Psychosocial work factors and sickness absence in 31 countries in Europe

Isabelle Niedhammer (), Jean-François Chastang (), Hélène Sultan-Taïeb (), Greet Vermeylen and Agnès Parent-Thirion
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Isabelle Niedhammer: iPLESP - Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique - UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
Hélène Sultan-Taïeb: LEG - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion - UB - Université de Bourgogne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Greet Vermeylen: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions - EUROFOUND - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Agnès Parent-Thirion: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions - EUROFOUND - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

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Abstract: Background: The studies on the associations between psychosocial work factors and sickness absence have rarely included a large number of factors and European data. The objective was to examine the associations between a large set of psychosocial work factors following well-known and emergent concepts and sickness absence in Europe. Methods: The study population consisted of 14 881 male and 14 799 female workers in 31 countries from the 2005 European Working Conditions Survey. Psychosocial work factors included the following: decision latitude, psychological demands, social support, physical violence, sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, long working hours, shift and night work, job insecurity, job promotion and work-life imbalance. Covariates were as follows: age, occupation, economic activity, employee/self-employed status and physical, chemical, biological and biomechanical exposures. Statistical analysis was performed using multilevel negative binomial hurdle models to study the occurrence and duration of sickness absence. Results: In the models, including all psychosocial work factors together and adjustment for covariates, high psychological demands, discrimination, bullying, low-job promotion and work-life imbalance for both genders and physical violence for women were observed as risk factors of the occurrence of sickness absence. Bullying and shift work increased the duration of absence among women. Bullying had the strongest association with sickness absence. Conclusion: Various psychosocial work factors were found to be associated with sickness absence. A less conservative analysis exploring each factor separately provided a still higher number of risk factors. Preventive measures should take psychosocial work environment more comprehensively into account to reduce sickness absence and improve health at work at European level.

Keywords: Psychosocial work; Sickness absence; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published in European Journal of Public Health, 2013, 23 (4), pp.622-629. ⟨10.1093/eurpub/cks124⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01228084

DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/cks124

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