Mental stress due to poor organizational climate and high work commitment as predictor of 10-year registered sickness absence: a cohort study based on The Population Study of Women in Gothenburg.

Abstract

Objective: Early identification of persons at risk for sickness absence offers an opportunity to initiate preventive measures. The aim of this study was to examine whether perceived work-related stress, measured by The Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ), predicted registered sickness absence up to 10 years later in a general working population of women.

Design: A survey-linkage study based on the 2004-2005 wave of the Swedish 'Population Study of Women in Gothenburg (PSWG)' and 10-year follow-up in the official MiDAS sickness absence register.

Subjects: A population-based cohort of women aged 38 and 50 in 2004/2005 were invited (participation rate 59%). Participants registered as employed or self-employed were included (n = 396).

Methods: Predictors were indicators of work-related stress (WSQ). Outcomes were number of sickness absence episodes in total (examined using negative binomial regression) and sickness absence during separate time periods of follow-up (examined in logistic regression models).

Results: High perceived stress due to poor organizational climate predicted sickness absence episodes (adjusted Incidence Risk Rate (IRR_adj): 1.99 [95% CI 1.19-3.34]). The combination of stress due to both poor organizational climate and high work commitment gave an IRR_adj of 2.32 [95% CI 1.26-4.26]. Examination of specific two-year time period indicated that the results were rather consistent for up to 8 years of follow-up. Additionally, low influence at work was associated sickness absence in some of the time periods examined.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that perceived stress due to organizational factors at work, alone and in combination with the individual factor high work commitment, are long-lasting risk factors for sickness absence. Aligning with previous studies, the findings further suggest that WSQ might successfully aid identifying women with such elevated risk and adds that this is even true in a general population context. These findings merit further investigation in larger samples.