Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Feb;91(2):195-203.
doi: 10.1007/s00420-017-1268-1. Epub 2017 Oct 14.

Psychosocial work environment and mental health-related long-term sickness absence among nurses

Corné A M Roelen  1   2 , Marieke F A van Hoffen  3   4 , Siri Waage  5   6 , Wilmar B Schaufeli  7   8 , Jos W R Twisk  4 , Bjørn Bjorvatn  5   6 , Bente E Moen  9 , Ståle Pallesen  6   10
Affiliations

Psychosocial work environment and mental health-related long-term sickness absence among nurses

Corné A M Roelen et al. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated which job demands and job resources were predictive of mental health-related long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in nurses.

Methods: The data of 2059 nurses were obtained from the Norwegian survey of Shift work, Sleep and Health. Job demands (psychological demands, role conflict, and harassment at the workplace) and job resources (social support at work, role clarity, and fair leadership) were measured at baseline and linked to mental health-related LTSA during 2-year follow-up. Cox regression models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and related 95% confidence intervals (CI). The c-statistic was used to investigate the discriminative ability of the Cox regression models.

Results: A total of 1533 (75%) nurses were included in the analyses; 103 (7%) of them had mental health-related LTSA during 2-year follow-up. Harassment (HR = 1.07; 95% CI 1.01-1.17) and social support (HR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.87-0.98) were associated with mental health-related LTSA. However, the Cox regression model did not discriminate between nurses with and without mental health-related LTSA (c = 0.59; 95% CI 0.53-0.65).

Conclusions: Harassment was positively and social support at the workplace was negatively related to mental health-related LTSA, but both failed to discriminate between nurses with and without mental health-related LTSA during 2-year follow-up.

Keywords: Absenteeism; Job demands-resources model; Mental health; Nurses; Psychosocial work environment; Sick leave.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Funding

The longitudinal Survey of Shift work, Sleep and Health (SUSSH) was funded by the Health Authorities Western Norway Helse Vest, Nordforsk Nordic Program on Health and Welfare, and the Norwegian Nurses Organization. The present study used SUSSH data for secondary analyses, but was not funded.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The Survey of Shift work, Sleep, and Health (SUSSH) was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics West-Norway (REK-WEST 088.08) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Norwegian Data Inspectorate gave formal consent for the use of SUSSH data for the present study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The job demands-resources model
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abma FI, Brouwer S, de Vries HJ, Arends I, Robroek SJW, Cuijpers MPJ, van der Wilt JG, Bültmann U, van der Klink JJL. The capability set for work: development and validation of a new questionnaire. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2016;42:34–42. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3532. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allen BC, Holland P, Reynolds R. The effect of bullying on burnout in nurses: the moderating role of psychological detachment. J Adv Nurs. 2015;71:381–390. doi: 10.1111/jan.12489. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bakker AB, Demerouti E. The job demands-resources model: state of the art. J Manag Psychol. 2007;22:309–328. doi: 10.1108/02683940710733115. - DOI
    1. Bakker AB, Demerouti E, de Boer E, Schaufeli WB. Job demands and job resources as predictors of absence duration and frequency. J Vocat Behav. 2003;63:341–356. doi: 10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00030-1. - DOI
    1. Bakker AB, Demerouti E, Schaufeli WB. A multi-group analysis of the job demands–resources model. Eur J Work Organ Psychol. 2003;12:393–417. doi: 10.1080/13594320344000165. - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources