 13,491) for the Australian state of New South Wales. Univariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken to assess the relationship between casualty outcomes and variables drawn from four domains of potential determinants of severity: user, vehicle, road, and work organization factors. Nineteen percent of OLV crashes had OLV-user casualties (n = 2,506) and 1% fatalities (n = 34). Adjusted casualty risk factors included tired driver (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5-2.7), no seat belt use (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.3), and excessive speed (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.6). Adjusted fatality risk factors were no seat belt (OR 12.9, 95% CI 4.9-34.3) and high-speed zone crash (OR 5.0, 95% CI 2.1-12.3). OLV users are at risk from both recognized road risks and hazards specific to OLV use. Findings suggest that risk reduction could be improved by the use of safer vehicles, fatigue management, and journey planning.
Minding environment, minding workers: environmental workers’ mental health and wellbeing
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-04-2022
DOI: 10.1177/17579759221081881
Abstract: Climate change and environmental degradation caused by human activities are having an irrefutable impact on human health, particularly mental health. People working in the environment sector are confronted with these impacts daily. This exploratory study was conducted as a response to concern in the sector about rising levels of worry and distress, and a need for organizational knowledge about effective workplace mental health strategies. Using evidenced-based frameworks for workplace mental health and wellbeing, the study focused on the relationship between climate change, environmental degradation and mental health issues for this sector. This Australian-based exploratory qualitative study was guided by participatory research approaches. Maximum variation and criterion s ling strategies were applied to engage environmental sector senior managers ( n = 8) in in idual aired interviews, followed by online focus group sessions with frontline employees ( n = 9). Qualitative thematic analysis techniques were used in an iterative process, combining inductive and deductive strategies. Data was triangulated and interpretation was finalized with reference to literature and a workplace mental health promotion framework. Interview data provided new perspectives on the interconnectivity between risk and protective factors for mental health. Workers were motivated by commitment and values to continue their work despite experiencing increasing levels of trauma, ecological grief, and stress due to overwork and ecological and climate change crises. The findings highlight the need for integrated health promotion approaches that acknowledge the complex interactions between risk and supportive factors that influence mental health in this sector.
Male suicide among construction workers in Australia: a qualitative analysis of the major stressors precipitating death
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-06-2017
Effectiveness of the Australian MATES in Construction Suicide Prevention Program: a systematic review
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-2023
Abstract: Suicide is a major public health issue globally. The World Health Organization has called for nations to create comprehensive national suicide prevention strategies including multisectoral collaboration, awareness raising, advocacy and capacity building. The workplace provides opportunity and structure for suicide prevention programs. However, many of these programs are poorly documented and evaluated. The MATES in Construction (MATES) program is a multimodal workplace-based suicide prevention program designed for and by the construction industry. This systematic review examined the available evidence for the effectiveness of the MATES program and is reported according to PRISMA guidelines. A literature search resulted in the inclusion of 12 peer-reviewed articles published between January 2010 and February 2023 containing primary data of evaluations of MATES. There was evidence of the effectiveness of the MATES program in improving mental health and suicide prevention literacy, helping intentions and reducing stigma. The results highlighted the importance of worker-to-worker peer approaches with workers consistently stating that supervisors were the least trusted resources for mental health and suicide concerns. Favourable results were found in relation to reduced suicide risk in the construction industry. The evidence base for MATES is limited in terms of causal inference with very few controlled evaluations and no experimental studies having been conducted to date. Improved understanding of how the program motivates volunteers, their experiences and research on the longer-term impacts of the program on the industry is required.
Time trends in psychosocial working conditions in a representative sample of working Australians 2000-2008: evidence of narrowing disparities?
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-2011
Exploring the challenges and opportunities for improving the health and wellbeing of international students: Perspectives of professional staff at an Australian University.
Publisher: Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association Inc.
Date: 24-05-2021
DOI: 10.30688/JANZSSA.2021.1.01
Abstract: There are growing concerns about the mental health of university students, with particular concerns for international students studying in countries with different language and culture from the country of origin. We sought to explore the challenges and opportunities for supporting and improving the health and wellbeing of international students through interviews with health and other support services staff at an Australian University. Semi-structured interviews with a range of health and support services staff were conducted in person or by telephone in late 2018. Staff were asked about their perceptions of 1) health and wellbeing issues for international students, 2) barriers to international students accessing c us-based services for health and wellbeing concerns, and 3) strategies to improve international students’ health and wellbeing. Transcribed interviews were analysed thematically. Mental health/illness was identified as the most important health and wellbeing concern for international students. Barriers to help-seeking included fear of repercussions for coming forward, lack of problem and symptom recognition, poor understanding of health information, cultural stigma associated with counselling and language barriers. A tendency among international students to delay help-seeking until problems reached crisis-point was also identified as a concern. Suggested strategies to improve wellbeing included pre-departure education/orientation to life in Australia, the integration of health and wellbeing education with other university programs, education about confidentiality, better supporting students in how to access services, and skill building to promote social connection. Addressing the identified issues and opportunities would support international student health and wellbeing and may assist in attracting international students back to Australia post-COVID.
Exploring the challenges and opportunities for improving the health and wellbeing of international students: Perspectives of international students.
Publisher: Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association Inc.
Date: 24-05-2021
DOI: 10.30688/JANZSSA.2021.1.02
Abstract: This study sought to explore the challenges and opportunities for improving the health and wellbeing of international students through in-depth interviews with 21 international students at an Australian University. Interviews explored 1) conceptualisation of health and wellbeing, 2) perceptionsof the most significant health and wellbeing issues for international students, and 3) the barriers to international students accessing c us-based services for health and wellbeing concerns. Almost all international students viewed health and wellbeing as a state encompassing both physical and mental/emotional health. Key challenges included mental health, lack of social support, academic stressors, financial pressures, and accommodation concerns. Barriers to accessing university support services included cultural stigma, language barriers, waiting periods to access services, and not knowing how or where to access support within the university. The implications of these findings and suggested strategies for improving the health and wellbeing of international students are discussed.
A cluster randomized controlled trial to reduce office workers’ sitting time: effect on productivity outcomes
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 04-04-2019
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3820
Abstract: Objective This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the Stand Up Victoria intervention - a multicomponent workplace intervention that successfully reduced workplace sitting - on productivity in the short- and longer-term. Methods Desk-based workers [5-39 per worksite 68% women mean age 45.6 (standard deviation 9.4) years] were cluster randomized by office worksite to receive intervention (7 worksites, 136 workers) or control (7 worksites, 95 workers). The intervention used organizational-, environmental-, and in idual-level approaches to address workplace sitting. Productivity outcomes were measured via the Health and Work Questionnaire (HWQ 10 outcomes) and Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ 5 outcomes), administered at 0 (baseline), 3 (initial), and 12 (long-term) months. Intervention effects were assessed by linear mixed models, accounting for repeated measures and clustering, baseline values, and potential confounders. Evaluable case and multiple imputation analyses were used. Results At 12 months, trends for improvement were observed in the HWQ non-work satisfaction subscale (P=0.053) and stress item (P=0.086). Intervention effects on remaining outcomes for the HWQ were small and non-significant at both timepoints. At 3 months, intervention effects showed significant improvements in the WLQ mental demands subscale (P=0.043). At 12 months, intervention effects showed significant (P<0.05) small-to-moderate improvements in four WLQ outcomes (weighted total score, time-, mental-, and output demands), with physical demands showing a small significant worsening. Conclusions were robust to missing data assumptions. Conclusions The intervention improved some measures of productivity at 12 months, providing important evidence to the business case supporting workplace sitting-reduction interventions.
Are there differences in the return to work process for work-related psychological and musculoskeletal injuries? A longitudinal path analysis
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-02-2020
Work organization, job insecurity, and occupational health disparities
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-10-2012
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.22126
Abstract: Changes in employment conditions in the global economy over the past 30 years have led to increased job insecurity and other work organization hazards. These hazards may play a role in creating and sustaining occupational health disparities by socioeconomic position, gender, race, ethnicity, and immigration status. A conceptual model was developed to guide the review of 103 relevant articles or chapters on the role of work organization and occupational health disparities identified through a comprehensive search conducted by NIOSH. A second review was conducted of employment and workplace policies and programs designed to reduce the health and safety risks due to job insecurity and other work organization hazards. There is consistent evidence that workers in lower socioeconomic or social class positions are exposed to greater job insecurity and other work organization hazards than workers in higher socioeconomic positions. Likewise, racial and ethnic minorities and immigrants are exposed to greater job insecurity. Limited research examining the effects of interventions targeting work organization hazards on disparities has been conducted nonetheless, intervention strategies are available and evidence suggests they are effective. Job insecurity and work organization hazards play a role in creating and sustaining occupational health disparities. Employment and workplace policies and programs have the potential to reduce these hazards, and to reduce disparities.
A cluster RCT to improve workplace mental health in a policing context: Findings of a mixed‐methods implementation evaluation
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-12-2020
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.23217
Suicide by occupation: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 12-2013
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.113.128405
Abstract: Previous research has shown that those employed in certain occupations, such as doctors and farmers, have an elevated risk of suicide, yet little research has sought to synthesise these findings across working-age populations. To summarise published research in this area through systematic review and meta-analysis. Random effects meta-analyses were used to calculate a pooled risk of suicide across occupational skill-level groups. Thirty-four studies were included in the meta-analysis. Elementary professions (e.g. labourers and cleaners) were at elevated risk compared with the working-age population (rate ratio (RR) = 1.84, 95% CI 1.46–2.33), followed by machine operators and deck crew (RR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.22–2.60) and agricultural workers (RR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.19–2.28). Results suggested a stepwise gradient in risk, with the lowest skilled occupations being at greater risk of suicide than the highest skill-level group. This is the first comprehensive meta-analytical review of suicide and occupation. There is a need for future studies to investigate explanations for the observed skill-level differences, particularly in people employed in lower skill-level groups. None.
Developing an Integrated Approach to Workplace Mental Health: A Hypothetical Conversation with a Small Business Owner
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-2018
Abstract: An integrated approach to workplace mental health encompasses three main areas of activity: (i) protecting mental health by reducing work-related and other risk factors for mental health problems, (ii) promoting mental health by developing the positive aspects of work as well as worker strengths and positive capacities, and (iii) responding to mental health problems as they manifest at work regardless of cause (work-related or otherwise). This represents an effort to distil what is a complex issue warranting a correspondingly complex set of responses into information for action that is accessible and engaging to workplace stakeholders, and that enables workplaces to begin from varying starting points to build over time towards mature multicomponent workplace mental health programs. This article, based on a plenary presentation at the Understanding Small Enterprises 2017 international conference (25-27 October 2017, Denver), is presented in two parts. Part I is a concise summary of our integrated approach to workplace mental health. Part II presents a hypothetical conversation with a small business owner/operator who has yet to implement workplace mental health programs, but is considering doing so. In this Conversation, representing an effort in knowledge translation, we attempt to convince the small business owner/operator to begin taking action.
Duration of unemployment and suicide in Australia over the period 1985–2006: an ecological investigation by sex and age during rising versus declining national unemployment rates
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 23-10-2012
Abstract: The relationship between unemployment and suicide may be sensitive to demographic factors, national unemployment rates, and length of time without employment. This study investigated these factors in relation to suicide in Australia for the period 1985-2006, in an ecological study. The outcome variable was annual suicide rate by age group, sex and the eight states and territories over 22 years of observation (total observations=1760). The main predictor variable was the average duration of unemployment in the population, categorised into three time periods ( 4 weeks). Poisson regression models were used to investigate the relationship between duration of unemployment and suicide over the years 1985-2006 in a series of cross-sectional analyses. Interaction analyses indicated significant differences during periods of declining or increasing labour market opportunity and by age group. During periods of declining unemployment rates in the country, longer durations of unemployment were associated with higher male suicide rates. During periods of increasing unemployment in the country, longer unemployment duration was associated with lower male suicide rates. Effect modification was also apparent by age-group, with stronger associations between unemployment duration and male suicide evident in those aged 25-34 and 55-64, and weaker associations in those aged 15-24 and 44-54 years. Longer length of unemployment was not associated with an increase in female suicide rates. The labour market opportunities in Australia modified the effect of duration of unemployment on suicide, and the effect was more prominent in men and older age groups. This may reflect social norms and acceptability about unemployment, as well as life-stage influences associated with transitions into and out of the labour market.
Informing Implementation: Perspectives from the Australian University Community Regarding an Animal Assisted Intervention
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 16-12-2022
DOI: 10.3390/ANI12243569
Abstract: Animal Assisted Interventions (AAIs) have become increasingly popular in the university setting however, there is limited research exploring their potential on an Australian university c us and participants’ views prior to implementation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore university staff members’ and students’ interest in participating in an AAI and their perspectives on intervention characteristics. This was a mixed methods study, using an online survey and semi-structured interviews. The survey had 344 responses, and 45 interviews were conducted. A large majority of participants (86%) were interested in participating in an AAI. In the survey, participants indicated their preferred intervention characteristics for the location of the intervention, frequency of participating, and ways of hearing about the intervention. Participants also expressed concerns regarding therapy animal welfare. In interviews, participants discussed various considerations which may impact the intervention (such as the accessibility of the location, the impact of workload on participating, the effectiveness of promotion strategies, and factors that may assist therapy animal welfare, such as the therapy animals’ handlers). Gaining an insight into the university community’s views prior to implementation may ensure the intervention is feasible to implement and can be beneficial to both humans and therapy animals.
Double label autoradiography--an improvement.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-1986
Abstract: A convenient method for double-label autoradiography is described that uses an aqueous mountant, Gelutol (polyvinyl alcohol), which keeps the gelatin spacer in the final autoradiograph permanently swollen to a thickness of around 18 microns in contrast to its 5 microns thickness during exposure of the autoradiograph. This greatly improves optical discrimination between upper and lower layers without the loss of sensitivity or resolution that would result if a 18 microns spacer were used during exposure.
Occupational light-vehicle use and OHS legislative frameworks: An Australian example
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-2005
DOI: 10.1179/OEH.2005.11.2.167
Abstract: Occupational light vehicle (OLV) use and associated exposures and hazards in the Australian context are described. Available insurance data indicate that the OLV injury burden, which is greater than that of other work-road users, is growing as OLV use changes incidental to workers' primary occupations and work patterns. Legislation that affects OLV users is reviewed and the shifting of the burden of responsibility for injured or killed OLV users between workers' compensation, motor accident insurance and public health systems is described. Changes to OHS regulatory frameworks are proposed to better address OLV-relevant policy and practice. These issues are relevant for many international jurisdictions.
Psychosocial and other working conditions: Variation by employment arrangement in a sample of working Australians
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-12-2012
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.21038
Abstract: The evidence linking precarious employment with poor health is mixed. Self-reported occupational exposures in a population-based Australian s le were assessed to investigate the potential for differential exposure to psychosocial and other occupational hazards to contribute to such a relationship, hypothesizing that exposures are worse under more precarious employment arrangements (EA). Various psychoscial and other working conditions were modeled in relation to eight empirically derived EA categories with Permanent Full-Time (PFT) as the reference category (N = 925), controlling for sex, age, and occupational skill level. More precarious EA were associated with higher odds of adverse exposures. Casual Full-Time workers had the worst exposure profile, showing the lowest job control, as well as the highest odds of multiple job holding, shift work, and exposure to four or more additional occupational hazards. Fixed-Term Contract workers stood out as the most likely to report job insecurity. Self-employed workers showed the highest job control, but also the highest odds of long working hours. Psychosocial and other working conditions were generally worse under more precarious EA, but patterns of adverse occupational exposures differ between groups of precariously employed workers.
Long-Term Unemployment and Suicide: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 16-01-2013
Violence and Abuse In and Around Organisations
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 29-01-2018
An Exposure Prevention Rating Method for Intervention Needs Assessment and Effectiveness Evaluation
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-2003
Abstract: This article describes a new method for (1) systematically prioritizing needs for intervention on hazardous substance exposures in manufacturing work sites, and (2) evaluating intervention effectiveness. We developed a checklist containing six unique sets of yes/no variables organized in a 2 x 3 matrix of exposure potential versus protection (two columns) at the levels of materials, processes, and human interface (three rows). The three levels correspond to a simplified hierarchy of controls. Each of the six sets of indicator variables was reduced to a high/moderate/low rating. Ratings from the matrix were then combined to generate a single overall exposure prevention rating for each area. Reflecting the hierarchy of controls, material factors were weighted highest, followed by process, and then human interface. The checklist was filled out by an industrial hygienist while conducting a walk-through inspection (N = 131 manufacturing processes/areas in 17 large work sites). One area or process per manufacturing department was assessed and rated. Based on the resulting Exposure Prevention ratings, we concluded that exposures were well controlled in the majority of areas assessed (64% with rating of 1 or 2 on a 6-point scale), that there is some room for improvement in 26 percent of areas (rating of 3 or 4), and that roughly 10 percent of the areas assessed are urgently in need of intervention (rated as 5 or 6). A second hygienist independently assessed a subset of areas to evaluate inter-rater reliability. The reliability of the overall exposure prevention ratings was excellent (weighted kappa = 0.84). The rating scheme has good discriminatory power and reliability and shows promise as a broadly applicable and inexpensive tool for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation. Validation studies are needed as a next step. This assessment method complements quantitative exposure assessment with an upstream prevention focus.
Authors' reply
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 05-2014
Reviews: Real Potential in a Systematic Approach: Systematic Occupational Health and Safety Management: Perspectives on an International Development
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2002
Improving Organizational Interventions For Stress and Well-Being
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 12-11-2012
Derailed Organizational Interventions for Stress and Well-Being
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 2015
Psychosocial job quality in a national sample of working Australians: A comparison of persons working with versus without disability.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
Intersections between disability, type of impairment, gender and socio-economic disadvantage in a nationally representative sample of 33,101 working-aged Australians
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.DHJO.2014.08.008
Abstract: People with disabilities are socio-economically disadvantaged and have poorer health than people without disabilities however, little is known about the way in which disadvantage is patterned by gender and type of impairment. 1. To describe whether socio-economic circumstances vary according to type of impairment (sensory and speech, intellectual, physical, psychological and acquired brain injury). 2. To compare levels of socio-economic disadvantage for women and men with the same impairment type. We used a large population-based disability-focused survey of Australians, analyzing data from 33,101 participants aged 25-64. Indicators of socio-economic disadvantage included education, income, employment, housing vulnerability, and multiple disadvantage. Stratified by impairment type, we estimated: the population weighted prevalence of socio-economic disadvantage the relative odds of disadvantage compared to people without disabilities and the relative odds of disadvantage between women and men. With few exceptions, people with disabilities fared worse for every indicator compared to people without disability those with intellectual and psychological impairments and acquired brain injuries were most disadvantaged. While overall women with disabilities were more disadvantaged than men, the magnitude of the relative differences was lower than the same comparisons between women and men without disabilities, and there were few differences between women and men with the same impairment types. Crude comparisons between people with and without disabilities obscure how disadvantage is patterned according to impairment type and gender. The results emphasize the need to unpack how gender and disability intersect to shape socio-economic disadvantage.
Assessing and intervening on OSH programmes: effectiveness evaluation of the Wellworks-2 intervention in 15 manufacturing worksites
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 08-2004
Differential Exposure to Job Stressors: A Comparative Analysis Between Migrant and Australia-Born Workers
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-10-2019
Abstract: Previous studies have suggested that migrants have higher exposures to psychosocial job stressors than native-born workers. We explored migrant status-related differences in skill discretion/job complexity and decision authority, and whether the differences varied by gender, age, and educational attainment. Data were from Wave 14 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. A total number of 9031 persons were included in the analysis. Outcomes included skill discretion/job complexity and decision authority. Exposure included migrant status defined by (i) country of birth (COB), (ii) the combination of COB and English/Non-English dominant language of COB, and (iii) the combination of COB and years since arrival in Australia. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age, and educational attainment. These covariates were also analysed as effect modifiers of the relationship between migrant status and job stressor exposure. In the unadjusted analysis, only migrant workers from Non-English-speaking countries (Non-ESC-born) had significantly lower skill discretion and job complexity than Australia-born workers (−0.29, 95% CI: −0.56 −0.01) however, results from fully adjusted models showed that all migrant groups, except migrant workers from Main-English-speaking countries, had significantly lower skill discretion and job complexity than Australia-born workers (overseas-born workers, −0.59, 95% CI: −0.79 −0.38 Non-ESC-born, −1.01, 95% CI: −1.27 −0.75 migrant workers who had arrived ≤5 years ago, −1.33, 95% CI: −1.94 −0.72 arrived 6–10 years ago, −0.92, 95% CI: −1.46 −0.39 and arrived ≥11 years ago, −0.45, 95% CI: −0.67 −0.22). On the contrary, the unadjusted model showed that migrant workers had higher decision authority than Australia-born workers, whereas in the fully adjusted model, no difference in decision authority was found between migrant workers and Australia-born workers. Effect modification results showed that as educational attainment increased, differences in skill discretion and job complexity between Australia-born workers and Non-ESC-born migrants progressively increased whereas Non-ESC-born migrants with postgraduate degree showed significantly lower decision authority than Australia-born workers. This study suggests that skill discretion and job complexity but not decision authority is associated with migrant status. Migrants with high educational attainment from Non-English-speaking countries appear to be most affected by lower skill discretion/job complexity and decision authority however, differences in skill discretion and job complexity attenuate over time for Non-ESC-born migrants, consistent with an acculturation effect. Low skill discretion and job complexity, to the extent that it overlaps with underemployment, may adversely affect migrant workers’ well-being. Targeted language skill support could facilitate migrant integration into the Australian labour market.
Exposure to wet work in working Australians
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-09-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1600-0536.2011.01975.X
Abstract: The Australian National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance (NHEWS) Survey 2008 was a cross-sectional survey undertaken by Safe Work Australia to inform the development of exposure prevention initiatives for occupational disease. This is a descriptive study of workplace exposures. To assess the occupational and demographic characteristics of workers reporting exposure to wet work. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with 4500 workers. Two wet work exposure outcomes (frequent washing of hands and duration of time spent at work with the hands immersed in liquids) were analysed. The response rate for the study was 42.3%. For hand-washing, 9.8% [95% confidence interval (CI) 8.9-10.7] reported washing their hands more than 20 times per day. For immersion of hands in liquids, 4.5% (95% CI 3.9-5.1) reported immersion for more than 2 hr per day. Females were more likely to report exposure to frequent hand-washing than males [odds ratio (OR) 1.97, 95% CI 1.49-2.61]. Workers in the lowest occupational skill level jobs were more likely to report increased exposure to hands immersed in liquids than those in the highest (OR 6.41, 95% CI 3.78-10.88). Workers reporting skin exposure to chemicals were more likely to report exposure to hand-washing (OR 3.68, 95% CI 2.91-4.66) and immersion of the hands in liquids (OR 4.09, 95% CI 2.92-5.74). Specific groups of workers reported high levels of exposure to wet work. There were differences between the profiles of workers reporting frequent hand-washing and workers reporting increased duration of exposure to hands immersed in liquids. We also found a high correlation between wet work and chemical exposure.
Psychosocial job characteristics and mental health: Do associations differ by migrant status in an Australian working population sample?
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-11-2020
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0242906
Abstract: Migrant workers may experience higher burdens of occupational injury and illness compared to native-born workers, which may be due to the differential exposure to occupational hazards, differential vulnerability to exposure-associated health impacts, or both. This study aims to assess if the relationships between psychosocial job characteristics and mental health vary by migrant status in Australia (differential vulnerability). A total of 8969 persons from wave 14 (2014–2015) of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey were included in the analysis. Psychosocial job characteristics included skill discretion, decision authority and job insecurity. Mental health was assessed via a Mental Health Inventory-5 score (MHI-5), with a higher score indicating better mental health. Migrant status was defined by (i) country of birth (COB), (ii) the combination of COB and English/Non-English dominant language of COB and (iii) the combination of COB and years since arrival in Australia. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age and educational attainment. Migrant status was analysed as an effect modifier of the relationships between psychosocial job characteristics and mental health. Skill discretion and decision authority were positively associated with the MHI-5 score while job insecurity was negatively associated with the MHI-5 score. We found no statistical evidence of migrant status acting as an effect modifier of the psychosocial job characteristic―MHI-5 relationships. With respect to psychosocial job characteristic―mental health relationships, these results suggest that differential exposure to job stressors is a more important mechanism than differential vulnerability for generating occupational health inequities between migrants and native-born workers in Australia.
Working hours, common mental disorder and suicidal ideation among junior doctors in Australia: a cross-sectional survey
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2019-033525
Abstract: Despite concern regarding high rates of mental illness and suicide amongst the medical profession, the link between working hours and doctors’ mental health remains unclear. This study examines the relationship between average weekly working hours and junior doctors’ (JDs’) mental health in Australia. A randomly selected s le of 42 942 Australian doctors were invited to take part in an anonymous Beyondblue National Mental Health Survey in 2013, of whom 12 252 doctors provided valid data (response rate approximately 27%). The s le of interest comprised 2706 full-time graduate medical trainees in various specialties, at either intern, prevocational or vocational training stage. Consultants and retired doctors were excluded. Main outcomes of interest were caseness of common mental disorder (CMD) (assessed using a cut-off of 4 as a threshold on total General Health Questionnaire-28 score), presence of suicidal ideation (SI) (assessed with a single item) and average weekly working hours. Logistic regression modelling was used to account for the impact of age, gender, stage of training, location of work, specialty, marital status and whether JDs had trained outside Australia. JDs reported working an average of 50.1 hours per week (SD=13.4). JDs who worked over 55 hours a week were more than twice as likely to report CMD (adjusted OR=2.05 95% CI 1.62 to 2.59, p .001) and SI (adjusted OR=2.00 95% CI 1.42 to 2.81, p .001) compared to those working 40–44 hours per week. Our results show that around one in four JDs are currently working hours that are associated with a doubling of their risk of common mental health problems and SI. These findings suggest that management of working hours represents an important focus for workplaces to improve the mental health of medical trainees.
Are there bidirectional relationships between psychosocial work characteristics and depressive symptoms? A fixed effects analysis of Swedish national panel survey data
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 04-05-2019
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2018-105450
Abstract: Psychosocial work characteristics have been prospectively associated with depressive symptoms. However, methodological limitations have raised questions regarding causality. It is also unclear to what extent depressive symptoms affect the experience of the psychosocial work environment. We examined contemporaneous (measured simultaneously) and lagged bidirectional relationships between psychosocial work characteristics and depressive symptoms, simultaneously controlling for time-stable in idual characteristics. We included 3947 subjects in the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), with self-reported job demands, control, social support, work efforts, rewards, procedural justice and depressive symptoms in four waves 2010–2016. We applied dynamic panel models with fixed effects, using structural equation modelling, adjusting for all time-stable in idual characteristics such as personality and pre-employment factors. Higher levels of job demands, job demands in relation to control, work efforts and efforts in relation to rewards were contemporaneously associated with more depressive symptoms (standardised β: 0.18–0.25, p .001), while higher levels of workplace social support, rewards at work and procedural justice were associated with less depressive symptoms (β: −0.18, p .001,β: –0.16, p .001 and β: −0.09, p .01, respectively). In contrast, only work efforts predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms 2 years later (β: 0.05, p .05). No other lagged associations were found in any direction. After controlling for all time-invariant confounding, our results suggest that psychosocial work characteristics predominantly affect depressive symptoms immediately or with only a short time lag. Furthermore, we found no evidence of reverse causation. This indicates short-term causal associations, although the temporal precedence of psychosocial work characteristics remains uncertain.
Work-related and nonwork stressors, PTSD, and psychological distress: Prevalence and attributable burden among Australian police and emergency services employees.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 10-2022
DOI: 10.1037/TRA0000536
Abstract: Police and emergency services personnel are at an increased risk of developing mental health issues. We sought to compare patterns of exposure to work-related and nonwork stressors and associations with posttraumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress among police and emergency services employees. A total of 14,868 employees from 33 ambulance, fire and rescue, police, and state emergency service agencies around Australia participated in a survey to assess the prevalence of exposure to work-related and nonwork stressors, and the prevalence of mental health conditions. Associations between work and nonwork stressors and mental health problems were estimated using logistic regression models and population attributable risk (PAR) percentages. Traumatic events experienced while working in the police and emergency services sector were the most frequently reported stressor (51%). Stressful events experienced at work in the sector were associated with significantly higher levels of suspected posttraumatic stress symptoms (odds ratio = 4.5, PAR = 65%) and high psychological distress (odds ratio = 2.5, PAR = 40%) compared to stressors experienced away from the sector. Stressors experienced at work are a risk factor for developing posttraumatic stress symptoms and distress in the sector. Organizations should have comprehensive policies and programs to help prevent the development of mental health problems and to support personnel who develop mental health problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Differentiation of cultured epithelial cells: response to toxic agents.
Publisher: Environmental Health Perspectives
Date: 03-1989
DOI: 10.1289/EHP.8980239
Abstract: Cell culture systems are instrumental in elucidating regulation of normal function and mechanisms of its perturbation by toxic substances. To this end, three applications of epithelial cells cultured with 3T3 feeder layer support are described. First, treatment of the premalignant human epidermal keratinocyte line SCC-12F2 with the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate suppressed cell growth and differentiation. This agent produced a biphasic growth response greatly inhibiting cell growth at 1 to 10 nM, but much less above 100 nM. Expression of the differentiated functions involucrin and transglutaminase was found to be inhibited markedly at concentrations above 10 nM. Second, 3-methylcholanthrene toxicity was surveyed in a variety of rat epithelial cell types. The two most sensitive to growth inhibition were epidermal and mammary epithelial cells, while those from bladder, prostate, thyroid, and endometrium were insensitive to growth inhibition. Great differences were evident even among those cells derived from stratified squamous epithelia (epidermal, esophageal, vaginal, forestomach) despite their expression of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activities to similar degrees. Finally, expression of estrogen receptors in rat endometrial cells was shown to be stimulated by the cAMP-elevating agent forskolin. Maximal stimulation of 3- to 6-fold occurred in 6 hr, compatible with a requirement for protein synthesis. Although expressing keratinocyte character (transglutaminase activity and envelope forming ability), the cells thus retain some hormonal character that may be modulated by cAMP-dependent kinase activity. Pursuit of such results will aid in understanding differences in response among cell types and species, in elucidating mechanisms of action of known toxic substances and, ultimately, in predicting toxicity of less well understood agents.
The Challenges of Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Interventions
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 02-09-2009
DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780199211913.003.0019
Abstract: This article discusses the practical challenges and difficulties in introducing and evaluating organizational interventions. Its overall purpose is to examine the key steps involved in planning, implementing, and evaluating organizational well-being interventions and identify the major challenges confronting coordinators at each stage of the program planning, implementation, and evaluation cycle. It draws on the literature to identify the strategies coordinators can employ to help overcome these challenges. The intervention development and evaluation framework presented in this article, as well as the likely challenges and suggested means of addressing these challenges, have been largely informed by the workplace health promotion and organizational development literature. These disciplines are underpinned by guiding principles and values that have influenced both the content of the planning framework and the methods for overcoming key challenges.
Time trends in socio-economic inequalities for women and men with disabilities in Australia: evidence of persisting inequalities
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2013
Sickness Absence and Psychosocial Job Quality: An Analysis From a Longitudinal Survey of Working Australians, 2005–2012
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-04-2015
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWU355
The relationship between an electronic mental health stigma campaign and suicidal thoughts and behaviours: a two-arm randomized controlled trial in the Australian construction industry
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-05-2020
Abstract: Males employed in the construction industry are at greater risk of suicide than other employed males. It is plausible that a high level of stigma against mental health problems explains the elevated rates of suicide among this group. This study sought to test the effectiveness of an electronic mental health stigma intervention on suicide ideation, communication about suicide and attempts. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a series of brief contact interventions over a 6-week period or a wait list control. Suicidal ideation, communication about suicide and suicide attempts were assessed using the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised at post-intervention. We used linear regression to assess effectiveness at post-intervention, adjusting for relevant covariates using both conventional methods and a propensity score approach. Results indicate that the intervention had no significant impact on suicidal thoughts, communication or suicide attempts. There was some indication that in iduals in the intervention group reported a slight increase in attempts and communication about suicide. These observations underscore an urgent need for more research to understand the complex and nuanced relationship between stigma and suicide in non-clinical populations.
Mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in a cross-sectional sample of australian university students: a comparison of domestic and international students
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-01-2023
DOI: 10.1186/S12889-023-15123-X
Abstract: There are growing concerns about the mental health of university students in Australia and internationally, with universities, governments and other stakeholders actively developing new policies and practices. Previous research suggests that many students experience poor mental health while at university, and that the risk may be heightened for international students. Mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours are modifiable determinants of mental health and thus suitable targets for intervention. This study assessed the mental health-related knowledge, stigmatising attitudes, helping behaviours, and self-reported experiences of mental health problems in the student population of a large multi-c us Australian university, and conducted a comparative assessment of international and domestic students. Participants were 883 international and 2,852 domestic students (overall response rate 7.1%) who completed an anonymous voluntary online survey that was sent to all enrolled students in July 2019 (n = ~ 52,341). Various measures of mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and helping behaviours were assessed. A comparative analysis of international and domestic students was conducted, including adjustment for age and sex. Overall, there was evidence of improvements in mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours relative to previous studies, including higher depression recognition, intentions to seek help, and reported help-seeking behaviour. Comparative analysis indicated that international students scored predominantly lower on a range of indicators (e.g., depression recognition, awareness of evidence-based forms of help) however, differences were narrower difference between the two groups compared to what has been reported previously. Finally, some indicators were more favourable among international students, such as higher help-seeking intentions, and lower prevalence of self-reported mental health problems compared to domestic students. Though there were some important differences between domestic and international students in this study, differences were narrower than observed in previous studies. Study findings are informing the on-going implementation and refinement of this university’s student mental health strategy, and may be used to inform evolving policy and practice in the university sector.
Perception of Mattering and Suicide Ideation in the Australian Working Population: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Survey
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-03-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S10597-016-0002-X
Abstract: Thoughts about suicide are a risk factor for suicide deaths and attempts and are associated with a range of mental health outcomes. While there is considerable knowledge about risk factors for suicide ideation, there is little known about protective factors. The current study sought to understand the role of perceived mattering to others as a protective factor for suicide in a working s le of Australians using a cross-sectional research design. Logistic regression analysis indicated that people with a higher perception that they mattered had lower odds of suicide ideation than those with lower reported mattering, after controlling for psychological distress, demographic and relationship variables. These results indicate the importance of further research and intervention studies on mattering as a lever for reducing suicidality. Understanding more about protective factors for suicide ideation is important as this may prevent future adverse mental health and behavioural outcomes.
Recommendations for and compliance with social restrictions during implementation of school closures in the early phase of the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 outbreak in Melbourne, Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-09-2011
Precarious work and the covid-19 pandemic: the need for a gender equality focus
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 30-01-2023
Correction: Evaluation of a workplace suicide prevention program in the Australian manufacturing industry: protocol for a cluster-randomised trial of MATES in manufacturing
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-02-2023
Suicide among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 31-10-2018
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3682
Abstract: Objectives This review aimed to quantify suicide risk among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers and study potential variations of risk within this population. Methods We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis from 1995 to 2016 using MEDLINE and following the PRISMA guidelines. A pooled effect size of suicide risk among the population of interest was calculated using meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses were conducted to investigate whether effect size differed according to population or study characteristics. Meta-regression was used to identify sources of heterogeneity. Results The systematic review identified 65 studies, of which 32 were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled effect size was 1.48 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.30-1.68] representing an excess of suicide risk among the population of interest. Subgroup analysis showed that this effect size varied according to geographic area, with a higher effect size in Japan. The following study characteristics were found to contribute to the between-study variance: reference group, measure of effect size, and study design. Conclusions Our findings suggest an excess of suicide risk among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers and demonstrated that this excess may be even higher for these groups in Japan. This review highlights the need for suicide prevention policies focusing on this specific population of workers. More research is also needed to better understand the underlying factors that may increase suicide risk in this population.
A New Online Mental Health Training Program for Workplace Managers: Pre-Post Pilot Study Assessing Feasibility, Usability, and Possible Effectiveness (Preprint)
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 28-03-2018
Abstract: ental health has become the leading cause of sickness absence in high-income countries. Managers can play an important role in establishing mentally healthy workplaces and coordinating their organization’s response to a mentally ill worker. his pilot study aims to evaluate the feasibility, usability, and likely effectiveness of a newly developed online training program for managers called HeadCoach. HeadCoach aims to build managers’ confidence in supporting the mental health needs of staff and promote managerial behavior most likely to result in a more mentally healthy workplace. n total, 66 managers from two organizations were invited to participate in this pre-post pilot study of HeadCoach, which was made available to managers to complete at their own pace over a 4-week period. Data were collected at baseline and post intervention via an online research platform. The difference in mean scores for each outcome between these two time points was calculated using paired s les t tests. f all the invited managers, 59.1% (39/66) participated in the trial, with complete pre–post data available for 56.4% (22/39) of the participants. The majority of respondents reported positive engagement with the program. During the study period, managers’ knowledge regarding their role in managing mental health issues (P=.01) and their confidence in communicating with employees regarding mental illness (P .001) significantly increased. In addition, a significant increase was observed from the baseline in managers’ self-reported actions to use strategies to prevent and decrease stress among their team members (P=.02). lthough caution is needed due to the absence of a control group, preliminary results of this study suggest that HeadCoach could be a feasible, acceptable, and efficient method of training managers in best workplace practices to help support the mental health needs of their staff.
Do psychosocial job stressors influence mental health service use? Evidence from an Australian cohort
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-03-2019
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2018-105440
Abstract: There is strong evidence of a relationship between psychosocial job stressors and mental health at the population level. There has been no longitudinal research on whether the experience of job stressors is also associated with greater mental health service use. We seek to fill this gap. The Household Income Labour Dynamics in Australia survey cohort was used to assess the relationship between exposure to self-reported psychosocial job quality and reporting attendance at a mental health professional during the past 12 months. We adjusted for time-varying and time-invariant confounders. The study was conducted in 2009 and 2013. In the random effects logistic regression model, increasing exposure to psychosocial job stressors was associated with an increased odds of mental health service use after adjustment (one stressor: OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.56 two stressors: OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.73 three stressors: OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.28 to 2.57). However, once the between person effects were controlled in a fixed effects model, the within-person association between change in job stressors and change in mental health service use was estimated to be close to zero and not significant. More work is needed to understand the relationship between job stressors and service use. However, when taken with past findings on job stressors and mental health, these findings highlight the importance of considering policy and clinical practice responses to adverse working contexts.
Disabling working environments and mental health: A commentary
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.DHJO.2019.06.002
Abstract: Employment is a fundamental Social Determinant of Health known to have large impacts on mental health and other health outcomes. Across many countries of the world, people with disabilities are much more likely to be unemployed and looking for work than those without disabilities. The deprivation of employment opportunities is likely to have notable impacts on the health of people with disabilities. In this commentary, we outline the concept of "disabling working environments," which are defined as the range of experiences that affect the likelihood of people with disabilities in obtaining and maintaining quality employment which may then affect a disabled person's health. Disabling working environments are comprised of the following three mutually reinforcing components: 1) Differential selection into work 2) Selection into certain types of jobs and exposure to poor psychosocial working environments when in employment, and 3) Differential selection out of work (e.g., leaving employment at an earlier age than those who do not have a disability). We argue that policy and intervention design should consider the life course effects of employment on the mental health of people with disabilities.
Promoting Workplace Mental Wellbeing
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2020
Age and gender differences in the influence of social support on mental health: a longitudinal fixed-effects analysis using 13 annual waves of the HILDA cohort
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.PUHE.2016.06.029
Abstract: Perceived social support is associated with better mental health. There has been limited attention to how these relationships are modified by age and gender. We assessed this topic using 13 years of cohort data. Prospective cohort study. The outcome was the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5), a reliable and valid screening instrument for mood disorders. The main exposure was a social support scale composed of 10 items. We used longitudinal fixed-effects regression modelling to investigate within-person changes in mental health. Analytic models controlled for within-person sources of bias. We controlled for time-related factors by including them into regression modelling. The provision of higher levels of social support was associated with greater improvements in mental health for people aged under 30 years than for older age groups. The mental health of females appeared to benefit slightly more from higher levels of social support than males. Improvements in the MHI-5 were on a scale that could be considered clinically significant. The benefits of social support for young people may be connected to age-related transitions in self-identity and peer friendship networks. Results for females may reflect their tendency to place greater emphasis on social networks than males.
Total worker health.
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1037/0000149-000
Building more supportive and inclusive public sector working environments: a case study from the Australian community health sector
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Date: 28-02-2013
Submission to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Job Security on the Impact of Insecure or Precarious Employment on the Economy, Wages, Social Cohesion, and Workplace Rights and Conditions
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-07-2022
DOI: 10.1177/10482911211032946
Abstract: The Australian Senate announced a Select Committee in December of 2020 “to inquire into and report on the impact of insecure or precarious employment on the economy, wages, social cohesion and workplace rights and conditions.” This New Solutions “Document” is a submission to the Australian Senate from independent Australian researchers focusing on the role of perceived job (in)security in this context, acknowledging that it only briefly addresses the role of unemployment, precarious employment, and other aspects of the broader phenomenon of insecure work. Submissions closed in March of 2021, and the Australian Senate is due to report its findings on 30 November 2021.
Systematic review of the effectiveness of health promotion interventions targeting obesity prevention in school-based staff
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 06-2022
Abstract: School-based employee interventions can benefit the health of staff and have the potential to influence the health of school students through role-modelling. However, interventions within schools typically focus on students, with very few studies addressing obesity and related health behaviours among school staff. A systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature published between January 2000 and May 2020 was undertaken to synthesize the evidence on the impact that school-based obesity prevention programmes have on the staff they employ. Search terms were derived from four major topics: (i) school (ii) staff (iii) health promotion and (iv) obesity. Terms were adapted for six databases and three independent researchers screened results. Studies were included if they reported on the outcomes of body weight, dietary behaviours and/or physical activity. Of 3483 papers identified in the search, 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. All 13 studies included an intervention that focussed on improving nutrition, physical activity or both. All included studies demonstrated a positive outcome for either dietary intake, weight or body mass index or physical activity outcomes, however not all results were statistically significant. The included studies showed promising, although limited, impacts on employee health outcomes. This review demonstrated a lack of global focus and investment in interventions targeting school staff, particularly in contrast to the large amount of research on school-based health promotion initiatives focussed on students. There is a need for further research to understand effective interventions to promote health and prevent obesity in this large, erse and influential workforce.
Response to letter to the editor: The challenging topic of suicide across occupational groups
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 08-12-2018
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3698
Abstract: We thank Dr Rahman Shiri (1) for his careful reading of our systematic review and meta-analysis on suicide among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers (2). Our paper had the objective of providing a pooled effect size of suicide for this occupational group. Suicide is a crucial issue in public and occupational health. Suicide has a multifactorial etiology and recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have pointed out the role of occupational exposures, mainly psychosocial work stressors, as risk factors for suicide (3, 4). Suicide is a very rare event in the general population and still more seldom in the working population. Indeed, unemployed and economically inactive people have a higher risk of suicide compared to employed people (5, 6). However, the total number of suicides is greater in the employed population than among the economically inactive or unemployed (6). Shiri's letter (1) questioned several aspects of our review and meta-analysis. One comment related to the single reference database used in our review and a suggestion that our review could not be considered to be systematic. The review was based on Medline because our main interest was in quantitative epidemiologic studies. This is the largest database for biomedical literature and we would argue the most pertinent. Furthermore, we checked the reference lists of the most recent papers and literature reviews, and Shiri did not report any paper that was missing. No review, whether searching one or more databases, can expect to be totally exhaustive. There may always be missing studies, especially if we consider grey literature. Thus we assert that our review was systematic, while acknowledging that it may not be perfectly comprehensive. Shiri suggested an absence of quality assessment of the studies included in our meta-analysis. First, quality was considered in the context of our comments in the discussion section. Second, as suggested by Rothman et al (7), quality assessment was replaced by regression analyses of the effect of each quality item (study characteristics, ie, study design, effect measure, reference group, and adjustment). Third, because most studies included in this review were based on objective data (census, administrative, or register data), they were free of many of the sources of bias that exist in studies where information on exposure and outcome must be collected from participants. Consequently, many of the items related to quality were not pertinent, such as response and follow-up rates, coverage and representativeness of the s le, selection, etc. Contrary to what Shiri suggested, all study designs can be informative in this topic because all of them are able to provide an unbiased estimate of the effect size. In addition, the prospective and case-control studies may have shortcomings. For ex le, we excluded five studies including three prospective and case-control studies in the sensibility analysis because the group of interest was defined on the basis of the exposure to chemicals (pesticides) rather than job title. Our choice to retain the least adjusted models was justified because aggregated data were used for the meta-analysis. Therefore, unless all included studies adjusted for the same covariates measured in the same way, adjusted estimates cannot be meaningfully provided in an aggregate data meta-analysis. In addition, as the objective was above all descriptive and not etiological or explanatory, and as it is the norm in the exploration of social inequalities in health (8), the results from the least (gender- and age-) adjusted models were in line with the objective. Indeed, including more adjustment variables could lead to overadjustment as they may be intermediate variables on the causal pathways between occupation and suicide. Our strategy was in line with previous meta-analyses on similar topics (9-11). Consequently, we would argue that our results are not likely to be largely due to confounding, contrary to the comment by Shiri. Indeed, the study of the contribution of underlying factors in explaining social inequalities in health outcomes is a fully-fledged topic of research (12-15), but this is relevant research to conduct after demonstrating that inequalities exist between social or occupational groups. Several of Shiri's comments were about statistical aspects of our analyses. First, it was suggested that we did not correctly extract the confidence intervals for the estimates of several studies. We disagree. We used the STATA metan suite of commands using log-transformed effect sizes and standard errors. Our figure 1 and the values of effect sizes and confidence intervals were provided by STATA, this explains why there may be small differences in these values compared with the results published in some studies. Using log-transformed effect sizes and confidence intervals, the analysis provided the same results. Second, our subgroup comparison was based on subs les that were independent. As not all studies provided information for these subgroups, each subgroup was treated as a unit of analysis. This strategy allows the use of all relevant subgroups and comparisons between them (16). Third, we were also criticized for the use of random-effects models. Random-effects models are generally more plausible for meta-analysis based on studies from the published literature, because the fixed-effect model assumed that the entire corpus of literature has been obtained, ie, that every study has been or ever will be written on the topic has been included, which is an implausible assumption. We also assumed differences in effect size between studies and between subgroups, and the use of random-effects models was consistent with such an assumption. However, random-effects models produce wider confidence intervals compared to fixed-effect models (16). These models are thus more conservative, making our results all the more robust. One of Shiri's comments related to the reference group used in the studies for the comparison of agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers. Although we reported that the studies using a specific occupational group as reference group provided a higher effect size than the studies using other reference groups, we did not explicitly recognize and state in the paper that the results for Japan were based on two studies using a specific occupational group as reference we concede that this may explain why we found a much more elevated effect size for Japan. Shiri's results (1) allow to conclude that the difference between Japan and the other geographic areas could be explained by the choice of reference group-we are grateful to him for raising this point. However, we would note that the effect size of suicide was still elevated and significant for agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers even after this change in the reference group for these two studies. Nevertheless, the choice of the optimal reference group is not obvious. If we consider the general population as the reference group, as unemployed people and economically inactive people (including people who may not be working due to illness or disability) are part of it and have a higher risk of suicide than employed people, the effect size provided by the nine studies using the general population as the reference is likely to be underestimated, which may contribute to an underestimation of the observed effect size of suicide among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers in our study. The comparison was made in our paper with the other occupational groups (ie, the working population except the group of interest) as the reference, which was used by nine other studies, but this did not allow to determine the exact rank of the group of interest in the occupational hierarchy. Another relevant choice would have been to retain the group with the lowest suicide risk (for ex le, the high-skilled occupational group) as the reference, which would have led to a much higher effect size of suicide for agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers. To conclude, as statistical power in detecting differences between subgroups may be low in subgroup analyses and meta-regression, the absence of significant results according to subgroups found in our results cannot be interpreted as evidence that the effect size is the same across subgroups. Consequently, our meta-analysis reporting a significant excess of risk of suicide among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers may also be a good incentive for more research among this group of workers to (i) confirm this observed excess of risk using differing methodological approaches to meta-analysis and (ii) explore the potential differences within this group and the underlying factors that may explain this excess of risk. References 1. Shiri R. Suicide among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers. Scand J Work Environ Health - online first. 0.5271/sjweh.3697 2. Klingelschmidt J, Milner A, Khireddine-Medouni I, Witt K, Alexopoulos EC, Toivanen S, et al. Suicide among agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Scand J Work Environ Health - online first. 0.5271/sjweh.3682 3. Milner A, Witt K, LaMontagne AD, Niedhammer I. Psychosocial job stressors and suicidality: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Occup Environ Med - online first. 0.1136/oemed-2017-104531 4. Leach LS, Poyser C, Butterworth P. Workplace bullying and the association with suicidal ideation/thoughts and behaviour: a systematic review. Occup Environ Med. 2017 (1):72-9. 0.1136/oemed-2016-103726 5. Milner A, Page A, LaMontagne AD. Long-term unemployment and suicide: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2013 (1):e51333. 0.1371/journal.pone.0051333 6. Milner A, Morrell S, Lamontagne AD. Economically inactive, unemployed and employed suicides in Australia by age and sex over a 10-year period: what was the impact of the 2007 economic recession? Int J Epidemiol. 2014 (5):1500-7. 0.1093/ije/dyu148 7. Rothman KJ, Greenland S, Lash TL. Modern Epidemiology - Third Edition. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2008. 8. Lundberg I, Hemmingsson T, Hogstedt C. Work and social inequalities in health in Europe. Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang SA 2007. 9. Milner A, Spittal MJ, Pirkis J, Lamontagne AD. Suicide by occupation: systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry. 2013 (6):409-16. 0.1192/bjp.bp.113.128405 10. Lorant V, Deliege D, Eaton W, Robert A, Philippot P, Ansseau M. Socioeconomic inequalities in depression: a meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2003 (2):98-112. 0.1093/aje/kwf182 11. Grittner U, Kuntsche S, Gmel G, Bloomfield K. Alcohol consumption and social inequality at the in idual and country levels--results from an international study. Eur J Public Health. 2013 (2):332-9. 0.1093/eurpub/cks044 12. Niedhammer I, Bourgkard E, Chau N. Occupational and behavioural factors in the explanation of social inequalities in premature and total mortality: a 12.5-year follow-up in the Lorhandicap study. Eur J Epidemiol. 2011 (1):1-12. 0.1007/s10654-010-9506-9 13. Niedhammer I, Chastang JF, David S, Kelleher C. The contribution of occupational factors to social inequalities in health: findings from the national French SUMER survey. Soc Sci Med. 2008 (11):1870-81. 0.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.007 14. Chazelle E, Lemogne C, Morgan K, Kelleher CC, Chastang JF, Niedhammer I. Explanations of educational differences in major depression and generalised anxiety disorder in the Irish population. J Affect Disord. 2011 (1-3):304-14. 0.1016/j.jad.2011.05.049 15. Niedhammer I, Lesuffleur T, Coutrot T, Chastang JF. Contribution of working conditions to occupational inequalities in depressive symptoms: results from the national French SUMER survey. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2016 (6):1025-37.0.1007/s00420-016-1142-6 16. Borenstein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JPT, Rothstein HR. Introduction to meta-analysis: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-05724-7 2009. 0.1002/9780470743386.
The association between young age at first birth and mental health later in life: does the effect vary by birth cohort?
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-2016
P215 Measuring occupational health and safety vulnerability: what can it add to our understanding of injury risk and primary prevention activities
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Date: 09-2016
The Intervention Research Process in Occupational Safety and Health: An Overview From the National Occupational Research Agenda Intervention Effectiveness Research Team
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2001
DOI: 10.1097/00043764-200107000-00008
Abstract: The goal of occupational safety and health intervention effectiveness research is to determine whether specific interventions work to prevent work-related injury and illness. But that is not the whole story. It is also important that the development and implementation of the intervention be evaluated. All three phases (development, implementation, and effectiveness) are central to a model of intervention research proposed by the National Occupational Research Agenda Intervention Effectiveness Research team. Areas for future research are also presented.
Strengthening respiratory protection from SARS-CoV-2 in certain general practice contexts
Publisher: The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Date: 30-09-2020
Psychosocial job stressors and thoughts about suicide among males: a cross-sectional study from the first wave of the Ten to Men cohort
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.PUHE.2017.02.003
Abstract: Psychosocial job stressors are known to be associated with poor mental health. This research seeks to assess the relationship between psychosocial working conditions and suicidal ideation using a large dataset of Australian males. Cross-sectional study. Data from wave 1 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men) was used to assess the association between suicidal ideation in the past two weeks and psychosocial working conditions using logistic regression. The s le included 11,052 working males. The exposures included self-reported low job control, high job demands, job insecurity and low fairness of pay. We controlled for relevant confounders. In multivariable analysis, persons who were exposed to low job control (odds ratio [OR] 1.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.26, P = 0.003), job insecurity (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.44-1.99, P < 0.001) and unfair pay (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.11-1.27, P < 0.001) reported elevated odds of thoughts about suicide. Males employed casually or on fixed-term contracts reported higher odds of suicidal ideation (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.09-1.61, P = 0.005). Psychosocial job stressors are highly prevalent in the working population and workplace suicide prevention efforts should aim to address these as possible risk factors.
Psychosocial work stressors and risk of mortality in Australia: analysis of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 23-01-2020
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2019-106001
Abstract: To examine the association between exposures to psychosocial work stressors and mortality in a nationally representative Australian working population s le. 18 000 participants from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey with self-reported job demands, job control, job security and fair pay psychosocial work stressors exposures at baseline were followed for up to 15 waves. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the association between psychosocial work stressors and mortality. Models were serially adjusted for each subgroup of demographic, socioeconomic, health and behavioural risk factors. Low job control was associated with a 39% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.39 95% CI 1.04 to 1.85), controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, health and behavioural factors. A decreased risk of mortality was observed for workers with exposure to high job demands (HR 0.76 95% CI 0.60 to 0.96, adjusted for gender and calendar), but the risk was attenuated after serially adjusting for socioeconomic status, health (HR=0.84 95% CI 0.65 to 1.08) and behavioural (HR=0.79 95% CI 0.60 to 1.04) factors. There did not appear to be an association between exposure to job insecurity (HR 1.03 95% CI 0.79 to 1.33) and mortality, or unfair pay and mortality (HR 1.04 95% CI 0.80 to 1.34). Low job control may be associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. Policy and practice interventions that reduce the adverse impact of low job control in stressful work environments could be considered to improve health and decrease risk of mortality.
A protocol for the HeadCoach trial: the development and evaluation of an online mental health training program for workplace managers
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-01-2018
Do employment factors reduce the effect of low education on mental health? A causal mediation analysis using a national panel study.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-07-2018
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYY128
Abstract: Young people with low education have worse health than those with higher education. This paper examined the extent to which employment and income reduced the adverse effects of low education on mental health among people aged 20-35 years. We used causal mediation analyses to estimate the total causal effect (TCE) of low education on mental health and to decompose the effect into the natural direct effect (NDE) and the natural indirect effect (NIE) through two mediators examined sequentially: employment (labour-force participation/occupation skill level) and income. Three waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2012-14) were used to establish a temporal sequence between low education (not completing high school), mediators and mental health [the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5)] among participants aged 20-35 years. Among those who were employed, we conducted further analyses examining the effect of job characteristics as a mediator of the relationship between low education and mental health. The TCE of low education on the MHI-5 was -3.61 [95% confidence interval (CI) -5.30 to -1.92]. The NIE through labour force status and occupational skill level was -1.09 (95% CI -2.29 to 0.10) and -1.49 (95% CI -2.79 to -0.19) through both labour-force status/occupational skill level and income, corresponding to a percentage mediated of 41%. Among the employed, education had a much smaller effect on the MHI-5. Improving employment opportunities could reduce nearly half of the adverse effects of low education on the mental health of young people.
Office spatial design attributes, sitting, and face-to-face interactions: Systematic review and research agenda
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
Validity of a Job-Exposure Matrix for Psychosocial Job Stressors: Results from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 06-04-2016
Supporting employees with mental illness and reducing mental illness-related stigma in the workplace: an expert survey
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-07-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S00406-022-01443-3
Abstract: An expert survey was designed to support the development of a workplace-based multi-country intervention tackling depression, anxiety, and mental illness-related stigma in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Academic experts and representatives of SME organisations, specific sector organisations, labour or advocacy groups, and occupational health organisations, were contacted across eight European countries and Australia. The survey comprised closed and open text questions to assess expert opinion about interventions for employees with mental health difficulties, interventions supporting their managers, and anti-stigma interventions. The survey was available in six languages. The online platform Qualtrics was used for data collection. Quantitative data was analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative data was analysed through thematic analysis. Sixty-five of 146 experts responded, representing a 42% response rate. Results showed only 26.2% of experts agreed that employees could speak openly about mental health issues, and 81.5% of experts indicated a large or medium unmet need for support for employees with mental health issues. Psychoeducational materials, face-to-face workshops and interventions based on cognitive behavioural therapy were ranked most likely to be taken up by employees. Experts rated as most useful for managers’ guidelines on how to act if an employee has mental health issues (67.7%). The greatest number of experts indicated workshops of people with lived experience of mental illness (80.0%) and awareness c aigns (78.5%) were most required to tackle stigma. Responses were consistent between experts from different countries and areas of expertise. Experts in this multinational survey assessed that interventions supporting mental health in the workplace and tackling stigma are greatly needed. A multicomponent intervention with a wide range of materials and tools is supported.
Temporal features of sitting, standing and stepping changes in a cluster-randomised controlled trial of a workplace sitting-reduction intervention
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-11-2019
DOI: 10.1186/S12966-019-0879-1
Abstract: There is now a body of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to reduce workplace sitting time. However, there has been limited reporting of how such interventions may impact behaviour both during and outside of work. Sitting, standing and stepping changes following a workplace intervention were examined across five timeframes (work time on work days non-work time on work days work days non-work days overall (i.e. work and non-work time on all days)), and the relationships between changes during and outside of work was assessed. The cluster-randomised controlled trial, ‘Stand Up Victoria’, delivered a multi-component workplace-delivered intervention that successfully reduced workplace and overall sitting time (relative to controls). Separately, over the five timeframes, changes in device (activPAL3)-assessed outcomes — sitting prolonged sitting (≥30 min bouts) standing and, stepping — were compared between intervention ( n = 114) and controls ( n = 84), along with the time-course of sitting changes during work hours, using mixed models. The potential relationships of changes during work with changes outside of work were examined using compositional data analysis. On workdays, intervention participants significantly ( p 0.05) improved their activity profile relative to controls, with reduced sitting (− 117 min/8-h workday, 95% CI: − 141, − 93) and prolonged sitting (− 77 min/8 h workday, 95% CI: − 101, − 52) increased standing (114 min/8 h workday, 95% CI: 92, 136) and maintenance of stepping (3 min/8 h workday, 95% CI: − 7, 11, p = 0.576). Effects were nearly identical for time at work similar but slightly weaker for overall and, small and non-significant outside of work on workdays and non-work days. Improvements occurred at all times, but not equally, during work hours ( p 0.001). Correlations between changes during and outside of work on workdays were very weak in both the intervention group ( r = − 0.07) and controls ( r = − 0.09). Sitting time was reduced almost exclusively during work hours (via replacement with standing), with reductions evident during all working hours, to varying degrees. There was no evidence of compensation, with minimal change in activity outside of work, in response to changes in activity at work. Future interventions may benefit from exploring how best to elicit change throughout the whole day, and across work and non-work domains. This trial was prospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials register (ACTR N12611000742976 ) on 15 July 2011
Workplace mental health: Developing an integrated intervention approach
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-05-2014
Fair relationships and policies to support family day care educators’ mental health: a qualitative study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-11-2014
Testing a Model of Officer Intentions to Quit
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-12-2013
Abstract: Voluntary turnover among law enforcement personnel is a significant concern. However, few studies have considered potential intermediate linkages in the relationship between working conditions and officers’ quit/stay intentions. Utilizing a large cross-sectional s le of U.K.-based officers ( n = 1,789, response rate = 25%), a mediational model of officer turnover intentions was tested. Findings indicated that a number of key psychosocial conditions specified in the U.K. Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool (e.g., job demands, role clarity) were associated with officer intentions to leave however, when job stress and job satisfaction were entered into the model, these relationships were either reduced, or no longer significant. Findings indicated that task-oriented conditions were more strongly associated with job stress while relational or socially oriented conditions were stronger predictors of job satisfaction. These results highlight that monitoring stress and satisfaction may be a valuable component of officer retention efforts, and could offer early-warning of impending turnover among staff.
Depression literacy and help-seeking in Australian police.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-02-2018
Abstract: To assess depression literacy, help-seeking and help-offering to others in members of the police force in the state of Victoria, Australia. All staff in police stations involved in a cluster randomised controlled trial of an integrated workplace mental health intervention were invited to participate. Survey questions covered sociodemographic and employment information, recognition of depression in a vignette, stigma, treatment beliefs, willingness to assist co-workers with mental health problems, help-giving and help-seeking behaviours, and intentions to seek help. Using the baseline dataset associated with the trial, the paper presents a descriptive analysis of mental health literacy and helping behaviours, comparing police station leaders and lower ranks. Respondents were 806 staff, comprising 618 lower-ranked staff and 188 leaders. Almost 84% of respondents were able to correctly label the problem described in the vignette. Among those who had helped someone with a mental health problem, both lower ranks and leaders most commonly reported ‘talking to the person’ although leaders were more likely to facilitate professional help. Leaders’ willingness to assist the person and confidence in doing so was very high, and over 80% of leaders appropriately rated police psychologists, general practitioners, psychologists, talking to a peer and contacting welfare as helpful. However, among both leaders and lower ranks with mental health problems, the proportion of those unlikely to seek professional help was greater than those who were likely to seek it. Knowledge about evidence-based interventions for depression was lower in this police s le than surveys in the general population, pointing to the need for education and training to improve mental health literacy. Such education should also aim to overcome barriers to professional help-seeking. Interventions that aim to improve mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviour appear to be suitable targets for better protecting police member mental health.
Efficacy of a workplace osteoporosis prevention intervention: A cluster randomized trial
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2016
Supporting Workers to Sit Less and Move More Through the Web-Based BeUpstanding Program: Protocol for a Single-Arm, Repeated Measures Implementation Study
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 04-05-2020
DOI: 10.2196/15756
Abstract: The web-based BeUpstanding Ch ion Toolkit was developed to support work teams in addressing the emergent work health and safety issue of excessive sitting. It provides a step-by-step guide and associated resources that equip a workplace representative—the ch ion—to adopt and deliver the 8-week intervention program (BeUpstanding) to their work team. The evidence-informed program is designed to raise awareness of the benefits of sitting less and moving more, build a supportive culture for change, and encourage staff to take action to achieve this change. Work teams collectively choose the strategies they want to implement and promote to stand up, sit less, and move more, with this bespoke and participative approach ensuring the strategies are aligned with the team’s needs and existing culture. BeUpstanding has been iteratively developed and optimized through a multiphase process to ensure that it is fit for purpose for wide-scale implementation. The study aimed to describe the current version of BeUpstanding, and the methods and protocol for a national implementation trial. The trial will be conducted in collaboration with five Australian workplace health and safety policy and practice partners. Desk-based work teams from a variety of industries will be recruited from across Australia via partner-led referral pathways. Recruitment will target sectors (small business, rural or regional, call center, blue collar, and government) that are of priority to the policy and practice partners. A minimum of 50 work teams will be recruited per priority sector with a minimum of 10,000 employees exposed to the program. A single-arm, repeated-measures design will assess the short-term (end of program) and long-term (9 months postprogram) impacts. Data will be collected on the web via surveys and toolkit analytics and by the research team via telephone calls with ch ions. The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance Framework will guide the evaluation, with assessment of the adoption/reach of the program (the number and characteristics of work teams and participating staff), program implementation (completion by the ch ion of core program components), effectiveness (on workplace sitting, standing, and moving), and maintenance (sustainability of changes). There will be an economic evaluation of the costs and outcomes of scaling up to national implementation, including intervention affordability and sustainability. The study received funding in June 2018 and the original protocol was approved by institutional review board on January 9, 2017, with national implementation trial consent and protocol amendment approved March 12, 2019. The trial started on June 12, 2019, with 48 teams recruited as of December 2019. The implementation and multimethod evaluation of BeUpstanding will provide the practice-based evidence needed for informing the potential broader dissemination of the program. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12617000682347 www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372843& isReview=true. DERR1-10.2196/15756
Prospective associations of psychosocial work exposures with mortality in France: STRESSJEM study protocol
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2019-031352
Abstract: Although evidence has been provided on the associations between psychosocial work exposures and morbidity outcomes in the literature, knowledge appears much more sparse on mortality outcomes. The objective of STRESSJEM is to explore the prospective associations between psychosocial work exposures and mortality outcomes among the national French working population. In this paper, we describe the study protocol, study population, data sources, method for exposure assessment, data analysis and future plans. Data sources will include: the data from the national SUMER survey from DARES on the evaluation of psychosocial work exposures and the data from the COSMOP programme from Santé publique France linking job history (DADS data from INSEE) and mortality according to causes of death (data from the national death registry, INSERM-CépiDc). A s le of 1 511 456 in iduals will form the studied prospective cohort for which data are available on both job history and mortality over the period 1976–2002. Psychosocial work exposures will be imputed via a job-exposure matrix using three job title variables that are available in both the SUMER and COSMOP data sets. Our objectives will be to study the associations between various psychosocial work exposures and mortality outcomes. Psychosocial work exposures will include the job strain model factors as well as other psychosocial work factors. Various measures of exposure over time will be used. All-cause and cause-specific mortality will be studied. Both the SUMER survey and the COSMOP programme have been approved by French ethics committees. Dissemination of the study results will include a series of international peer-reviewed papers and at least one paper in French. The results will be presented in national and international conferences. This project will offer a unique opportunity to explore mortality outcomes in association with psychosocial work exposures in a large national representative s le of the working population.
Descriptive study of workplace demand, control and bullying among migrant and Australian-born workers by gender: does workplace support make a difference?
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 06-2020
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2019-033652
Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between bullying in migrants and Australians and types of workplace Iso-strain, by gender. Two descriptive cross-sectional surveys of the Australian working population. Australian-born workers of Caucasian ancestry (n=1051, participant response rate=87.3%) and workers born in New Zealand (n=566), India (n=633) and the Philippines (n=431) (participant response rate=79.5%). Using logistic regression, we examined whether self-reported assessment of various forms of bullying in the workplace was associated with Iso-strain (job with high demands and low control and without social support), gender and migrant status. The prevalence of workplace bullying within the previous year was 14.5%. Sexual harassment, though rare (n=47, 1.8%), was reported by more women than men (83% vs 17%, χ 2 =19.3, p .0001) and more Australia or New Zealand born workers compared to India or the Philippines workers (75.5% vs 25.5%, χ 2 =4.6, p=0.032). Indian-born women had lower adjusted OR for being bullied and for being intimidated compared to other women. Independent of migrant status, Iso-strain (1), (low support from boss) and Iso-strain (2), (low support from colleagues) predicted being bullied. Women were more likely to be in an Iso-strain (1) job than men (18.7% vs 13.6%, p=0.013) and had twice the risk of being both verbally abused and intimidated compared to men (OR 9 vs OR 5.5, p .0001). Workplace bullying was more likely for women than men. There were few differences between workers from different migrant groups. Iso-strain was the strongest predictor of workplace bullying. Workplaces should encourage supportive and collegiate work environments.
Primary prevention of latex related sensitisation and occupational asthma: A systematic review
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 05-2006
Economic Evaluation of A Randomised Controlled Trial of An Intervention to Reduce Desk-Based Workers' Sitting Time: The Stand-Up Victoria Trial
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2018
Working hours and mental health in Australia: Evidence from an Australian population-based cohort, 2001-2012
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 22-06-2015
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2014-102791
Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of working less than or more than standard full-time hours on mental health, as well as possible differences in this relationship by gender and skill level. The study design was a longitudinal cohort with 12 annual waves of data collection over the period 2001-2012, yielding a s le of 90,637 observations from 18,420 people. Fixed effects within-person regression was used to control for time invariant confounding. The Mental Component Summary of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) measure was used as the primary outcome measure. Working hours over the preceding year was measured in five categories with standard full-time hours (35-40 h/week) as the reference. Results indicated that when respondents were working 49-59 h (-0.52, 95% CI -0.74 to -0.29, p<0.001) and 60 h or more (-0.47, 95% CI -0.77 to -0.16, p=0.003) they had worse mental health than when they were working 35-40 h/week (reference). The difference in mental health when working 49-59 h was greater for women than for men. There were greater declines in mental health in relation to longer working hours among persons in higher compared to lower occupational skill levels. Study results suggest the need for employers and governments to regulate working hours to reduce the burden of mental ill health in the working population.
COVID-19 and suicide risk in the construction sector: preparing for a perfect storm
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 18-02-2021
Abstract: Worldwide, construction industries are considered to be key economic pillars of the societies they serve, and construction workers constitute a sizeable proportion of the global paid workforce. In many parts of the world, construction workers are at elevated risk of suicide. Here, we examine the extent to which construction workers may be differentially exposed to the economic effects of COVID-19. A narrative review and synthesis of the literature was conducted. The economic and labour market shock resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a convergence of factors that may significantly exacerbate suicide risk among construction workers, particularly among those with lower skills. With important insights from previous financial crises, it is vital that governments, industry and workplaces act rapidly to mitigate suicide risk among vulnerable groups such as construction workers. Mental healthcare investment is needed, and must be complemented by prevention and control in the workplace and in the general community. Anticipating, preparing and acting to ameliorate this risk, particularly among low skilled construction workers, will save many livelihoods, as well as lives.
Counting on U training to enhance trusting relationships and mental health literacy among business advisors: protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-06-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12888-022-04034-7
Abstract: Financial distress is thought to be a key reason why small-medium enterprise (SME) owners experience higher levels of mental health conditions compared with the broader population. Business advisors who form trusting, high-quality relationships with their SME clients, are therefore well placed to: (1) help prevent/reduce key sources of financial distress, (2) better understand the business and personal needs of their clients and, (3) recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions and encourage help-seeking where appropriate. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of relationship building training (RBT) combined with mental health first aid (MHFA) training for business advisors with MHFA alone, on the financial and mental health of their SME-owner clients. This is a single blind, two-arm randomised controlled trial. Participants will be business advisors who provide information, guidance and/or assistance to SME owner clients and are in contact with them at least 3 times a year. The business advisors will invite their SME-owner clients to complete 3 online surveys at baseline, 6- and 12-months. Business advisors will be randomised to one of two conditions, using a 1:1 allocation ratio: (1) MHFA with RBT or (2) MHFA alone, and complete 3 online surveys at baseline, 2- and 6-months. Primary outcomes will be measured in the business advisors and consist of the quality of the relationship, stigmatizing attitude, confidence to offer mental health first aid, quality of life and provision of mental health first aid. Secondary outcomes will be measured in the SME owners and includes trust in their business advisors, the quality of this relationship, financial wellbeing, financial distress, psychological distress, help-seeking behaviour, and quality of life. To complement the quantitative data, we will include a qualitative process evaluation to examine what contextual factors impacted the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the training. As there is evidence for the connections between client trust, quality of relationship and financial and mental wellbeing, we hypothesise that the combined RBT and MHFA training will lead to greater improvements in these outcomes in SME owners compared with MHFA alone. ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT04982094 . Retrospectively registered 29/07/2021. The study started in February 2021 and the recruitment is ongoing.
Impact of lifetime compared to adolescent-onset mental illness on psychosocial employment quality in adulthood: analysis of a nationally representative French cohort
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-06-2018
DOI: 10.1007/S00420-018-1331-6
Abstract: We investigated prospective associations between mental illness and psychosocial employment quality using a nationally representative s le of the French working population by gender, primary diagnosis, and age of onset. 6234 employed French adults (aged 20-74 years) were followed from 2006 to 2010. All respondents provided data on 26 indicators of psychosocial employment quality drawn from the Job-Strain Model, other job stressors, and indicators of working time stressors (i.e., shift work, night work, and long working hours). We performed 272 statistical tests, of which 37 were significant following adjustment for age, poor socio-economic position during childhood, unemployment status at wave one, and anxiety or depression at wave two. Females with a lifetime diagnosis of any mental illness reported higher psychological and emotional demands at work, whilst males reported low decision latitude, tensions with the public, and work-life imbalance. In both genders a lifetime diagnosis of any mental illness was associated with role and ethical conflict. A lifetime diagnosis of major depression appeared to have stronger associations for females, whilst substance use disorder was associated with poorer psychosocial employment quality in males. Adolescent-onset mental illness might be associated with poorer psychosocial employment quality among men more so than among women. Results suggest that people with a history of mental illness who obtain employment tend to be employed in jobs characterized by poor psychosocial quality. Employment quality should be considered in vocational rehabilitation policies and practices aimed at optimizing employment participation in this population.
Psychosocial work exposures of the job strain model and cardiovascular mortality in France: results from the STRESSJEM prospective study
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 21-05-2020
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3902
A Comprehensive Worksite Cancer Prevention Intervention: Behavior Change Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial (United States)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2003
DOI: 10.2307/3343174
A hazardous substance exposure prevention rating method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation: the Small Business Exposure Index
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-03-2009
Cohort profile: Ten to men (the Australian longitudinal study on male health)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 29-09-2017
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYW055
Precarious employment, psychosocial working conditions, and health: Cross‐sectional associations in a population‐based sample of working Australians
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-02-2013
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.22176
Abstract: Precarious employment has been associated with poor health, but the potential mechanisms are unclear. We examined the relationships between precarious employment and health, and investigated psychosocial working conditions as potential mediators. A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in South Australia in 2009 (N = 1,016 employed). SF-12 measures of mental and physical health were modeled using logistic regression in relation to employment arrangement, controlling for socio-demographics, years in job and psychosocial working conditions. There was no association between casual full-time or part-time employment and poor mental health in multivariate analyses. Conversely, there was a significant association between casual full-time employment and poor physical health (compared to permanent full-time workers, OR = 3.14, 95% CI 1.26-7.85). The association with physical health was unaffected by adjustment for psychosocial working conditions. Casual full-time employment was strongly associated with poor physical health but not with poor mental health. This association was not mediated by the psychosocial working conditions measured in this study, but may be related to other (unmeasured) working conditions.
A Prospective Cohort Study of the Impact of Return-to-Work Coordinators in Getting Injured Workers Back on the Job
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-07-2017
DOI: 10.1007/S10926-017-9719-9
Abstract: Purpose To assess the impact of workplace-based return-to-work (RTW) Coordinators' interpersonal and functional activities on RTW outcomes. Methods Multivariable logistic regression analyses of cross-sectional and longitudinal survey responses of 632 injured workers with at least 10 days of work absence in Victoria, Australia, adjusting for demographic and other workplace factors. Outcome was being back at work for at least 1 month, measured at both baseline and 6 month follow-up survey. Participant responses to stressfulness of Coordinator interactions were dichotomised into good and poor and evaluated as a proxy for Coordinators' interpersonal activities, while having a RTW plan was evaluated as a proxy for functional activities. Results At baseline, RTW plans doubled the odds of RTW (OR 2.02 95% CI 1.40-2.90) and attenuated the impact of good Coordinator interactions (1.14 0.77-1.70). At 6-month follow-up, the opposite was observed: good interactions nearly doubled odds of RTW (1.90 1.22-2.95) while RTW plans were non-significant (1.02 0.68-1.54). Conclusions Differences between when the two Coordinator activities were effective may be due to the nature of claimants who RTW in each survey period. Length of shorter-duration claims are influenced by injury related factors, while psychosocial factors tend to be more important for longer-duration claims. Such factors may determine whether a claimant is more likely to respond to Coordinators' functional or interpersonal activities. The findings have important implications for increasing Coordinator effectiveness.
Cleanup Worker Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals at a Former Nuclear Weapons Plant: Piloting of an Exposure Surveillance System
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2001
Abstract: Cleanup of former U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons production facilities involves potential exposures to various hazardous chemicals. We have collaboratively developed and piloted an exposure database and surveillance system for cleanup worker hazardous chemical exposure data with a cleanup contractor at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). A unique system feature is the incorporation of a 34-category work task-coding scheme. This report presents an overview of the data captured by this system during development and piloting from March 1995 through August 1998. All air s les collected were entered into the system. Of the 859 breathing zone s les collected, 103 unique employees and 39 unique compounds were represented. Breathing zone exposure levels were usually low (86% of breathing zone s les were below analytical limits of detection). The use of respirators and other exposure controls was high (87 and 88%, respectively). Occasional high-level excursions did occur. Detailed quantitative summaries are provided for the six most monitored compounds: asbestos, beryllium, carbon tetrachloride, chromium, lead, and methylene chloride. Task and job title data were successfully collected for most s les, and showed specific cleanup activities by pipe fitters to be the most commonly represented in the database. Importantly, these results demonstrate the feasibility of the implementation of integrated exposure database and surveillance systems by practicing industrial hygienists employed in industry as well as the preventive potential and research uses of such systems. This exposure database and surveillance system--the central features of which are applicable in any industrial work setting--has enabled one of the first systematic quantitative characterizations of DOE cleanup worker exposures to hazardous chemicals.
The relationship between working conditions and self-rated health among medical doctors: evidence from seven waves of the Medicine In Australia Balancing Employment and Life (Mabel) survey
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-08-2017
The Australian longitudinal study on male health-methods
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-2016
THE AUTHORS REPLY.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 11-09-2017
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWX310
Physical workload, long-term sickness absence, and the role of social capital. Multi-level analysis of a large occupation cohort
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 16-12-2019
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3874
Medical Surveillance for Ethylene Oxide Exposure
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 02-1996
DOI: 10.1097/00043764-199602000-00012
Abstract: The medical surveillance requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) ethylene oxide (EtO) standard became effective in 1985. However, little is known about the nature of the response of EtO users to this regulatory requirement. In an effort to begin to understand this, we conducted a survey of EtO health and safety in Massachusetts hospitals (n = 92). We determined the cumulative incidence of provision of EtO medical surveillance, the characteristics of the surveillance interventions provided, and the clinical findings of EtO medical surveillance efforts in Massachusetts hospitals. From 1985 to 1993, medical surveillance for EtO exposure was provided one or more times in 62% of EtO-using hospitals. Sixty-five percent of EtO medical surveillance providers reported performance of all five medical surveillance procedures required by OSHA's EtO standard. Medical surveillance provider certification in occupational medicine or nursing, and a greater extent of coverage of written medical surveillance policies, were related to higher likelihoods of fulfillment of OSHA-required procedures. Twenty-seven percent of medical surveillance providers reported detection of EtO-related symptoms or conditions, ranging from mucous membrane irritation to peripheral neuropathy. These findings reveal wide-spread implementation of OSHA-mandated EtO medical surveillance, with concomitant incomplete fulfillment of OSHA-specified procedures. From the provider-based survey, we estimate that one or more workers at 19% of EtO-using Massachusetts hospitals have experienced EtO-related health effects.
Evaluation of a workplace suicide prevention program in the Australian manufacturing industry: protocol for a cluster-randomised trial of MATES in manufacturing
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-12-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12888-022-04464-3
Abstract: Males are at higher risk of death by suicide than females in Australia, and among men, blue-collar males are at higher risk compared to other working males. In response, MATES in Construction developed a workplace suicide prevention program for the construction sector in 2007 that has been widely implemented in Australia. In the current project, this program is being adapted and trialled in the manufacturing sector. The common aims of MATES programs are to improve suicide prevention literacy, help-seeking intentions, and helping behaviours. The program will be evaluated using a cluster randomised-controlled trial design with waitlist controls across up to 12 manufacturing worksites in Australia. We hypothesise that after 8 months of the MATES in Manufacturing program, there will be significantly greater improvements in help-seeking intentions (primary outcome) compared to waitlist controls. The project is led by Deakin University in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and in partnership with MATES in Construction and a joint labour-management Steering Group. Trial registration: The trial was registered retrospectively with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on 25 January 2022 (ACTRN12622000122752). Protocol version: 2.0, November 2022.
Corrigendum to “Office workers' objectively assessed total and prolonged sitting time: Individual-level correlates and worksite variations” (Prev. Med. Rep. (2016) 4 (184–191) (S2211335516300614)(10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.06.011))
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
Presence or absence of a G1 period in the cell cycle and growth control in a Chinese hamster cell line
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-1985
DOI: 10.1016/0014-4827(85)90452-5
Abstract: Cells of the V79-8 line grow with little or no G1 period. Serum or isoleucine deprivation results in cell death rather than entry into quiescence. Introduction of a G1 period of 4-5 h by treatment with a mutagen is not sufficient to re-establish the ability to enter quiescence. The experiments described here show that introducing a G1 period by mutation that lowers the rate of protein synthesis does not restore to the cell any competence to arrest in G1 and enter a state of quiescence.
Determinants of the Provision of Ethylene Oxide Medical Surveillance in Massachusetts Hospitals
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 02-1996
DOI: 10.1097/00043764-199602000-00013
Abstract: An in-depth survey of ethylene oxide (EtO) health and safety was conducted in Massachusetts hospitals (n = 92) to investigate the determinants of the provision of medical surveillance for EtO exposure. We have evaluated the relationships between provision of EtO medical surveillance and (1) activating OSHA-specified triggers for providing EtO medical surveillance, (2) worker training on EtO health and safety, and (3) various public policy, organizational, group, and in idual characteristics. Among the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) five specified triggers for provision of EtO medical surveillance, only accidental worker exposures were related to provision of surveillance (RR = 2.56, P < 0.001). Exceeding the Action Level for 30 or more days, one of OSHA's EtO triggers that is also used in a number of other standards, was not related to provision of surveillance (RR = 0.84, P = 0.714). Reports of coverage of EtO medical surveillance issues in worker training were also correlated with the provision of EtO medical surveillance (RR = 3.68, P < 0.001), supporting OSHA's premise that worker training plays an important role in medical surveillance implementation. The presence of detailed written EtO medical surveillance policies was positively related to the provision of EtO medical surveillance (RR = 1.81, P < 0.001). The relationships between these potential determinants and provision of medical surveillance were also validated in multivariate analyses. Implications for improvement of OSHA medical surveillance implementation through revised trigger schemes, improved worker training efforts, and other measures are discussed. Findings are relevant to the future development of medical surveillance and exposure monitoring policies and practices in both substance-specific and generic contexts.
Allison Milner: brilliant colleague, loving mum.
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 11-2019
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.50407
What is needed to make research on the psychosocial work environment and health more meaningful? Reflections and missed opportunities in IPD debates
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 19-08-2015
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3519
Psychosocial job quality, mental health, and subjective wellbeing: a cross-sectional analysis of the baseline wave of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-2016
Perceived fairness of pay among people with and without disabilities: a propensity score matched analysis of working Australians
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 17-07-2015
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3515
Workplace bullying a risk for permanent employees
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1753-6405.2011.00780.X
Abstract: We tested the hypothesis that the risk of experiencing workplace bullying was greater for those employed on casual contracts compared to permanent or ongoing employees. A cross-sectional population-based telephone survey was conducted in South Australia in 2009. Employment arrangements were classified by self-report into four categories: permanent, casual, fixed-term and self-employed. Self-report of workplace bullying was modelled using multiple logistic regression in relation to employment arrangement, controlling for sex, age, working hours, years in job, occupational skill level, marital status and a proxy for socioeconomic status. Workplace bullying was reported by 174 respondents (15.2%). Risk of workplace bullying was higher for being in a professional occupation, having a university education and being separated, orced or widowed, but did not vary significantly by sex, age or job tenure. In adjusted multivariate logistic regression models, casual workers were significantly less likely than workers on permanent or fixed-term contracts to report bullying. Those separated, orced or widowed had higher odds of reporting bullying than married, de facto or never-married workers. Contrary to expectation, workplace bullying was more often reported by permanent than casual employees. It may represent an exposure pathway not previously linked with the more idealised permanent employment arrangement. A finer understanding of psycho-social hazards across all employment arrangements is needed, with equal attention to the hazards associated with permanent as well as casual employment.
O3E.3 Changes in job security and mental health: an analysis of 14 annual waves of an australian working population panel survey
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 04-2019
Abstract: There is increasing recognition of job insecurity as an emerging issue in public health. We sought to examine whether job security improvements were associated with improvements in mental health in a large, working population-representative repeated-measures panel study. We used both within-person fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) regression to analyse data from 14 annual waves of a national Australian survey (19 169 persons, 1 06 942 observations). Mental Health Inventory-5 scores (outcome) were modeled in relation to self-reported job security (categorical, quintiles), adjusting for age, year, education, and job change in the past year. Both FE and RE models showed stepwise improvements in MHI-5 scores with improving job security, with stronger exposure-outcome relationships in the RE models, and for men compared to women. All models showed roughly monotonic improvements in MHI-5 score by quintile of improvement in job security. The strongest relationship was observed in the RE model for males: for a one-quintile improvement in job security, beta=2.06 [1.67, 2.46], and the following for two- (3.94 [3.54, 4.34]), three- (5.82 [5.40, 6.24]), and four- (7.18 [6.71, 7.64]) quintile improvements. The FE model for males produced slightly smaller coefficients, reaching a maximum of 5.55 [5.06, 6.05] for a four-quintile improvement. This Australian national panel study showed a strong dose-response relationship between job security and depression and anxiety symptoms. Stronger causal inference over previous observational research is supported by the dose-response finding and the relative consistency of the FE and RE results. Policy and practice intervention to improve job security could benefit population health.
Cause and effect in studies on unemployment, mental health and suicide: a meta-analytic and conceptual review
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-07-2013
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291713001621
Abstract: There are ongoing questions about whether unemployment has causal effects on suicide as this relationship may be confounded by past experiences of mental illness. The present review quantified the effects of adjustment for mental health on the relationship between unemployment and suicide. Findings were used to develop and interpret likely causal models of unemployment, mental health and suicide. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted on five population-based cohort studies where temporal relationships could be clearly ascertained. Results of the meta-analysis showed that unemployment was associated with a significantly higher relative risk (RR) of suicide before adjustment for prior mental health [RR 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33–1.83]. After controlling for mental health, the RR of suicide following unemployment was reduced by approximately 37% (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.00–1.30). Greater exposure to unemployment was associated with higher RR of suicide, and the pooled RR was higher for males than for females. Plausible interpretations of likely pathways between unemployment and suicide are complex and difficult to validate given the poor delineation of associations over time and analytic rationale for confounder adjustment evident in the revised literature. Future research would be strengthened by explicit articulation of temporal relationships and causal assumptions. This would be complemented by longitudinal study designs suitable to assess potential confounders, mediators and effect modifiers influencing the relationship between unemployment and suicide.
Pre-existing low-back symptoms impact adversely on sitting time reduction in office workers
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-04-2017
DOI: 10.1007/S00420-017-1223-1
Abstract: Initiatives to reduce office-workplace sitting are proliferating, but the impact of pre-existing musculoskeletal symptoms on their effectiveness has not been determined. We assessed the influence of musculoskeletal symptoms on the outcomes of a workplace sitting intervention. Baseline and 3-month data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a workplace sitting intervention (Stand Up Victoria trial registration number ACTRN12611000742976) were used. Office workers (n = 231) from 14 work teams within one organisation were randomised (by worksite) to a multicomponent program with in idual-, organisational-, and environmental-level (sit-stand workstations) change strategies or, to a control condition (no intervention). Musculoskeletal symptoms in the low-back, upper and lower extremities (present/absent) were assessed through self-report. Linear regression models tested the moderation by baseline musculoskeletal symptoms of intervention effects on workplace sitting and standing time and on sitting and standing bout durations, assessed by the activPAL3™ activity monitor. There were significant reductions in sitting and increased standing at work (p < 0.05). However, effects varied significantly by the presence of pre-existing low-back (but not other) symptoms, with greater benefit being seen in those without symptoms. Effects on sitting time and sitting bout duration were weaker in those with low-back symptoms compared to those without by 34.6 [95% CI (0.9 68.3)] min/8-h workday and 5.1 [95% CI (0.2 9.9)] min, respectively. Comparable effects were seen for standing. Low-back symptoms may impact on the extent to which office workers change their workplace sitting and standing time. A prudent next step to improve the effectiveness of workplace sitting-reduction initiatives such as Stand Up Victoria may be to assess and address the needs of those who displayed comparatively limited behaviour change, namely those with pre-existing low-back discomfort.
All-cause mortality and the time-varying effects of psychosocial work stressors: A retrospective cohort study using the HILDA survey
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Does social support modify the effect of disability acquisition on mental health? A longitudinal study of Australian adults.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-07-2017
Stakeholder perceptions of job stress in an industrialized country: Implications for policy and practice
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-06-2013
DOI: 10.1057/JPHP.2013.24
Abstract: We used a secondary, qualitative analysis of stakeholder perceptions of work stress in Australia to characterize the context for policy and practice intervention. Themes included: In idual versus contextual descriptions of stress perceived 'gender' differences in manifesting and reporting of stress the work/home interface and perceived sectoral and occupational differences in compensation claim rates. We found that people often still perceive stress as an in idual rather than organizational problem and view work stress as a stereotypically feminine weakness that affects only certain people. Organizations downplay and overlook risks, increasing worker reluctance to report stressors, creating barriers to job stress interventions. Our study may be relevant to other industrial countries where researchers currently study job stress interventions to improve their effectiveness. Comprehensive approaches can increase knowledge and decrease stigma about job stress and mental illness, and target both work- and non-work-related influences on mental health.
Oral Presentations
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-08-2006
The role of p53 in growth of mouse fibroblast lines
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-1985
DOI: 10.1016/S0014-4827(85)80048-3
Abstract: To examine the hypothesis that p53 protein may play a central role in regulating reproduction of mammalian cells, we compared the absolute amounts and relative rates of synthesis of p53 protein in two pseudonormal cell lines, 3T3 and C3H 10T1/2, during quiescence, during log proliferation, and in quiescent cells stimulated with serum. The absolute amount of p53 protein per cell was found to be severalfold lower in quiescent cells than in log-phase cells. The ratio of the rate of synthesis of p53 protein to the rate of synthesis of total protein was slightly higher in quiescent cells than the same ratio in log-phase cells. Thus, entry into quiescence is not accompanied by a differential switch-off of synthesis of p53 protein. In quiescent cells stimulated with serum the amount of p53 protein per cell and its rate of synthesis increase, but only in proportion to the increase in total protein per cell and the increase in rate of total protein synthesis. Similarly, 12-14 h after serum stimulation, the time of the G1 to S transition, the accumulated increase in p53 protein per cell is about what would be expected for a short-lived protein whose rate of synthesis has increased in proportion to the increase in rate of synthesis of total protein. The results are not those expected for a protein that functions specifically in release from quiescence or in transition from G1 to S.
Working conditions as modifiable risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviours
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 21-10-2017
Job stress as a preventable upstream determinant of common mental disorders: A review for practitioners and policy-makers
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-2010
DOI: 10.5172/JAMH.9.1.17
Young maternal age at first birth and mental health later in life: Does the association vary by birth cohort?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2016.03.037
Abstract: It is well established that maternal age at childbirth has implications for women's mental health in the short term, however there has been little research regarding longer term implications and whether this association has changed over time. We investigated longer term mental health consequences for young mothers in Australia and contrasted the effects between three birth cohorts. Using thirteen waves of data from 4262 women aged 40 years or above participating in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, we compared the mental health of women who had their first child aged 15-19 years, 20-24 years, and 25 years and older. Mental health was measured using the mental health component summary score of the SF-36. We used random-effects linear regression models to generate estimates of the association between age at first birth and mental health, adjusted for early life socioeconomic characteristics (country of birth, parents' employment status and occupation) and later life socioeconomic characteristics (education, employment, income, housing tenure, relationship status and social support). We examined whether the association changed over time, testing for effect modification across three successive birth cohorts. In models adjusted for early life and later life socioeconomic characteristics, there was strong evidence of an association between teenage births and poor mental health, with mental health scores on average 2.76 to 3.96 points lower for mothers aged younger than 20 years than for mothers aged 25 years and older (Late Baby Boom (born 1936-1945): -3.96, 95% CI -5.38, -2.54 Early Baby Boom (born 1946-1955): -3.01, 95% CI -4.32, -1.69 Lucky Few (born 1956-1965): -2.76, 95% CI -4.34, -1.18), and evidence of an association for mothers aged 20-24 years compared to mothers aged 25 years and older in the most recent birth cohort only (-1.09, 95% CI -2.01, -0.17). There was some indication (though weak) that the association increased in more recent cohorts. This study highlights that young mothers, and particularly teenage mothers, are a vulnerable group at high risk of poor mental health outcomes compared to mothers aged 25 years and above, and there was some suggestion (though weak) that the health disparities increased over time.
Does employment security modify the effect of housing affordability on mental health?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
Taking risks and survival jobs: Foreign-born workers and work-related injuries in Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2014
Leave entitlements, time off work and the household financial impacts of quarantine compliance during an H1N1 outbreak.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-11-2012
Office workers' objectively assessed total and prolonged sitting time: Individual-level correlates and worksite variations
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
The development of a conceptual model and self-reported measure of occupational health and safety vulnerability
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.AAP.2015.06.004
Abstract: Injuries at work have a substantial economic and societal burden. Often groups of labour market participants, such as young workers, recent immigrants or temporary workers are labelled as being "vulnerable" to work injury. However, defining groups in this way does little to enable a better understanding of the broader factors that place workers at increased risk of injury. In this paper we describe the development of a new measure of occupational health and safety (OH&S) vulnerability. The purpose of this measure was to allow the identification of workers at increased risk of injury, and to enable the monitoring and surveillance of OH&S vulnerability in the labour market. The development included a systematic literature search, and conducting focus groups with a variety of stakeholder groups, to generate a pool of potential items, followed by a series of steps to reduce these items to a more manageable pool. The final measure is 29-item instrument that captures information on four related, but distinct dimensions, thought to be associated with increased risk of injury. These dimensions are: hazard exposure occupational health and safety policies and procedures OH&S awareness and empowerment to participate in injury prevention. In a large s le of employees in Ontario and British Columbia the final measure displayed minimal missing responses, reasonably good distributions across response categories, and strong factorial validity. This new measure of OH&S vulnerability can identify workers who are at risk of injury and provide information on the dimensions of work that may increase this risk. This measurement could be undertaken at one point in time to compare vulnerability across groups, or be undertaken at multiple time points to examine changes in dimensions of OH&S vulnerability, for ex le, in response to a primary prevention intervention.
Supporting Workers to Sit Less and Move More Through the Web-Based BeUpstanding Program: Protocol for a Single-Arm, Repeated Measures Implementation Study (Preprint)
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 05-08-2019
Abstract: he web-based BeUpstanding Ch ion Toolkit was developed to support work teams in addressing the emergent work health and safety issue of excessive sitting. It provides a step-by-step guide and associated resources that equip a workplace representative—the ch ion—to adopt and deliver the 8-week intervention program (BeUpstanding) to their work team. The evidence-informed program is designed to raise awareness of the benefits of sitting less and moving more, build a supportive culture for change, and encourage staff to take action to achieve this change. Work teams collectively choose the strategies they want to implement and promote to stand up, sit less, and move more, with this bespoke and participative approach ensuring the strategies are aligned with the team’s needs and existing culture. BeUpstanding has been iteratively developed and optimized through a multiphase process to ensure that it is fit for purpose for wide-scale implementation. he study aimed to describe the current version of BeUpstanding, and the methods and protocol for a national implementation trial. he trial will be conducted in collaboration with five Australian workplace health and safety policy and practice partners. Desk-based work teams from a variety of industries will be recruited from across Australia via partner-led referral pathways. Recruitment will target sectors (small business, rural or regional, call center, blue collar, and government) that are of priority to the policy and practice partners. A minimum of 50 work teams will be recruited per priority sector with a minimum of 10,000 employees exposed to the program. A single-arm, repeated-measures design will assess the short-term (end of program) and long-term (9 months postprogram) impacts. Data will be collected on the web via surveys and toolkit analytics and by the research team via telephone calls with ch ions. The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance Framework will guide the evaluation, with assessment of the adoption/reach of the program (the number and characteristics of work teams and participating staff), program implementation (completion by the ch ion of core program components), effectiveness (on workplace sitting, standing, and moving), and maintenance (sustainability of changes). There will be an economic evaluation of the costs and outcomes of scaling up to national implementation, including intervention affordability and sustainability. he study received funding in June 2018 and the original protocol was approved by institutional review board on January 9, 2017, with national implementation trial consent and protocol amendment approved March 12, 2019. The trial started on June 12, 2019, with 48 teams recruited as of December 2019. he implementation and multimethod evaluation of BeUpstanding will provide the practice-based evidence needed for informing the potential broader dissemination of the program. ustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12617000682347 www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372843& isReview=true. ERR1-10.2196/15756
Stopping Stress at Its Origins: Addressing Working Conditions
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 05-2007
Suicide in the Australian Mining Industry: Assessment of Rates among Male Workers Using 19 Years of Coronial Data
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Changes in Job Control and Perceptions of General Health
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 14-05-2021
Empirical Study of Employment Arrangements and Precariousness in Australia
Publisher: Consortium Erudit
Date: 06-02-2007
DOI: 10.7202/014186AR
Abstract: Much research on precarious employment compares permanent workers with one or two other broadly-defined employment categories. We developed a more refined method of examining precariousness by defining current employment arrangements in terms of job characteristics. These employment arrangement categories were then compared in terms of socio-demographics and self-reported job insecurity. This investigation was based on a cross-sectional population-based survey of a random s le of 1,101 working Australians. Eight mutually exclusive employment categories were identified: Permanent Full-time (46.4%), Permanent Part-time (18.3%), Casual Full-time (2.7%), Casual Part-time (9.3%), Fixed Term Contract (2.1%), Labour Hire (3.6%), Own Account Self-employed (7.4%), and Other Self-employed (9.5%). These showed significant and coherent differences in job characteristics, socio-demographics and perceived job insecurity. These empirically-supported categories may provide a conceptual guide for government agencies, policy makers and researchers in areas including occupational health and safety, taxation, labour market regulations, the working poor, child poverty, benefit programs, industrial relations, and skills development.
Study of the validity of a job–exposure matrix for the job strain model factors: an update and a study of changes over time
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-03-2018
DOI: 10.1007/S00420-018-1299-2
Abstract: The objectives of the study were to construct a job-exposure matrix (JEM) for psychosocial work factors of the job strain model, to evaluate its validity, and to compare the results over time. The study was based on national representative data of the French working population with s les of 46,962 employees (2010 SUMER survey) and 24,486 employees (2003 SUMER survey). Psychosocial work factors included the job strain model factors (Job Content Questionnaire): psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, job strain and iso-strain. Job title was defined by three variables: occupation and economic activity coded using standard classifications, and company size. A JEM was constructed using a segmentation method (Classification and Regression Tree-CART) and cross-validation. The best quality JEM was found using occupation and company size for social support. For decision latitude and psychological demands, there was not much difference using occupation and company size with or without economic activity. The validity of the JEM estimates was higher for decision latitude, job strain and iso-strain, and lower for social support and psychological demands. Differential changes over time were observed for psychosocial work factors according to occupation, economic activity and company size. This study demonstrated that company size in addition to occupation may improve the validity of JEMs for psychosocial work factors. These matrices may be time-dependent and may need to be updated over time. More research is needed to assess the validity of JEMs given that these matrices may be able to provide exposure assessments to study a range of health outcomes.
Exposure Databases and Exposure Surveillance: Promise and Practice
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2002
DOI: 10.1080/15428110208984706
Abstract: Based on recent developments in occupational health and a review of industry practices, it is argued that integrated exposure database and surveillance systems hold considerable promise for improving workplace health and safety. A foundation from which to build practical and effective exposure surveillance systems is proposed based on the integration of recent developments in electronic exposure databases, the codification of exposure assessment practice, and the theory and practice of public health surveillance. The merging of parallel, but until now largely separate, efforts in these areas into exposure surveillance systems combines unique strengths from each subdiscipline. The promise of exposure database and surveillance systems, however, is yet to be realized. Exposure surveillance practices in general industry are reviewed based on the published literature as well as an Internet survey of three prominent industrial hygiene e-mail lists. Although the benefits of exposure surveillance are many, relatively few organizations use electronic exposure databases, and even fewer have active exposure surveillance systems. Implementation of exposure databases and surveillance systems can likely be improved by the development of systems that are more responsive to workplace or organizational-level needs. An overview of exposure database software packages provides guidance to readers considering the implementation of commercially available systems. Strategies for improving the implementation of exposure database and surveillance systems are outlined. A companion report in this issue on the development and pilot testing of a workplace-level exposure surveillance system concretely illustrates the application of the conceptual framework proposed.
Overcoming practical challenges in intervention research in occupational health and safety
Publisher: No publisher found
Date: 1996
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0274(199604)29:4<367::AID-AJIM17>3.0.CO;2-%23
Improving the prevention and control of hazardous substance exposures: A randomized controlled trial in manufacturing worksites
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.20218
Abstract: New measures of exposure prevention (EP) activity were used to evaluate the effectiveness of a 16-month management-focused intervention addressing hazardous substance exposures in manufacturing work settings. EP efforts were assessed using a rating scheme developed for this study. The rating scheme yields a set of measures of exposure potential and protection, which are combined into an overall EP summary rating. A randomized, controlled design was used to assess intervention effectiveness. Fifteen large manufacturing worksites completed the 16-month intervention and follow-up assessments. Analyses were conducted on the 107 production processes assessed at both baseline and final. Patterns of improvement within the intervention condition were consistent with the intervention emphasis on upstream or source-focused intervention whereas patterns in controls were consistent with prevalent practice (more downstream, worker-focused). A mixed model analysis of variance showed greater improvement in EP ratings in intervention versus controls, but the difference in improvement was moderate and statistically non-significant. This study has demonstrated that EP efforts in the manufacturing sector can be systematically assessed across the full range of hazardous substances in use, and that such assessments can serve both needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation functions. Findings suggest that more sustained or intense management-focused intervention would significantly improve EP activity in manufacturing settings.
O5B.4 Workers’ compensation claims for occupational contact dermatitis: 20 years of data from victoria, australia
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 04-2019
Abstract: Occupational contact dermatitis is one of the most common occupational diseases, but there is a lack of reliable information on incidence. Despite acknowledged limitations, workers’ compensation statistics may provide insights into contact dermatitis patterns. The objective of the study was to characterise historical patterns of workers’ compensation claims for occupational contact dermatitis. This was a retrospective analysis of workers’ compensation claims for occupational contact dermatitis from 1996–2015 (n=3,348) accepted by WorkSafe Victoria in Victoria, Australia. Accepted claims per 1 00 000 person-years stratified by sex, age and industry were calculated. Denominators for the population at risk were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics using Victorian Labour Force Survey data. The compensation claims rate of occupational contact dermatitis was 6.72 per 1 00 000 person-years for the overall twenty-year period. There was a significant reduction in claims from 11.84 in 1996 to 1.78 in 2015. Males had a higher overall claims rate of 7.97 compared to the rate for females of 5.18. Over the twenty-year period the rate for males decreased from 14.46 to 1.7 compared to a reduction from 8.4 to 1.8 for females. This decrease was still observed when the data were standardised for underlying changes in the age structure of the population. There was an overall decline across all high-risk occupational groups There was a fivefold decrease in accepted claims for occupational contact dermatitis for the twenty-year period from January 1996 to December 2015 for the state of Victoria in Australia. These results need to be regarded with caution as the declining rate of accepted occupational contact dermatitis claims may indicate changes in workplace dermal exposures or improvements in workplace skin protection practices over time, or they may be driven by underlying changes to the workers’ compensation system or changes to claims behaviour amongst workers.
Job insecurity: A comparative analysis between migrant and native workers in australia
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 28-10-2019
Abstract: Job insecurity is a modifiable risk factor for poor health outcomes, and exposure to job insecurity varies by population groups. This study assessed if job insecurity exposure varied by migrant status and if the differences varied by gender, age, educational attainment, and occupational skill level. Data were from wave 14 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. The outcome was job insecurity. Exposure was migrant status defined by (1) the country of birth (COB), (2) the dominant language of the COB, and (3) the number of years since arrival in Australia. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age, educational attainment, and occupational skill level. These covariates were also analysed as effect modifiers for the migrant status–job insecurity relationships. Migrant workers, especially those from non-English speaking countries (non-ESC-born), experienced higher job insecurity than Australia-born workers however, these disparities disappeared after 11+ years post-arrival. The migrant status–job insecurity relationships were modified by educational attainment. Unexpectedly, the disparities in job insecurity between non-ESC-born migrants and Australia-born workers increased with increasing educational attainment, and for those most highly educated, the disparities persisted beyond 11 years post-arrival. Our findings suggested that continuing language skill support and discrimination prevention could facilitate migrant integration into the Australian labour market.
Workplace Social System and Sustained Return-to-Work: A Study of Supervisor and Co-worker Supportiveness and Injury Reaction
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-08-2017
DOI: 10.1007/S10926-017-9724-Z
Abstract: Objective To examine the impact of the social workplace system on sustained return-to-work (SRTW). Methods A random s le of workers' compensation claimants was recruited to complete a survey following claim acceptance (baseline), and 6 months later (time 2). SRTW, at baseline and time 2, was classified as those reporting being back at work for >28 days. Co-worker and supervisor support were assessed using five and seven items, respectively, and total scores were produced. A list of potential supervisory and co-worker reactions were presented to participants who were asked whether the reaction applied to them response were coded as positive or non-positive. Demographic and injury characteristics, and work context factors were collected. Baseline and at time 2 multivariable models were conducted to examine the impact of supervisory and coworker support and injury reaction on SRTW. Results 551 (baseline) and 403 (time 2) participants from the overall cohort met study eligibility criteria. At baseline, 59% of all participants indicated SRTW 70% reported SRTW at time 2. Participants reported moderate support from their supervisor (mean = 8.5 ± 3.9 median = 8.2 range = 5-15) and co-workers (mean = 10.2 ± 4.5 median = 10.3 range = 5-25). Over half reported a positive supervisor (59%) or co-worker injury reaction (71%). Multivariable models found that a positive supervisor injury reaction was significantly associated with SRTW at baseline (OR 2.3 95% CI 1.4-3.9) and time 2 (OR 1.6 95% CI 1.1-2.3). Conclusions Promoting supervisor positivity towards an injured worker is an important organizational work disability management strategy.
Inequalities in socio-economic and health and wellbeing of men with and without disabilities: a cross-sectional analysis of the baseline wave of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-2016
Cohort profile: workers’ compensation in a changing Australian labour market: the return to work (RTW) study
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2017-016366
Abstract: Workers’ compensation claims for older workers and workers who have suffered psychological injury are increasing as a proportion of total claims in many jurisdictions. In the Australian state of Victoria, claims from both these groups are associated with higher than average wage replacement and healthcare expenditures. This cohort profile describes a longitudinal study which aims to investigate differences in the return to work (RTW) process for older workers compared with younger workers and claimants with musculoskeletal injuries compared with those with psychological injuries. This prospective cohort study involved interviewing workers’ compensation claimants at three time points. The cohort was restricted to psychological and musculoskeletal claims. Only claimants aged 18 and over were recruited, with no upper age limit. A total of 869 claimants completed the baseline interview, representing 36% of the eligible claimant population. Ninety-one per cent of participants agreed at baseline to have their survey responses linked to administrative workers’ compensation data. Of the 869 claimants who participated at baseline, 632 (73%) took part in the 6-month follow-up interview, and 572 (66%) participated in the 12-month follow-up interview. Information on different aspects of the RTW process and important factors that may impact the RTW process was collected at the three survey periods. At baseline, participants and non-participants did not differ by injury type or age group, but were more likely to be female and from the healthcare and social assistance industry. The probability of non-participation at follow-up interviews showed younger age was a statistically significant predictor of non-participation. Analysis of the longitudinal cohort will identify important factors in the RTW process and explore differences across age and injury type groups. Ongoing linkage to administrative workers’ compensation data will provide information on wage replacement and healthcare service use into the future.
Neoliberalism, economic restructuring and policy change: Precarious housing and precarious employment in Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-07-2019
Abstract: Housing, employment and economic conditions in many nations have changed greatly over the past decades. This paper explores the ways in which changing housing markets, economic conditions and government policies have affected vulnerable in iduals and households, using Australia as a case study. The paper finds a substantial number and proportion of low income Australians have been affected by housing and employment that is insecure with profound implications for vulnerability. Importantly, the paper suggests that in Australia the economic gains achieved as a consequence of mining-related growth in the early 2000s were translated as greater employment security for some on low incomes, but not all. Enhanced access to employment in this period was differentiated by gender, with women largely missing out on the growth in jobs. For the population as a whole, employment gains were offset by increased housing insecurity as accommodation costs rose. The paper finds low income lone parents were especially vulnerable because they were unable to benefit from a buoyant labour market over the decade 2000–2010. They were also adversely affected by national policy changes intended to encourage engagement with paid work. The outcomes identified for Australia are likely to have been mirrored in other nations, especially those that have embraced, or been forced to adopt, more restrictive welfare and income support regimes.
Multicohort study of change in job strain, poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 05-09-2019
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2018-105595
Abstract: Several recent large-scale studies have indicated a prospective association between job strain and coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Job strain is also associated with poorer mental health, a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. This study investigates the prospective relationships between change in job strain, poor mental health and cardiometabolic disease, and whether poor mental health is a potential mediator of the relationship between job strain and cardiometabolic disease. We used data from five cohort studies from Australia, Finland, Sweden and UK, including 47 757 men and women. Data on job strain across two measurements 1–5 years apart (time 1 (T1)–time 2 (T2)) were used to define increase or decrease in job strain. Poor mental health (symptoms in the top 25% of the distribution of the scales) at T2 was considered a potential mediator in relation to incident cardiometabolic disease, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, following T2 for a mean of 5–18 years. An increase in job strain was associated with poor mental health (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.76), and a decrease in job strain was associated with lower risk in women (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.60–0.84). However, no clear association was observed between poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96–1.23), nor between increase (HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.90–1.14) and decrease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96–1.22) in job strain and cardiometabolic disease. The results did not support that change in job strain is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and yielded no support for poor mental health as a mediator.
Analytical strategies to determine whether job strain is an important risk factor for occurrence of low-back pain
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 28-06-2017
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3657
Location of the isoleucine arrest point in CHO and 3T3 cells
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-1985
DOI: 10.1016/0014-4827(85)90476-8
Abstract: An isoleucine arrest point in G1 was determined by two methods for CHO and 3T3 cells. In the first method the fraction of cells entering S after isoleucine deprivation was assessed by [3H]thymidine labelling and autoradiography. In the second method cells entering S after isoleucine deprivation were identified by double-label autoradiography using [3H] and [14C]thymidine. From the fraction of cells entering S, determined by the two methods, the arrest point in G1 (and entry into G0) is located within the last 40 min of G1.
Associations of office workers’ objectively assessed occupational sitting, standing and stepping time with musculoskeletal symptoms
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-04-2018
DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2018.1462891
Abstract: We examined the association of musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) with workplace sitting, standing and stepping time, as well as sitting and standing time accumulation (i.e. usual bout duration of these activities), measured objectively with the activPAL3 monitor. Using baseline data from the Stand Up Victoria trial (216 office workers, 14 workplaces), cross-sectional associations of occupational activities with self-reported MSS (low-back, upper and lower extremity symptoms in the last three months) were examined using probit regression, correcting for clustering and adjusting for confounders. Sitting bout duration was significantly (p < 0.05) associated, non-linearly, with MSS, such that those in the middle tertile displayed the highest prevalence of upper extremity symptoms. Other associations were non-significant but sometimes involved large differences in symptom prevalence (e.g. 38%) by activity. Though causation is unclear, these non-linear associations suggest that sitting and its alternatives (i.e. standing and stepping) interact with MSS and this should be considered when designing safe work systems. Practitioner summary: We studied associations of objectively assessed occupational activities with musculoskeletal symptoms in office workers. Workers who accumulated longer sitting bouts reported fewer upper extremity symptoms. Total activity duration was not significantly associated with musculoskeletal symptoms. We underline the importance of considering total volumes and patterns of activity time in musculoskeletal research.
Wellbeing-Enhancing Workplaces
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 2017
Status inconsistency and mental health: A random effects and instrumental variables analysis using 14 annual waves of cohort data
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2017.08.001
Abstract: Status inconsistency refers to a discrepancy between the position a person holds in one domain of their social environment comparative to their position in another domain. For ex le, the experience of being overeducated for a job, or not using your skills in your job. We sought to assess the relationship between status inconsistency and mental health using 14 annual waves of cohort data. We used two approaches to measuring status inconsistency: 1) being overeducated for your job (objective measure) and b) not using your skills in your job (subjective measure). We implemented a number of methodological approaches to assess the robustness of our findings, including instrumental variable, random effects, and fixed effects analysis. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5. The random effects analysis indicates that only the subjective measure of status inconsistency was associated with a slight decrease in mental health (β-1.57, 95% -1.78 to -1.36, p < 0.001). This size of these coefficients was maintained in the instrumental variable analysis. We suggest that status inconsistency might explain some of the relationship between social determinants (such as work and education) and health outcomes.
Suicide trends among Australian construction workers during years 2001–2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-11-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-022-24575-X
Abstract: In many Western countries, including Australia, construction workers have been identified as being at elevated risk of suicide compared to other workers. A variety of suicide prevention initiatives have been implemented and expanded to reduce suicide in this occupational group however, the net effect of these is unknown. Using 19 years of national suicide data, this study examined the suicide mortality of Australian male construction workers relative to all other working males, and compared suicide rates over time between the two groups. Age-standardized suicide rates were calculated for construction workers and those employed in other occupations. 2001–2019 trends in age-standardized rates of suicide mortality were analyzed by joinpoint regression analysis. The annual average percentage change (AAPC) measure was calculated for both groups to quantify change over time within each group, complemented by a pair-wise AAPC comparison of changes in trends between the two groups over the 2001–2019 period. Australian male construction workers' overall age-standardized suicide rate was 26.6 per 100,000 persons compared to 13.2 per 100,000 for male workers employed in other occupations (pooled over the entire 2001–2019 period). Over time, the suicide mortality rate declined in both construction workers and those working in other occupations however, the decline in suicide mortality was greater in construction workers (AAPC: −3.0 95%CI −4.0, −2.0) compared to other workers (AAPC: 1.5 95%CI −2.1, −1.0). The AAPC pair-wise comparison showed a significant difference between the rate of decline among construction versus other workers over the 19-year study period (AAPC: −1.4 95%CI 0.4, 2.5), confirming a rapid decline among construction versus other male workers. This study provides evidence of a decline in suicide rates among Australian construction workers over the last two decades. This decline may be attributable to the combined effects of population-wide, male-specific, and sector-specific suicide prevention efforts over this same period, suggesting that the continuation or expansion of such efforts may lead to further declines.
Men's work, Women's work, and mental health: A longitudinal investigation of the relationship between the gender composition of occupations and mental health
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2018.03.020
Abstract: This longitudinal investigation assesses the extent to which the gender composition of an occupation (e.g., the extent to which an occupation is comprised of males versus females) has an impact on mental health. We used 14 annual waves of the Household Income Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) study to construct a measure representing the gender ratio of an occupation. The outcome measure was the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5). A Mundlak model was used to compare within and between person effects, after controlling for possible confounders. Results suggest that males and females employed in occupations where their own gender was dominant had better mental health than those in gender-neutral occupations (between person effects). However, within-person results suggested that a movement from a gender-neutral to a male or female dominated occupation was associated with both a decline (females) and improvement (males) in mental health. These results highlight the need for more research on gender specific selection into and out of different occupations in order to progress understandings of gender as a social determinant of health in the work context.
The effect of leaving employment on mental health: testing ‘adaptation’ versus ‘sensitisation’ in a cohort of working-age Australians
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 02-12-2013
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2013-101759
Abstract: To investigate the 'adaptation' versus 'sensitisation' hypotheses in relation to mental health and labour market transitions out of employment to determine whether mental health stabilised (adaptation) or worsened (sensitisation) as people experienced one or more periods without work. The Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) longitudinal survey was used to investigate the relationship between the number of times a person had been unemployed or had periods out of the labour force (ie, spells without work) and the Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the Short Form 36 (SF-36). Demographic, health and employment related confounders were included in a series of multilevel regression models. During 2001-2010, 3362 people shifted into unemployment and 1105 shifted from employment to not in the labour force. Compared with participants who did not shift, there was a 1.64-point decline (95% CI -2.05 to -1.23, p<0.001) in scores of the MCS SF-36 among those who had one spell of unemployment (excluding not in the labour force), and a 2.56-point decline (95% CI -3.93 to -1.19, p<0.001) among those who had two or more spells of unemployment after adjusting for other variables. Findings for shifts from employment to 'not in the labour force' were in the same direction however, effect sizes were smaller. These results indicate that multiple spells of unemployment are associated with continued, though small, declines in mental health. Those who leave employment for reasons other than unemployment experience a smaller reduction in mental health.
Workplace suicide prevention: a systematic review of published and unpublished activities
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 25-09-2014
Abstract: There are a number of published studies on workplace suicide prevention activities, and an even larger number of activities that are not reported on in academic literature. The aim of this review was to provide a systematic assessment of workplace suicide prevention activities, including short-term training activities, as well as suicide prevention strategies designed for occupational groups at risk of suicide. The search was based on Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) Guidelines. The databases used for the searches were the Cochrane Trials Library and PubMed. A range of suicide prevention websites were also searched to ascertain the information on unpublished workplace suicide prevention activities. Key characteristics of retrieved studies were extracted and explained, including whether activities were short-term training programmes or developed specifically for occupations at risk of suicide. There were 13 interventions relevant for the review after exclusions. There were a few ex les of prevention activities developed for at-risk occupations (e.g. police, army, air force and the construction industry) as well as a number of general awareness programmes that could be applied across different settings. Very few workplace suicide prevention initiatives had been evaluated. Results from those that had been evaluated suggest that prevention initiatives had beneficial effects. Suicide prevention has the potential to be integrated into existing workplace mental health activities. There is a need for further studies to develop, implement and evaluate workplace suicide prevention programmes.
A smart-phone intervention to address mental health stigma in the construction industry: A two-arm randomised controlled trial
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2018
Response to risk factors for suicide ideation in the workplace
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 11-2016
Development and Piloting of an Exposure Database and Surveillance System for DOE Cleanup Operations
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2002
DOI: 10.1080/15428110208984707
Abstract: An industrial hygiene exposure database and surveillance system was developed in partnership between National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-funded independent investigators and practicing industrial hygienists at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) in Golden, Colo. RFETS is a former U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons plant that is now in cleanup phase. This project is presented as a case study in the development of an exposure database and surveillance system in terms that are generalizable to most other industries and work contexts. Steps include gaining organizational support defining system purpose and scope defining database elements and coding planning practical and efficient analysis strategies incorporating reporting capabilities and anticipating communication strategies that maximize the probability that surveillance findings will feed back to preventive applications. For each of these topics, the authors describe both general considerations as well as the specific choices made for this system. An important feature of the system is a two-tier task-coding scheme comprising 33 categories of task groups. Ex les of grouped analyses of exposure data captured during the system pilot period demonstrate applications to exposure control, medical surveillance, and other preventive measures.
Prevention of Work-Related Cancers
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2002
DOI: 10.2190/7LHN-3CDR-9CQR-2VQV
Abstract: Work-related cancers are highly preventable. The primary responsibility for prevention rests not with the workers who are affected by cancers, but with the manufacturers and distributors of carcinogenic substances and the companies who use them. U.S. public policies of strict product liability and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 address the issue of responsibility. Workers, health care providers, and others also have important roles that complement employers' preventive efforts. The range of prevention strategies available includes ones that should be applied to prevent potentially carcinogenic substances from being marketed and distributed others that apply in the workplace where potential carcinogens are used and public policy interventions aimed at ensuring universal implementation of pre-market and workplace prevention strategies. Work-related cancer remains a large problem, even though strategies exist to identify carcinogens and prevent and control on-the-job exposures. However, preventive efforts by government and the society have stalled and a continuing lack of toxicity information shows inadequate societal commitment. The principal barriers to prevention of work-related cancers are political and economic rather than scientific and medical.
Evaluating OSHA's ethylene oxide standard: employer exposure-monitoring activities in Massachusetts hospitals from 1985 through 1993.
Publisher: American Public Health Association
Date: 07-1997
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: This study characterized exposure-monitoring activities and findings under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) 1984 ethylene oxide (EtO) standard. METHODS: In-depth mail and telephone surveys were followed by on-site interviews at all EtO-using hospitals in Massachusetts (n = 92, 96% participation rate). RESULTS: By 1993, most hospitals had performed personal exposure monitoring for OSHA's 8-hour action level (95%) and the excursion limit (87%), although most did not meet the 1985 implementation deadline. In 1993, 66% of hospitals reported the installation of EtO alarms to fulfill the standard's "alert" requirement. Alarm installation also lagged behind the 1985 deadline and peaked following a series of EtO citations by OSHA. From 1990 through 1992, 23% of hospitals reported having exceeded the action level once or more 24% reported having exceeded the excursion limit and 33% reported that workers were accidentally exposed to EtO in the absence of personal monitoring. CONCLUSIONS: Almost a decade after passage of the EtO standard, exposure-monitoring requirements were widely, but not completely, implemented. Work-shift exposures had markedly decreased since the mid-1980s, but overexposures continued to occur widely. OSHA enforcement appears to have stimulated implementation.
How can organisations help employees thrive? The development of guidelines for promoting positive mental health at work
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 07-11-2016
DOI: 10.1108/IJWHM-01-2016-0001
Abstract: Benefits of positive mental health have been demonstrated across work and non-work domains. In iduals reporting positive mental health experience better work performance, better social relationships and better physical health. Additionally, positive work environments can contribute to employee mental health. The purpose of this paper is to develop “expert” consensus regarding practical, actionable strategies that organisations can implement to promote positive mental health in the workplace. A Delphi consensus method was used to establish expert consensus on strategies to promote positive workplace mental health. A 278-item questionnaire was developed and strategies were rated over three survey rounds by two panels comprising 36 workplace mental health practitioners and 36 employer representatives and employees (27 and 9, respectively), employees with experience of promoting positive mental health and well-being in the workplace (total – 72 panellists). In total, 220/278 strategies were rated as essential or important by at least 80 per cent of both panels. Endorsed strategies covered the topics of: mental health and well-being strategy, work environment that promotes positive mental health, positive leadership styles, effective communication, designing jobs for positive mental health, recruitment and selection, supporting and developing employees, work-life balance, and positive mental health and well-being initiatives. The guidelines arising from this study represent expert consensus on what is currently appropriate for promoting positive mental health at work from the perspectives of workplace mental health practitioners, employers and employees, and constitute a resource for translating the growing body of knowledge in this area into policy and practice.
Field-Testing and Refinement of the Organisational Health Literacy Responsiveness Self-Assessment (Org-HLR) Tool and Process
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-02-2020
Abstract: Health literacy refers to the skills and knowledge that influence a person’s ability to access, understand and use information to make health-related decisions, which are influenced by the complexity of their health needs and the demands health services place on them. The aim of this study was to field-test the Organisational Health Literacy Responsiveness (Org-HLR) tool and process to determine their utility in assessing health literacy responsiveness and for supporting organisations to plan health literacy-related improvement activities. Four organisations in Victoria, Australia, field-tested the Org-HLR tool. Data were collected through direct observation, participant feedback, and focus groups. Forty-three in iduals participated in field-testing activities, and 20 took part in focus group meetings. Themes relating to the applicability and utility of the Org-HLR self-assessment tool and process were identified. Field-testing resulted in a number of refinements to the tool and process. Twenty-eight indicators were removed, 29 were rephrased to improve their clarity, and four new indicators were added. The revised Org-HLR self-assessment tool contains six dimensions, 22 sub-dimensions and 110 performance indicators. The Org-HLR tool and process were perceived as useful for assessing health literacy responsiveness, prioritising improvement activities, and establishing a benchmark for monitoring and evaluation of improvements over time. Testing generated an improved Org-HLR tool and assessment process that are likely to have utility across a broad range of health and social service sector organisations.
Psychosocial Work Exposures of the Job Strain Model and Suicide in France: Findings from the STRESSJEM Prospective Study of 1.5 Million Men and Women over 26 Years of Follow-Up
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1159/000506713
Persistent and contemporaneous effects of job stressors on mental health: A study testing multiple analytic approaches across 13 waves of annually collected cohort data
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 19-08-2016
The role of workplace health promotion in addressing job stress
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 18-07-2006
Abstract: The enormous human and economic costs associated with occupational stress suggest that initiatives designed to prevent and/or reduce employee stress should be high on the agenda of workplace health promotion (WHP) programmes. Although employee stress is often the target of WHP, reviews of job stress interventions suggest that the common approach to combating job stress is to focus on the in idual without due consideration of the direct impacts of working conditions on health as well as the effects of working conditions on employees' ability to adopt and sustain 'healthy' behaviours. The purpose of the first part of this paper is to highlight the criticisms of the in idual approach to job stress and to examine the evidence for developing strategies that combine both in idual and organizational-directed interventions (referred to as the comprehensive approach). There is a risk that WHP practitioners may lose sight of the role that they can play in developing and implementing the comprehensive approach, particularly in countries where occupational health and safety authorities are placing much more emphasis on identifying and addressing organizational sources of job stress. The aim of the second part of this paper is therefore to provide a detailed description of what the comprehensive approach to stress prevention/reduction looks like in practice and to examine the means by which WHP can help develop initiatives that address both the sources and the symptoms of job stress.
Employment status and mental health among persons with and without a disability: evidence from an Australian cohort study.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 22-07-2014
Integrating job stress and workplace mental health literacy intervention: Challenges and benefits
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 2015
Are material safety data sheets (MSDS) useful in the diagnosis and management of occupational contact dermatitis?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2007
DOI: 10.1111/J.1600-0536.2007.01231.X
Abstract: This study assesses both the success of medical practitioners in accessing hazardous substances' information from product manufacturers and the accuracy and clinical usefulness of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) presented by workers with suspected occupational contact dermatitis (OCD). 100 consecutively presented MSDS were collected from 42 workers attending an occupational dermatology clinic. Product manufacturers were contacted to verify ingredients. MSDS were evaluated for compliance with the Australian criteria for listing of OCD relevant information (sensitizers present at a concentration > or =1%, irritants present at a concentration > or =20%), and for clinical usefulness. All sensitizers were checked for clinical relevance to the worker's dermatitis. Manufacturers supplied product constituents for 77/100 MSDS. 58 MSDS satisfied the Australian standard. 57/58 MSDS were deemed clinically useful. Irritants were listed for 19/23 MSDS and sensitizers were listed for 30/68 MSDS (P = 0.001). 3 MSDS contained sensitizers, which were clinically relevant to the presenting worker's dermatitis, 1 appropriately listed, 1 present at > or =1% but not listed, and 1 present at <1% in the product and therefore, not required to be listed. Sensitizers are frequently omitted from MSDS and clinicians are often unsuccessful in obtaining crucial information from manufacturers. MSDS are inadequate for the protection and diagnosis of workers with suspected OCD.
OSHA's renewed mandate for Regulatory Flexibility review: In support of the 1984 ethylene oxide standard
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-1998
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0274(199808)34:2<95::AID-AJIM1>3.0.CO;2-O
Abstract: The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 requires that all federal agencies consider the impact of regulations on small entities. One of the provisions of the Act requires review of regulations ever 10 years to determine whether such regulations should be continued without changes, rescinded, or amended to make them more effective or less burdensome on businesses. The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996 amended and expanded the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Most significantly, SBREFA entitles aggrieved small entities or their representative (e.g., trade associations) to sue OSHA for failure to fulfill Regulatory Flexibility Act requirements. In response to this new political reality, OSHA held the first public meeting of their kind in June of 1997 to gather information on the ethylene oxide and lock-out/tag-out standards for the purposes of Regulatory Flexibility review. This paper presents the development of the Regulatory Flexibility review process and details our analysis of the ethylene oxide standard using OSHA's eight Regulatory Flexibility review criteria. Great progress in ethylene oxide health and safety has been made since the promulgation of the standard in 1984, including a considerable decrease in average workshift exposures. Yet, important concerns remain, such as the lack of safer substitutes for EtO's most common uses, the widespread occurrence of accidental exposures to EtO that are not captured by personal monitoring, and the recent increase in the occurrence of catastrophic EtO explosions. Because of the considerable study that has been devoted to EtO and to the EtO standard, there is a very strong cases for either making the EtO standard more worker protective, or continuing the standard without change while improving outreach and enforcement efforts to address shortcomings. Other valuable standards for which fewer data exist may be inappropriately threatened by the Regulatory Flexibility review process. Importantly, Regulatory Flexibility review could be constructive if accompanied by appropriations to fund sound evaluation studies. Instead, it will likely ert OSHA's limited resources from the numerous urgent health hazard that await initial rule-making. As signified by the designation of "intervention effectiveness research" as one of the 21 priorities on the National Occupational Research Agenda, evaluation studies of OSHA standards and other interventions are urgently needed. The occupational health community's response to this need will play a crucial role in preserving hard-won protections, as well as in developing other urgently needed protections in the future.
Integrating Workplace Exposure Databases for Occupational Medicine Services and Epidemiologic Studies at a Former Nuclear Weapons Facility
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2001
Abstract: We outline methods for integrating epidemiologic and industrial hygiene data systems for the purpose of exposure estimation, exposure surveillance, worker notification, and occupational medicine practice. We present ex les of these methods from our work at the Rocky Flats Plant--a former nuclear weapons facility that fabricated plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons and is now being decontaminated and decommissioned. The weapons production processes exposed workers to plutonium, gamma photons, neutrons, beryllium, asbestos, and several hazardous chemical agents, including chlorinated hydrocarbons and heavy metals. We developed a job exposure matrix (JEM) for estimating exposures to 10 chemical agents in 20 buildings for 120 different job categories over a production history spanning 34 years. With the JEM, we estimated lifetime chemical exposures for about 12,000 of the 16,000 former production workers. We show how the JEM database is used to estimate cumulative exposures over different time periods for epidemiological studies and to provide notification and determine eligibility for a medical screening program developed for former workers. We designed an industrial hygiene data system for maintaining exposure data for current cleanup workers. We describe how this system can be used for exposure surveillance and linked with the JEM and databases on radiation doses to develop lifetime exposure histories and to determine appropriate medical monitoring tests for current cleanup workers. We also present time-line-based graphical methods for reviewing and correcting exposure estimates and reporting them to in idual workers.
Low Control and High Demands at Work as Risk Factors for Suicide: An Australian National Population-Level Case-Control Study
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 04-2017
DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000389
Abstract: Previous research suggests that psychosocial job stressors may be plausible risk factors for suicide. This study assessed the relationship between psychosocial job stressors and suicide mortality across the Australian population. We developed a job exposure matrix to objectively measure job stressors across the working population. Suicide data came from a nationwide coronial register. Living controls were selected from a nationally representative cohort study. Incidence density s ling was used to ensure that controls were s led at the time of death of each case. The period of observation for both cases and controls was 2001 to 2012. We used multilevel logistic regression to assess the odds of suicide in relation to 2 psychosocial job stressors (job control and job demands), after matching for age, sex, and year of death/survey and adjusting for socioeconomic status. Across 9,010 cases and 14,007 matched controls, our results suggest that low job control (odds ratio [OR], 1.35 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26–1.44 p .001) and high job demands (OR, 1.36 95% CI, 1.26–1.46 p .001) were associated with increased odds of male suicide after adjusting for socioeconomic status. High demands were associated with lower odds of female suicide (OR, 0.81 95% CI, 0.72–0.92 p = .002). It seems that adverse experiences at work are a risk factor for male suicide while not being associated with an elevated risk among females. Future studies on job stressors and suicide are needed, both to further understand the biobehavioral mechanisms explaining the link between job stress and suicide, and to inform targeted prevention initiatives.
Employment Arrangements and Mental Health in a Cohort of Working Australians: Are Transitions From Permanent to Temporary Employment Associated With Changes in Mental Health?
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 28-05-2014
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWU093
Abstract: We investigated whether being in temporary employment, as compared with permanent employment, was associated with a difference in Short Form 36 mental health and whether transitions from permanent employment to temporary employment were associated with mental health changes. We used fixed-effects regression in a nationally representative Australian s le with 10 waves of data collection (2001-2010). Interactions by age and sex were tested. Two forms of temporary employment were studied: "casual" (no paid leave entitlements or fixed hours) and "fixed-term contract" (a defined employment period plus paid leave). There were no significant mental health differences between temporary employment and permanent employment in standard fixed-effects analyses and no significant interactions by sex or age. For all age groups combined, there were no significant changes in mental health following transitions from stable permanent employment to temporary employment, but there was a significant interaction with age (P = 0.03) for the stable-permanent-to-casual employment transition, because of a small transition-associated improvement in mental health for workers aged 55-64 years (β = 1.61, 95% confidence interval: 0.34, 2.87 16% of the standard deviation of mental health scores). Our analyses suggest that temporary employment is not harmful to mental health in the Australian context and that it may be beneficial for 55- to 64-year-olds transitioning from stable permanent employment to casual employment.
Body mass index and psychosocial job quality: An analysis of working Australians from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-10-2019
DOI: 10.1080/19338244.2017.1380594
Abstract: The study investigated the association between psychosocial job quality and body mass index (BMI) by sex. Regression models examining potential differences in the job stressor-BMI relationship between men and women were conducted using longitudinal data from working Australians and a psychosocial job stressor index. There was strong evidence of an association between psychosocial job stressors and BMI for females but not males. Compared with no psychosocial job stressors, 1 adversity was associated with 0.13 kg/m2 (95% CI: -0.42-0.67) 2 adversities were associated with 0.53 kg/m2 (-0.00-1.07) and 3 or more adversities were associated with 0.87 kg/m2 (0.30-1.45) increase in mean BMI for females. Females were found to have on average 0.32 kg/m2 (0.16-0.49) increase in BMI per increase in psychosocial job stressor. Psychosocial job stressors appear to have an adverse effect on women's weight.
Individual, occupational, and workplace correlates of occupational health and safety vulnerability in a sample of Canadian workers
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-10-2016
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.22535
Job Stressors and Employment Precarity as Risks for Thoughts About Suicide: An Australian Study Using the Ten to Men Cohort
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-04-2018
Abstract: Past research suggests that adverse experiences at work (such as job stressors and precarious employment) are associated with thoughts about suicide, especially among males. A limitation of this research is that it is largely cross-sectional. Thus, it is unknown whether job stressors are a prior cause of thoughts about suicide. This study examined the baseline association between adverse experiences at work and thoughts about suicide at follow-up in a large nationally representative cohort of employed men. We used data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men). The outcome was thoughts about suicide in the prior 12 months (reported in wave 2) and the key exposure variables were: high job demands, low job control, job insecurity, perceived unfairness of pay, occupational skill level, and employment arrangement (all reported in wave 1). We adjusted for possible confounders, including mental health and suicidal thoughts (wave 1). In a s le of 8379 and after adjustment, job insecurity (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13-1.61, P = 0.001), low job control (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.06-1.33, P = 0.004), and employment on a casual or on a fixed term basis (OR 1.30, 95% 1.01-1.67, P = 0.041) were associated with a greater odds of thoughts about suicide at follow up. Results for all by job control were maintained after removing those who reported thoughts of suicide at baseline. This study suggests that experiences at work may be risk factors for thoughts about suicide among employed men. More research is needed to unpack the complex associations between, employment, and experiences of suicide.
Asbestos Selected Cancers Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2008
Associations between Australian early childhood educators' mental health and working conditions: A cross-sectional study
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-2015
DOI: 10.1177/183693911504000310
Abstract: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION and care quality relies on educator capacity however, working conditions may compromise educators' mental health. This study examines associations between family day care (FDC) educators' mental health and working conditions to inform workplace mental health promotion. Three hundred and sixty-six FDC educators completed an online or written survey. In addition to this, regression analyses were used to examine relationships between educator mental health and working conditions. Although many FDC educators had low psychological distress and moderate mental wellbeing, 41.7 per cent reported psychological distress. Most educators' ‘efforts’ and ‘rewards’ were unbalanced (effort–reward imbalance [ERI] ratio) and showed high ‘overcommitment’ to work. Effort and overcommitment were significantly related to increased odds of psychological distress, whereas social support was associated with higher mental wellbeing. The ERI ratio had the strongest associations with educator psychological distress and mental wellbeing. As many working conditions associated with educator mental health are modifiable, this study highlights opportunities for workplace mental health promotion in FDC.
A cluster-randomised, controlled trial to assess the impact of a workplace osteoporosis prevention intervention on the dietary and physical activity behaviours of working women: study protocol
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-04-2013
A comparison of face-to-face and online training in improving managers' confidence to support the mental health of workers
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
Psychosocial job stressors and suicidality: a meta-analysis and systematic review
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 29-08-2018
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2017-104531
Abstract: Job stressors are known determinants of common mental disorders. Over the past 10 years, there has been evidence that job stressors may also be risk factors for suicidality. The current paper sought to examine this topic through the first comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to date. We used a three-tier search strategy of seven electronic databases. Studies were included if they reported on a job stressor or job-related stress as an exposure and suicide ideation, self-harm, suicide attempt or suicide as an outcome. Two researchers independently screened articles. All extracted effect estimates were converted to log-transformed ORs. There were 22 studies that were included in meta-analysis. Overall, exposure to job stressors was associated with elevated risk of suicide ideation and behaviours. The OR for suicide ideation (14 studies) ranged from 1.45 (95% CI 1.01 to 2.08) for poor supervisor and colleague support to 1.91 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.99) for job insecurity. For suicide (six studies), exposure to lower supervisor and collegial support produced an OR of 1.16 (95% CI 0.98 to 1.38), while low job control resulted in an OR of 1.23 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.50). There were only two studies that examined suicide attempt, both of which suggested an adverse effect of exposure to job stressors. This study provides some evidence that job stressors may be related to suicidal outcomes. However, as most studies in the area were cross-sectional and observational in design, there is a need for longitudinal research to assess the robustness of observed associations.
Depression in the workplace: An economic cost analysis of depression-related productivity loss attributable to job strain and bullying
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2013
The relationship between occupational health and safety vulnerability and workplace injury
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2017
Are Young Men Getting the Message? Age Differences in Suicide Prevention Literacy among Male Construction Workers
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 06-02-2019
Abstract: Suicide is a leading cause of death among young men. Help-seeking is known to be poor among this group, and little is known about what interventions are most successful in improving suicide prevention literacy among young men. This research aims to examine: (1) age differences in beliefs related to suicide prevention literacy and attitudes to the workplace in addressing mental health among male construction workers (2) age differences in response to a workplace suicide prevention program. Pre- and post-training survey data of 19,917 male respondents were obtained from a workplace training program database. Linear regression models and predictive margins were computed. Mean differences in baseline beliefs, and belief change were obtained for age groups, and by occupation. Young men demonstrated poorer baseline suicide prevention literacy but were more likely to consider that mental health is a workplace health and safety issue. There was also evidence that young men employed in manual occupations had poorer suicide prevention literacy than older men, and young men employed in professional/managerial roles. The youngest respondents demonstrated the greatest intervention-associated change (higher scores indicating more favourable belief change) to People considering suicide often send out warning signs (predicted mean belief change 0.47, 95% CI 0.43, 0.50 for those aged 15–24 years compared to 0.38, 95% CI 0.36, 0.41 for men aged 45 years and over), and to The construction industry must do something to reduce suicide rates (predicted mean belief change 0.17, 95% CI 0.15, 0.20 for those aged 15–24 years compared to 0.12, 95% CI 0.10, 0.14 among men aged 45 years and over). Results indicate that while suicide prevention literacy may be lower among young men, this group show amenability to changing beliefs. There were some indications that young men have a greater propensity to regard the workplace as having a role in reducing suicide rates and addressing mental health, highlighting opportunity for workplace interventions.
Area-Level unemployment and perceived job insecurity: Evidence from a longitudinal survey conducted in the Australian working-age population.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-12-2014
Abstract: RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: Job insecurity, the subjective in idual anticipation of involuntary job loss, negatively affects employees' health and their engagement. Although the relationship between job insecurity and health has been extensively studied, job insecurity as an 'exposure' has received far less attention, with little known about the upstream determinants of job insecurity in particular. This research sought to identify the relationship between self-rated job insecurity and area-level unemployment using a longitudinal, nationally representative study of Australian households. Mixed-effect multi-level regression models were used to assess the relationship between area-based unemployment rates and self-reported job insecurity using data from a longitudinal, nationally representative survey running since 2001. Interaction terms were included to test the hypotheses that the relationship between area-level unemployment and job insecurity differed between occupational skill-level groups and by employment arrangement. Marginal effects were computed to visually depict differences in job insecurity across areas with different levels of unemployment. Results indicated that areas with the lowest unemployment rates had significantly lower job insecurity (predicted value 2.74 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.71-2.78, P < 0.001) than areas with higher unemployment (predicted value 2.81 95% CI 2.79-2.84, P < 0.001). There was a stronger relationship between area-level unemployment and job insecurity among precariously and fixed-term employed workers than permanent workers. These findings demonstrate the independent influences of prevailing economic conditions, in idual- and job-level factors on job insecurity. Persons working on a casual basis or on a fixed-term contract in areas with higher levels of unemployment are more susceptible to feelings of job insecurity than those working permanently.
Invited Commentary: Job Strain and Health Behaviors--Developing a Bigger Picture
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-11-2012
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWS337
Abstract: Investigation of the association between job stressors and health behaviors has a long history that has been marked by mixed findings. Fransson et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2012 (12):1078-1089) find robust prospective and cross-sectional associations between job strain and leisure-time physical inactivity in combined data from 14 cohort studies. Further research to better understand the observed heterogeneity in the contributing cohorts and other studies will be crucial for application to intervention design and tailoring. The population health significance of these findings requires consideration of other job strain-health behavior (particularly the parallel analyses conducted for body mass index and smoking in the same data set) and job strain-health outcome associations, as well as these same associations for other job stressors. Job strain can be seen as a "fundamental cause" of work-related disease, in that intervention to reduce exposure to job strain could have beneficial impacts on many outcomes, making a compelling case for intervention. The significantly strengthened evidence linking job stressors to health behaviors provided by Fransson et al. may help to further direct workplace health promotion research, policy, and practice towards an approach that better integrates intervention on working conditions and health behaviors. The benefits to population health could be substantial.
Authors' reply: Response to: Psychosocial job stressors and suicidality: a meta-analysis and systematic review' by Milneret al'
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 27-01-2018
0381 The potential impact of three workplace actions on return to work after a work-related musculoskeletal or psychological injury
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Date: 08-2017
Socio-demographic and work setting correlates of poor mental health in a population sample of working Victorians: application in evidence-based intervention priority setting
Publisher: Computers, Materials and Continua (Tech Science Press)
Date: 04-2012
Reducing occupational sitting: Workers' perspectives on participation in a multi-component intervention
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-05-2017
Australia’s Disability Employment Services Program: Participant Perspectives on Factors Influencing Access to Work
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 31-10-2021
Abstract: Disability employment programs play a key role in supporting people with disability to overcome barriers to finding and maintaining work. Despite significant investment, ongoing reforms to Australia’s Disability Employment Services (DES) are yet to lead to improved outcomes. This paper presents findings from the Improving Disability Employment Study (IDES): a two-wave survey of 197 DES participants that aims to understand their perspectives on factors that influence access to paid work. Analysis of employment status by type of barrier indicates many respondents experience multiple barriers across vocational (lack of qualifications), non-vocational (inaccessible transport) and structural (limited availability of jobs, insufficient resourcing) domains. The odds of gaining work decreased as the number of barriers across all domains increased with each unit of barrier reported (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07, 1.38). Unemployed respondents wanted more support from employment programs to navigate the welfare system and suggest suitable work, whereas employed respondents wanted support to maintain work, indicating the need to better tailor service provision according to the needs of job-seekers. Combined with our findings from the participant perspective, improving understanding of these relationships through in-depth analysis and reporting of DES program data would provide better evidence to support current DES reform and improve models of service delivery.
Investigating 'Community' through a History of Responses to Asbestos-Related Disease in an Australian Industrial Region
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-06-2008
DOI: 10.1093/SHM/HKN033
A Longitudinal Analysis of Changes in Job Control and Mental Health
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-2015
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWV046
Cardiometabolic Impact of Changing Sitting, Standing, and Stepping in the Workplace
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 03-2018
Underemployment and mental health: Comparing fixed-effects and random-effects regression approaches in an Australian working population cohort
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 18-11-2017
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2016-103706
Abstract: Underemployment occurs when workers are available for more hours of work than offered. It is a serious problem in many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and particularly in Australia, where it affects about 8% of the employed population. This paper seeks to answer the question: does an increase in underemployment have an influence on mental health? The current paper uses data from an Australian cohort of working people (2001-2013) to investigate both within-person and between-person differences in mental health associated with being underemployed compared with being fully employed. The main exposure was underemployment (not underemployed, underemployed 1-5, 6-10, 11-20 and over 21 hours), and the outcome was the five-item Mental Health Inventory. Results suggest that stepwise declines in mental health are associated with an increasing number of hours underemployed. Results were stronger in the random-effects (11-20 hours =-1.53, 95% CI -2.03 to -1.03, p<0.001 21 hours and over -2.24, 95% CI -3.06 to -1.43, p<0.001) than fixed-effects models (11-20 hours =-1.11, 95% CI -1.63 to -0.58, p<0.001 21 hours and over -1.19, 95% CI -2.06 to -0.32, p=0.008). This likely reflects the fact that certain workers were more likely to suffer the negative effects of underemployment than others (eg, women, younger workers, workers in lower-skilled jobs and who were casually employed). We suggest underemployment to be a target of future workplace prevention strategies.
A cluster RCT to reduce workers' sitting time: Impact on cardiometabolic biomarkers
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 10-2017
Gendered associations between household labour force participation and mental health using 17 waves of Australian cohort data
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-11-2021
Perceived job insecurity and risk of suicide and suicide attempts: a study of men and women in the Swedish working population
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 20-02-2022
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.4015
Abstract: Whether perceived job insecurity increases the risk of suicidal behaviors is unclear. Improved understanding in this area could inform efforts to reduce suicide risk among those experiencing elevated job insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as post-pandemic. We aimed to investigate if perceived job insecurity predicted increased risk of suicide mortality and suicide attempts. Employees (N=65 571), representative of the Swedish working population who participated in the Swedish Work Environment Survey in 1991-2003, were followed up through 2016 in the National Inpatient and Death Registers. Suicide deaths and suicide attempts were defined according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 and ICD-8/9 codes of underlying cause of death and in-/outpatient care. Job insecurity and subsequent risk of suicide and suicide attempt were investigated with marginal structural Cox regression analyses and inverse probability of treatment weighting to control for confounding. Perceived job insecurity was associated with an elevated risk of suicide [hazard ratio (HR) 1.51, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-2.20], but not with incident suicide attempts (HR 1.03, CI 0.86-1.24). Estimates remained similar after considering prevalent revious poor mental health, other work factors, and when restricting the follow up time to ten years. The study suggests that job insecurity is associated with an increased risk of suicide mortality. Concerns about elevated job insecurity and suicide levels in the wake of the current pandemic could thus be considered in strategies to reduce the population health impact job insecurity both during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Combined exposures to workplace psychosocial stressors: Relationships with mental health in a sample of NZ cleaners and clerical workers
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-01-2011
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.20927
Abstract: A combined measure of two common psychosocial stressors, called job pressure has previously been shown to be strongly associated with poor mental health in high status workers. This study tests the generalizability of this association to lower status workers. A national random s le of cleaners and clerical workers was obtained from the New Zealand (NZ) electoral roll by occupational title (n = 596). Cross-sectional data on job stressors, demographics, and mental health (GHQ-12) was collected by computer-assisted telephone interviews. Combined exposure to low job control, high job demands, and job insecurity (high job pressure) was associated with markedly elevated odds (13-fold or higher) of poor mental health after adjustment for age, sex, occupation, and education. Combined with previous findings this suggests simultaneous exposure to more than one occupational psychosocial stressor may greatly increase the risk of poor mental health among both lower and higher status workers. This report adds to the larger literature in this area, supporting the need for expanded policy and practice intervention to reduce job stressors across the working population.
Does disability status modify the association between psychosocial job quality and mental health? A longitudinal fixed-effects analysis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2015.09.024
Abstract: People with disabilities have difficulties in obtaining work. However, evidence suggests that those with disabilities derive substantial mental health benefits from employment. This paper assesses how the relationship between work and mental health is influenced by psychosocial job quality for people working with a disability. The study design was a longitudinal cohort with 13 annual waves of data collection, yielding a s le of 122,883 observations from 21,848 people. Fixed-effects within-person regression was used to control for time invariant confounding. The Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) measure was used as the primary outcome measure. The main exposure was a six-category measure of psychosocial job quality and employment status (including 'not in the labour force' [NILF] and unemployment). Disability status ('no waves of disability reported' and 'all contributed waves with reported disability') was assessed as an effect modifier. We also conducted a secondary analysis on respondents contributing both disability and non-disability waves. For those with no disability, the greatest difference in mental health (compared to optimal employment) occurs when people have the poorest quality jobs (-2.12, 95% CI -2.48, -1.75, p < 0.001). The relative difference in mental health was less in relation to NILF and unemployment (-0.39 and -0.66 respectively). For those with consistent disability, the difference in mental health when employed in an optimal job was similar between the poorest quality jobs (-2.25, 95% CI -3.84, -0.65, p = 0.006), NILF (-2.84, 95% CI -4.49, -1.20, p = 0.001) or unemployment (-2.56, 95% CI -4.32, -0.80, p = 0.004). These results were confirmed by the secondary analysis. Efforts to improve psychosocial job quality may have significant mental health benefits for people with disabilities. This will contribute to the economic viability of disability employment insurance schemes in Australia and other high-income countries.
Use of antiseptic hand rubs in the health and community services industry: An Australian population-based survey
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-04-2015
DOI: 10.1111/COD.12399
Abstract: The use of antiseptic hand rubs (AHRs), rather than washing with soap and water, is considered to be the gold standard for reducing the frequency of nosocomial infections, as well as being less damaging to the hands than washing with soap and water, but little is known at a population level about usage patterns for AHRs. To describe AHR use patterns among workers in the health and community services industry in Australia. Using data from a population-based survey of Australian workers, we focused on health and community services workers' exposure to chemicals at work, including the use of AHRs. Data regarding the frequency of hand-washing were also collected. Nine hundred and fifty-six health and community service workers participated in the Australian National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance survey. Of these, 11% reported using AHRs, and 31% reported hand-washing >20 times per shift. According to an adjusted logistic regression model, professional workers [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.29, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.40-3.72] and frequent hand washers (aOR 3.08, 95%CI: 1.92-4.93) were more likely to use AHRs. AHR use by health and community service workers was generally lower than expected. AHR use was most likely to be reported by professionals and frequent hand washers, suggesting that AHRs are used as an adjunct to conventional hand-washing.
Norms and Their Relationship to Behavior in Worksite Settings: An Application of the Jackson Return Potential Model
Publisher: JCFCorp SG PTE LTD
Date: 05-2005
DOI: 10.5993/AJHB.29.3.7
Abstract: To measure health norms and assess their influence on behavior among 2541 employees in 16 manufacturing worksites using an adapted Jackson's Return Potential Model (RPM). Worksite-level norm intensity, crystallization, and normative power were calculated for several behaviors linear regression analyses tested whether normative power was related to each health behavior. Norms about safe work practices and smoking were most intense norms about safe work practices were most crystallized. Safe work practices and smoking held the highest normative power healthy eating held the least normative power. Comparing norm characteristics across health behaviors leads to important leverage points for intervening to influence norms and improve worker health.
Psychosocial job quality and mental health among young workers: a fixed-effects regression analysis using 13 waves of annual data
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 05-12-2016
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3608
Abstract: Objectives Entry into employment may be a time when a young person's well-being and mental health is challenged. Specifically, we examined the difference in mental health when a young person was "not in the labor force" (NILF) (ie, non-working activity such as participating in education) compared to being in a job with varying levels of psychosocial quality. Method The data source for this study was the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) study, and the s le included 10 534 young people (aged ≤30 years). We used longitudinal fixed-effects regression to investigate within-person changes in mental health comparing circumstances where in iduals were NILF to when they were employed in jobs of varying psychosocial quality. Results Compared to when in iduals were not in the labor force, results suggest a statistically significant decline in mental health when young people were employed in jobs with poor psychosocial working conditions and an improvement in mental health when they were employed in jobs with optimal psychosocial working conditions. Our results were robust to various sensitivity tests, including adjustment for life events and the lagged effects of mental health and job stressors. Conclusions If causal, the results suggest that improving the psychosocial quality of work for younger workers will protect and promote their wellbeing, and may reduce the likelihood of mental health problems later on.
Access to means of suicide, occupation and the risk of suicide: a national study over 12 years of coronial data
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-04-2017
Compromised right ventricular contractility in an ovine model of heart transplantation following 24 h donor brain stem death
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.PHRS.2021.105631
Abstract: Heart failure is an inexorably progressive disease with a high mortality, for which heart transplantation (HTx) remains the gold standard treatment. Currently, donor hearts are primarily derived from patients following brain stem death (BSD). BSD causes activation of the sympathetic nervous system, increases endothelin levels, and triggers significant inflammation that together with potential myocardial injury associated with the transplant procedure, may affect contractility of the donor heart. We examined peri-transplant myocardial catecholamine sensitivity and cardiac contractility post-BSD and transplantation in a clinically relevant ovine model. Donor sheep underwent BSD (BSD, n = 5) or sham (no BSD) procedures (SHAM, n = 4) and were monitored for 24h prior to heart procurement. Orthotopic HTx was performed on a separate group of donor animals following 24h of BSD (BSD-Tx, n = 6) or SHAM injury (SH-Tx, n = 5). The healthy recipient heart was used as a control (HC, n = 11). A cumulative concentration-effect curve to (-)-noradrenaline (NA) was established using left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) trabeculae to determine β Our data showed reduced basal and maximal (-)-noradrenaline induced contractility of the RV (but not LV) following BSD as well as HTx, regardless of whether the donor heart was exposed to BSD or SHAM. The potency of (-)-noradrenaline was lower in left and right ventricles for BSD-Tx and SH-Tx compared to HC. These studies show that the combination of BSD and transplantation are likely to impair contractility of the donor heart, particularly for the RV. For the donor heart, this contractile dysfunction appears to be independent of changes to β
Density-dependent regulation of growth in somatic hybrids between normal Chinese hamster fibroblasts and V79-8 (G1−1) cells
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-1984
DOI: 10.1016/0014-4827(84)90217-9
Abstract: The purpose of this work was to determine the relationship between the presence of a G1 period in the mitotic cycle and a cell's ability to respond to density-dependent regulation of growth (DDR). Somatic hybrids were obtained between normal fibroblasts from newborn Chinese hamsters, which show a strong response to DDR, and V79-8 Chinese hamster cells, which are insensitive to DDR. Two variant V79-8 sublines were used, one reported to lack a G1 period (G1-) and the other with a G1 period (G1+). Fourteen hybrid clones were isolated in selective medium and analysed for growth properties and cell cycle parameters their hybrid nature was supported by chromosome counts. All hybrid clones, irrespective of whether a V79-8 G1- or G1+ cell was one of the parents, showed pronounced DDR and had G1 periods of various lengths. Previous experiments had shown the absence of G1 to be dominant in somatic hybrids between V79-8 G1- and G1+ cell lines. Our results may mean that the G1- property provided by V79-8 is unable to overcome the very long G1 of normal fibroblasts, or in cells that can be arrested in G1 in response to DDR, some function prevents the dominant effect of the G1- cell on at least part of the G1 period.
Working in light vehicles-A review and conceptual model for occupational health and safety
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.AAP.2007.01.009
Abstract: Occupational light vehicle (OLV) use is the leading cause of work related traumatic deaths in Westernised countries. Previous research has focused primarily on narrow contexts of OLV-use such as corporate fleet vehicles. We have proposed a comprehensive systems model for OLV-use to provide a framework for identifying research needs and proposing policy and practice interventions. This model presents the worker as the locus of injury at the centre of work- and road-related determinants of injury. Using this model, we reviewed existing knowledge and found most studies focused only on company car drivers, neglecting OLV-users in non-traditional employment arrangements and those using other vehicle types. Environmental exposures, work design factors and risk and protective factors for the wider OLV-user population are inadequately researched. Neither road- nor work-related policy appropriately addresses OLV-use, and population surveillance relies largely on inadequate workers compensation insurance data. This review demonstrates that there are significant gaps in understanding the problem of OLV-use and a need for further research integrating public health, insurance and road safety responses. The model provides a framework for understanding the theory of OLV-use OHS and guidance for urgently needed intervention research, policy and practice.
Psychosocial factors at work from the job strain model and preventable mortality in France: The STRESSJEM prospective study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.YPMED.2020.106178
Abstract: The study aimed to explore the prospective associations between psychosocial factors at work from the job strain model and preventable mortality, including smoking- and alcohol-related mortality as well as external causes of death. The study was based on prospective data and relied on a s le of 1,511,456 in iduals for which data on job history, mortality and causes of death were linked over the 1976-2002 period. Exposures were the factors from the job strain model imputed through a job-exposure matrix. Various time-varying measures of exposure were used including current exposure and two measures of cumulative exposure. Preventable mortality was defined using the OECD/Eurostat list of preventable causes of death. The associations between exposures and outcomes were studied using Cox proportional hazards models. Effect modification by gender was also assessed. Over the study period, 57,264 preventable deaths occurred before the age of 75 years. Low decision latitude, low social support, job strain, iso-strain, passive job, and high strain were associated with preventable mortality, and associations of stronger magnitude were found for job strain and isostrain among men. Stronger associations were observed for alcohol-related mortality than for smoking-related mortality and external causes of death. The fractions of preventable mortality attributable to current exposure to job strain and isostrain were significant among men only (5.1% and 3.3%). Psychosocial factors at work from the job strain model may play a role on preventable mortality. Intensifying research and prevention towards the psychosocial work environment may be helpful to reduce risky health-related behaviours and related mortality.
Psychosocial and other working conditions in relation to body mass index in a representative sample of Australian workers
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-03-2006
Abstract: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between psychosocial and other working conditions and body-mass index (BMI) in a working population. This study contributes to the approximately dozen investigations of job stress, which have demonstrated mixed positive and negative results in relation to obesity, overweight and BMI. A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted among working Australians in the state of Victoria. Participants were contacted by telephone from a random s le of phone book listings. Information on body mass index was self-reported as were psychosocial work conditions assessed using the demand/control and effort/reward imbalance models. Other working conditions measured included working hours, shift work, and physical demand. Separate linear regression analyses were undertaken for males and females, with adjustment for potential confounders. A total of 1101 interviews (526 men and 575 women) were completed. Multivariate models (adjusted for socio-demographics) demonstrated no associations between job strain, as measured using the demand/control model, or ERI using the effort/reward imbalance model (after further adjustment for over commitment) and BMI among men and women. Multivariate models demonstrated a negative association between low reward and BMI among women. Among men, multivariate models demonstrated positive associations between high effort, high psychological demand, long working hours and BMI and a negative association between high physical demand and BMI. After controlling for the effort/reward imbalance or the demand/control model, the association between physical demand and working longer hours and BMI remained. Among men and women the were differing patterns of both exposures to psychosocial working conditions and associations with BMI. Among men, working long hours was positively associated with higher BMI and this association was partly independent of job stress. Among men physical demand was negatively associated with BMI and this association was independent of job stress.
Intervention development and implementation: Understanding and addressing barriers to organizational-level interventions
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 12-11-2012
Job strain - attributable depression in a sample of working Australians: assessing the contribution to health inequalities.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-05-2008
Long-Term Ethylene Oxide Exposure Trends in US Hospitals: Relationship With OSHA Regulatory and Enforcement Actions
Publisher: American Public Health Association
Date: 09-2004
Abstract: Objectives. We assessed long-term trends in ethylene oxide (EtO) worker exposures for the purposes of exposure surveillance and evaluation of the impacts of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 1984 and 1988 EtO standards. Methods. We obtained exposure data from a large commercial vendor and processor of EtO passive dosimeters. Personal s les (87 582 workshift [8-hr] and 46 097 short-term [15-min] s les) from 2265 US hospitals were analyzed for time trends from 1984 through 2001 and compared with OSHA enforcement data. Results. Exposures declined steadily for the first several years after the OSHA standards were set. Workshift exposures continued to taper off and have remained low and constant through 2001. However, since 1996, the probability of exceeding the short-term excursion limit has increased. This trend coincides with a decline in enforcement of the EtO standard. Conclusions. Results indicate the need for renewed intervention efforts to preserve gains made following the passage and implementation of the 1984 and 1988 EtO standards.
Job stress and other working conditions: Relationships with smoking behaviors in a representative sample of working Australians
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2006
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.20492
Abstract: To assess the relationships between current smoking status and psychosocial working conditions. A cross-sectional population-based telephone survey was conducted (66% response rate, N = 1,101). Job stress was measured using the demand/control, effort/reward imbalance (ERI), and job pressure models. Multiple regression modelling was conducted for smoking status (current versus non-smokers, and a more restricted analysis of current versus former-smokers) and daily smoking intensity outcomes in relation to job stress measures, working hours, shift work, and other independent variables. After adjustment for age, education, martial status, and hostility, high job strain was positively associated with current smoking in men only. Employment in active jobs was associated with decreased odds of smoking among women only. High strain jobs were associated with decreased odds of current smoking compared to former smoking in women. In men, extreme and moderate job pressure were related to current smoking compared to current non-smoking, and moderate job pressure was associated with current smoking compared with former smokers. Other working conditions associated with smoking were excessive working hours in men and physical demand in women. Daily smoking intensity in current smokers was associated with high psychological demand and with ERI in women. These results suggest that job stress is related to smoking status at the population level, with different patterns in men and women.
Utility of the complete blood count in routine medical surveillance for ethylene oxide exposure
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-1993
Abstract: The 1984 OSHA Standard for ethylene oxide (EtO) mandates medical surveillance under various circumstances. When performed, medical surveillance for EtO must include a complete blood count (CBC) with differential leukocyte count. This requirement is based on reports of EtO-associated absolute lymphocytosis and other hematologic effects. This paper describes our experiences in providing EtO medical surveillance for a 300 bed hospital over a 6 year period. We observed an apparent relative lymphocytosis which persisted over 3-4 years in sterilization workers with documented TWA personal EtO exposures averaging 0.07 ppm. In addition, three workers had a history of acutely toxic overexposure to EtO as a result of a sterilizer malfunction. These workers became symptomatic following the high accidental overexposure, but did not show absolute lymphocytosis or altered patterns in the relative lymphocytosis. Finally, a cross-sectional comparison of the CBC data from the EtO-exposed workers to data from non-EtO-exposed hospital workers showed no significant differences, ruling out an association of the relative lymphocytosis with EtO exposure. These observations led us to review the basis for the inclusion of the CBC in routine EtO medical surveillance. Our experience, review of the literature on EtO-associated lymphocytosis and anemia, and review of the literature on the use of the CBC with differential as a screening test suggest that the leukocyte differential may not be useful in routine medical surveillance for EtO exposure.
The work-based predictors of job engagement and job satisfaction experienced by community health professionals
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2001
Effectiveness of training workplace managers to understand and support the mental health needs of employees: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 21-03-2018
DOI: 10.1136/OEMED-2017-104789
Abstract: Managers are in an influential position to make decisions that can impact on the mental health and well-being of their employees. As a result, there is an increasing trend for organisations to provide managers with training in how to reduce work-based mental health risk factors for their employees. A systematic search of the literature was conducted to identify workplace interventions for managers with an emphasis on the mental health of employees reporting directing to them. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate pooled effect sizes using the random effects model for both manager and employee outcomes. Ten controlled trials were identified as relevant for this review. Outcomes evaluating managers’ mental health knowledge (standardised mean difference (SMD)=0.73 95% CI 0.43 to 1.03 p .001), non-stigmatising attitudes towards mental health (SMD=0.36 95% CI 0.18 to 0.53 p .001) and improving behaviour in supporting employees experiencing mental health problems (SMD=0.59 95% CI 0.14 to 1.03 p=0.01) were found to have significant pooled effect sizes favouring the intervention. A significant pooled effect was not found for the small number of studies evaluating psychological symptoms in employees (p=0.28). Our meta-analysis indicates that training managers in workplace mental health can improve their knowledge, attitudes and self-reported behaviour in supporting employees experiencing mental health problems. At present, any findings regarding the impact of manager training on levels of psychological distress among employees remain preliminary as only a very limited amount of research evaluating employee outcomes is available. Our review suggests that in order to understand the effectiveness of manager training on employees, an increase in collection of employee level data is required.
Provision of control measures for exposure of the hands to wet-working conditions in Australian workplaces
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2012
A systematic review of the job-stress intervention evaluation literature, 1990-2005
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-2007
DOI: 10.1179/OEH.2007.13.3.268
Abstract: Ninety reports of systematic evaluations of job-stress interventions were rated in terms of the degree of systems approach used. A high rating was defined as both organizationally and in idually focused, versus moderate (organizational only), and low (in idual only). Studies using high-rated approaches represent a growing proportion of the job-stress intervention evaluation literature. In idual-focused, low-rated approaches are effective at the in idual level, favorably affecting in idual-level outcomes, but tend not to have favorable impacts at the organizational level. Organizationally-focused high- and moderate-rated approaches are beneficial at both in idual and organizational levels. Further measures are needed to foster the dissemination and implementation of systems approaches to examining interventions for job stress.
Time Spent Commuting to Work and Mental Health: Evidence From 13 Waves of an Australian Cohort Study
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-04-2016
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWW243
Job strain exposures vs. stress-related workers compensation claims in Victoria, Australia: Developing a public health response to job stress
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-2009
DOI: 10.1057/JPHP.2008.41
Abstract: We present a comparative analysis of patterns of exposure to job stressors and stress-related workers' compensation (WC) claims to provide an evaluation of the adequacy of claims-driven policy and practice. We assessed job strain prevalence in a 2003 population-based survey of Victorian [Australia] workers and compared these results with stress-related WC statistics for the same year. Job strain prevalence was higher among females than males, and elevated among lower vs. higher occupational skill levels. In comparison, claims were higher among females than males, but primarily among higher skill-level workers. There was some congruence between exposure and WC claims patterns. Highly exposed groups in lower socio-economic positions were underrepresented in claims statistics, suggesting that the WC insurance perspective substantially underestimates the job stress problems for these groups. Thus to provide a sufficient evidence base for equitable policy and practice responses to this growing public health problem, exposure or health outcome data are needed as an essential complement to claims statistics.
Housing tenure and affordability and mental health following disability acquisition in adulthood
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2016.01.010
Abstract: Acquiring a disability in adulthood is associated with a reduction in mental health and access to secure and affordable housing is associated with better mental health. We hypothesised that the association between acquisition of disability and mental health is modified by housing tenure and affordability. We used twelve annual waves of data (2001-2012) (1913 participants, 13,037 observations) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. Eligible participants reported at least two consecutive waves of disability preceded by two consecutive waves without disability. Effect measure modification, on the additive scale, was tested in three fixed-effects linear regression models (which remove time-invariant confounding) which included a cross-product term between disability and prior housing circumstances: housing tenure by disability housing affordability by disability and, in a sub-s le (896 participants 5913 observations) with housing costs, tenure/affordability by disability. The outcome was the continuous mental component summary (MCS) of SF-36. Models adjusted for time-varying confounders. There was statistical evidence that prior housing modified the effect of disability acquisition on mental health. Our findings suggested that those in affordable housing had a -1.7 point deterioration in MCS (95% CI -2.1, -1.3) following disability acquisition and those in unaffordable housing had a -4.2 point reduction (95% CI -5.2, -1.4). Among people with housing costs, the largest declines in MCS were for people with unaffordable mortgages (-5.3, 95% CI -8.8, -1.9) and private renters in unaffordable housing (-4.0, 95% CI -6.3, -1.6), compared to a -1.4 reduction (95% CI -2.1, -0.7) for mortgagors in affordable housing. In sum, we used causally-robust fixed-effects regression and showed that deterioration in mental health following disability acquisition is modified by prior housing circumstance with the largest negative associations found for those in unaffordable housing. Future research should test whether providing secure, affordable housing when people acquire a disability prevents deterioration in mental health.
Effectiveness of suicide prevention programs for emergency and protective services employees: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-03-2017
DOI: 10.1002/AJIM.22676
Abstract: This brief report summarizes the international literature on the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs for protective and emergency services employees. A systematic search of 11 electronic databases was undertaken until June 30, 2015. Quantitative meta-analysis was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of these programs on suicide rates at post-intervention. Qualitative analyses were also used to identify program components that may be associated with reductions in suicide rates. A total of 13 studies were included. Only six reported sufficient information on suicide rates to enable inclusion in quantitative analyses, however. On average, these programs were associated with an approximate halving in suicide rates over an average follow-up period of 5.25 years (SD = 4.2 range: 1-11) (Incidence Rate Ratio 0.45, 95%CI 0.31-0.65 five studies I A greater focus on the relatively neglected area of workplace primary prevention could further improve suicide prevention effectiveness. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:394-407, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Risk, resistance and the neoliberal agenda: young people, health and well-being in the UK, Canada and Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2013
Psychosocial work stressors and risk of all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 14-10-2019
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3854
Abstract: Objectives Psychosocial work stressors are common exposures affecting the working population, and there is good evidence that they have adverse health consequences. There is some evidence that they may impact on mortality, but this has not been systematically examined. We performed a systematic review, including risk of bias, and meta-analyses of observational studies to examine the association between psychosocial work stressors and all-cause mortality and death due to coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods Electronic databases were searched to identify studies and information on study characteristics and outcomes extracted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Risk estimates of outcomes associated with psychosocial work stressors: specifically, all-cause mortality, and death due to CHD were pooled using inverse variance weighted random effects meta-analysis. Results We identified 45 eligible cohort studies, of which 32 were included in the quantitative analyses of psychosocial work stressors and mortality. Low job control was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-1.37, minimally-adjusted HR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.10, multivariable-adjusted HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.06 exclusion of low quality studies and multivariable-adjusted] and CHD mortality [HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.42-1.58, minimally-adjusted HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.17-1.30, multivariable-adjusted HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01-1.40, exclusion of low quality studies and multivariable-adjusted]. Conclusions Workers with low job control are at increased risk of all-cause and CHD mortality compared to workers with high job control. Policy and practice interventions to improve job control could contribute to reductions in all-cause and CHD mortality.
Process Evaluation of an Integrated Health Promotion/Occupational Health Model in WellWorks-2
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2005
Abstract: Disparities in chronic disease risk by occupation call for newapproaches to health promotion. Well Works-2 was a randomized, controlled study comparing the effectiveness of a health promotion/occupational health program (HP/OHS) with a standard intervention (HP). Interventions in both studies were based on the same theoretical foundations. Results from process evaluation revealed that a similar number of activities were offered in both conditions and that in the HP/OHS condition there were higher levels of worker participation using three measures: mean participation per activity (HP: 14.2% vs. HP/OHS: 21.2%), mean minutes of worker exposure to the intervention/site (HP: 14.9 vs. HP/OHS: 33.3), and overall mean participation per site (HP: 34.4% vs. HP/ OHS: 45.8%). There were a greater number of contacts with management (HP: 8.8 vs. HP/OHS: 24.9) in the HP/ OHS condition. Addressing occupational health may have contributed to higher levels of worker and management participation and smoking cessation among blue-collar workers.
Job Stress in the Australian and International Health and Community Services Sector: A Review of the Literature
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 11-2007
A participatory workplace health and safety training program for ethylene oxide
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 1992
Abstract: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has regulated ethylene oxide (EtO) on the basis of its acute toxicity and its potential carcinogenic and reproductive effects since 1971. OSHA's 1984 EtO standard and its 1988 revisions focused new attention on health and safety training and other preventive measures. An EtO health and safety training program for hospital sterilization workers was developed by the staff of an independent occupational and environmental health clinic. Participatory and empowerment training methods were central to the approach. Also included were hands-on, demonstration, interactive presentation, and other methods. An EtO Health and Safety Training Manual was developed based on the training experiences. This paper presents the challenges, benefits, and limitations of incorporating participatory and empowerment approaches in the design, implementation, and evaluation of EtO health and safety training.
Workplace psychosocial stressors experienced by migrant workers in Australia
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 20-09-2018
A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate Headcoach: An Online Mental Health Training Program for Workplace Managers.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2019
682Do job stressor—mental health relationships vary by migrant status? An Australian comparative analysis
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-2021
Abstract: Migrants may be more likely to experience occupational health inequities (OHIs) than native-born workers due to higher occupational exposure, higher vulnerability to exposure-associated health impacts, or both. This study explores migrant status-related differences in vulnerability to job stressor exposures in terms of mental health in Australia. Data were from wave 14 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. Migrant status was defined by country of birth (COB), the dominant language of COB, and the years since arrival in Australia. Job stressors included skill discretion, decision authority, and job insecurity. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5 score (MHI-5). Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age, and education. Migrant status was analysed as the effect modifier of job stressor—mental health relationships. As expected, skill discretion and decision authority were positively, while job insecurity was negatively associated with the MHI-5 score. However, there was no statistical evidence of migrant status acting as an effect modifier of job stressor—mental health relationships even though the dominant language of COB and years since arrival in Australia have been taken into account. The magnitudes of job stressor—mental health relationships do not differ between migrant workers and Australia-born workers. Differential exposure rather than differential vulnerability is a more important mechanism for generating occupational mental health inequities between migrants and Australian-born workers. Reducing job stressor exposures could reduce the OHIs among migrant workers in Australia.
Sources, perceived usefulness and understanding of information disseminated to families who entered home quarantine during the H1N1 pandemic in Victoria, Australia: A cross-sectional study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-01-2011
Mental Health Following Acquisition of Disability in Adulthood—The Impact of Wealth
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-10-2015
Early Childhood Educator Mental Health: Performing the National Quality Standard
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-2017
Abstract: IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION and care (ECEC) settings, the mental wellbeing of educators is likely to be crucial to delivering high-quality care. Hence, this paper uses a contextual understanding of educators' mental health, and its evaluation by both educators and management, to reveal areas of the National Quality Framework that require critical revision. Drawing on Hochschild's (2012) theory of emotional labour, we report on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with family day care educators (n = 16) and ECEC sector key informants (n = 18). Results demonstrate widespread belief that educator mental wellbeing affects care quality and the children attending care. In response to job stressors and perceived surveillance, educators use emotional labour to hide negative feelings and manage risks associated with low mental wellbeing. In this context, making in idual educators fully responsible for performing good mental health to meet the National Quality Standard may increase job stress and emotional labour, further distancing the aims of high-quality care. Our findings suggest that revising the NQS to improve working conditions, and addressing educator mental wellbeing are essential approaches for supporting high-quality ECEC practice.
Development of an Exposure Database and Surveillance System for Use by Practicing OSH Professionals
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2001
Abstract: This report summarizes the development of an occupational exposure database and surveillance system for use by health and safety professionals at Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS), a former nuclear weapons production facility. The site itself is currently in the cleanup stage with work expected to continue into 2006. The system was developed with the intent of helping health and safety personnel not only to manage and analyze exposure monitoring data, but also to identify exposure determinants during the highly variable cleanup work. Utilizing a series of focused meetings with health and safety personnel from two of the major contractors at RFETS, core data elements were established. These data elements were selected based on their utility for analysis and identification of exposure determinants. A task-based coding scheme was employed to better define the highly variable work. The coding scheme consisted of a two-tiered hierarchical list with a total of 34 possible combinations of work type and task. The data elements were incorporated into a Microsoft Access database with built-in data entry features to both promote consistency and limit entry choices to enable stratified analyses. In designing the system, emphasis was placed on the ability of end users to perform complex analyses and multiparameter queries to identify trends in their exposure data. A very flexible and user-friendly report generator was built into the system. This report generator allowed users to perform multiparameter queries using an intuitive system with very little training. In addition, a number of automated graphical analyses were built into the system, including exposure levels by any combination of building, date, employee, job classification, type of contaminant, work type or task, exposure levels over time, exposure levels relative to the permissible exposure limit (PELS), and distributions of exposure levels. Both of these interfaces, allow the user to "drill down" or gradually narrow query criteria to identify specific exposure determinants. A number of other industrial hygiene processes were automated by the use of this database. Exposure calculations were coded into the system to allow automatic calculation of time-weighted averages and s le volumes. In addition, a table containing all the PELs and other relevant occupational exposure limits was built into the system to allow automatic comparisons with the current standards. Finally, the process of generating reports for employee notification was automated. The implementation of this system demonstrates that an integrated database system can save time for a practicing hygienist as well as provide useful and more importantly, timely information to guide primary prevention efforts.
Overcoming practical challenges in intervention research in occupational health and safety
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-1996
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0274(199604)29:4<367::AID-AJIM17>3.0.CO;2-#
Wood Dust in Joineries and Furniture Manufacturing: An Exposure Determinant and Intervention Study
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-03-2017
Abstract: To assess wood dust exposures and determinants in joineries and furniture manufacturing and to evaluate the efficacy of specific interventions on dust emissions under laboratory conditions. Also, in a subsequent follow-up study in a small s le of joinery workshops, we aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate a cost-effective and practicable intervention to reduce dust exposures. Personal inhalable dust (n = 201) was measured in 99 workers from 10 joineries and 3 furniture-making factories. To assess exposure determinants, full-shift video exposure monitoring (VEM) was conducted in 19 workers and task-based VEM in 32 workers (in 7 joineries and 3 furniture factories). We assessed the efficacy of vacuum extraction on hand tools and the use of vacuum cleaners instead of sweeping and dry wiping under laboratory conditions. These measures were subsequently implemented in three joinery workshops with 'high' (>4 mg m-3) and one with 'low' (<2 mg m-3) baseline exposures. We also included two control workshops (one 'low' and one 'high' exposure workshop) in which no interventions were implemented. Exposures were measured 4 months prior and 4 months following the intervention. Average (geometric means) exposures in joinery and furniture making were 2.5 mg m-3 [geometric standard deviations (GSD) 2.5] and 0.6 mg m-3 (GSD 2.3), respectively. In joinery workers cleaning was associated with a 3.0-fold higher (P < 0.001) dust concentration compared to low exposure tasks (e.g. gluing), while the use of hand tools showed 3.0- to 11.0-fold higher (P < 0.001) exposures. In furniture makers, we found a 5.4-fold higher exposure (P < 0.001) with using a table/circular saw. Laboratory efficiency experiments showed a 10-fold decrease in exposure (P < 0.001) when using a vacuum cleaner. Vacuum extraction on hand tools combined with a downdraft table reduced exposures by 42.5% for routing (P < 0.1) and 85.5% for orbital sanding (P < 0.001). Following intervention measures in joineries, a borderline statistically significant (P < 0.10) reduction in exposure of 30% was found in workshops with 'high' baseline exposures, but no reduction was shown in the workshop with 'low' baseline exposures. Wood dust exposure is high in joinery workers and (to a lesser extent) furniture makers with frequent use of hand tools and cleaning being key drivers of exposure. Vacuum extraction on hand tools and alternative cleaning methods reduced workplace exposures substantially, but may be insufficient to achieve compliance with current occupational exposure limits.
Psychosocial working conditions and suicide ideation
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 06-2016
Psychosocial job stressors and risk of suicidal behavior – an observational study among Swedish men
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 08-06-2022
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.4039
Abstract: This study aimed to explore the relationship between psychosocial job stressors and suicidal behavior (fatal and non-fatal) among Swedish men while controlling for potential confounders. Population-based Swedish longitudinal cohort study of male conscripts without previous self-harm (N=1 483 310) enlisting 1968-2002. Conscription examinations included measures of IQ, stress resilience and psychiatric diagnoses. Job demand-control (JDC) exposure was assessed using the Swedish Job Exposure Matrix linked to specific occupations. Suicidal behavior among men aged 30-64 was identified in the National Hospital Register (non-fatal self-harm) and Swedish Cause of Death Register (suicide) during follow-up 2002-2014. Cox regression models were used to estimate associations between JDC category and suicidal behavior. In fully adjusted models, passive jobs (low demand-low control) showed the highest risk of suicidal behavior [hazard ratio (HR) 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-1.43] compared to those with low strain (low demand-high control), followed by high strain (high demand-low control) (HR 1.12, 95% Cl 1.03-1.22). A lower risk of suicidal behavior was found in the active category, where levels of both demand and control are high (HR 0.64, 95% Cl 0.60-0.70). Separate analyses for suicide as outcome revealed a lower risk of suicide in persons with active jobs (high demands-high control). The passive category showed a higher risk for suicide, but the association did not remain after adjustment for stress resilience and IQ. These results show that psychosocial job stressors among men are associated with risk for suicidal behavior. Improving job control has the potential to decrease suicidal behavior for this group.
Economic evaluation of a randomized controlled trial of an intervention to reduce office workers’ sitting time: TheStand up Victoria trial
Publisher: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
Date: 05-08-2018
DOI: 10.5271/SJWEH.3740
Abstract: Objectives This study aimed to assess the economic credentials of a workplace-delivered intervention to reduce sitting time among desk-based workers. Methods We performed within-trial cost-efficacy analysis and long-term cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and recruited 231 desk-based workers, aged 24-65 years, across 14 worksites of one organization. Multicomponent workplace-delivered intervention was compared to usual practice. Main outcome measures including total device-measured workplace sitting time, body mass index (BMI), self-reported health-related quality of life (Assessment of Quality of Life-8D, AQoL-8D), and absenteeism measured at 12 months. Results Compared to usual practice, the intervention was associated with greater cost (AU$431 erson), benefits in terms of reduced workplace sitting time [-46.8 minutes/8-hour workday, 95% confidence interval (CI): -69.9- -23.7] and increased workplace standing time (42.2 minutes/8-hour workday, 95% CI 23.8-60.6). However, there were no significant benefits for BMI [0.148 kg/m
Shifting Beliefs about Suicide: Pre-Post Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Program for Workers in the Construction Industry
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 25-09-2018
Abstract: Suicide is a significant health problem that is known to disproportionately affect those employed in manual occupations, including construction workers and tradespeople. Universal General Awareness Training (GAT) was part of a multi-component suicide prevention program in the Australian construction industry. The program’s aims were to increase awareness of mental health and suicide, reduce stigma, and encourage help-seeking and help-offering behaviours. This paper sought to examine the effectiveness of the GAT program in shifting suicide beliefs. Pre- and post-training survey data of 20,125 respondents was obtained from a database of GAT evaluation results between 2016 and 2018. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were fitted to examine belief changes, and predictive margins and their SEs were computed. Mean differences in belief change were obtained for the overall s le, and by occupation. Modest but significant favourable shifts in three of the four beliefs assessed were observed following GAT. Managers and professionals showed greater propensity to shift beliefs, and Labourers and Machinery Operators and Drivers showed least. Results suggest that GAT can successfully shift some beliefs regarding suicide and mental health at least in the short term, but highlight the need to tailor communication to vulnerable occupational groups.
Cost effectiveness of surveillance for isocyanate asthma: finding an occupational health policy framework
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 11-2005
Development of guidelines for workplace prevention of mental health problems: A Delphi consensus study with Australian professionals and employees
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2014
A blended face-to-face and smartphone intervention for suicide prevention in the construction industry: protocol for a randomized controlled trial with MATES in Construction
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-05-2019
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Amount: $204,425.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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