Work-life balance predicted work ability two years later: a cohort study of employees in the Swedish energy and water sector.

BACKGROUND: Work-life balance (WLB) is the extent to which individual's multiple life roles and demands carry over between each role. WLB can be divided into work interference with personal life (WIPL) and personal life interference with work (PLIW). This study aimed to investigate longitudinal associations between WIPL, PLIW and work ability outcomes. METHODS: In this cohort study, 224 employees in the energy and water sector in Sweden were followed-up over 2 years. Three questions derived from the Work Ability Index were used for measuring work ability outcome: current work ability compared with lifetime best; work ability regarding physical; and mental demands. Logistic regression models were used to analyse longitudinal associations between work ability and WIPL and WIPL respectively, controlling for workplace (company), position at work, experience of leadership quality, demographics, and work ability. RESULTS: Work ability compared to lifetime best were associated with WIPL in the adjusted logistic regression models (odds ratio (OR) 1.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-2.73), and PLIW (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.66-6.74). Work ability regarding physical demands was associated with WIPL (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.07-2.40). Work ability regarding mental demands was associated with WIPL (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.03-2.44) and PLIW (OR 2.88, 95% CI 1.31-6.32). CONCLUSION: In this two-year longitudinal study, lower WIPL predicted good/excellent overall work ability compared with lifetime best, higher work ability regarding physical and mental demands, and lower PLIW predicted good/excellent overall work ability compared with lifetime best and higher work ability regarding and mental demands.

Development of a tool to assess visual attention in Rett syndrome: a pilot study.

This was a two-phase study that aimed to (a) develop a tool for assessing visual attention in individuals with Rett syndrome using AAC with a communication partner during naturalistic interactions in clinical settings; and (b) explore aspects of the tool's reliability, validity, and utility. The Assessment of Visual Attention in Interaction (AVAI) tool was developed to assess visual attention operationalized as focused gazes (1 s or longer) at the communication partner, an object, and a symbol set. For the study, six video-recorded interactions with nine female participants diagnosed with Rett syndrome (range: 15-52-years-old) were used to calculate intra- and inter-rater agreement, and 18 recorded interactions were analyzed to examine sensitivity to change and acceptability. There was a significant difference in the AVAI results between two conditions (with and without aided-language modeling). Inter-rater agreement ranged from moderate and strong. There was a range in scores, indicating that the AVAI could differentiate between participants. The AVAI was found to be reliable, able to detect change, and acceptable to the participants. This tool could potentially be used for evaluating interventions that utilize aided AAC.

Building mindfulness bottom-up: Meditation in natural settings supports open monitoring and attention restoration.

Mindfulness courses conventionally use effortful, focused meditation to train attention. In contrast, natural settings can effortlessly support state mindfulness and restore depleted attention resources, which could facilitate meditation. We performed two studies that compared conventional training with restoration skills training (ReST) that taught low-effort open monitoring meditation in a garden over five weeks. Assessments before and after meditation on multiple occasions showed that ReST meditation increasingly enhanced attention performance. Conventional meditation enhanced attention initially but increasingly incurred effort, reflected in performance decrements toward the course end. With both courses, attentional improvements generalized in the first weeks of training. Against established accounts, the generalized improvements thus occurred before any effort was incurred by the conventional exercises. We propose that restoration rather than attention training can account for early attentional improvements with meditation. ReST holds promise as an undemanding introduction to mindfulness and as a method to enhance restoration in nature contacts.

A 10-year follow-up of tailored behavioural treatment and exercise-based physiotherapy for persistent musculoskeletal pain.

OBJECTIVE: To study the long-term outcomes of two interventions targeting patients with sub-acute and persistent pain in a primary care physiotherapy setting. DESIGN: A 10-year follow-up of a two-armed randomised controlled trial, initially including 97 participants. INTERVENTIONS: Tailored behavioural medicine treatment, applied in a physiotherapy context (experimental condition), and exercise-based physiotherapy (control condition). MAIN MEASURES: Pain-related disability was the primary outcome. The maximum pain intensity, pain control, fear of movement, sickness-related absence (register data) and perceived benefit and confidence in coping with future pain problems were the secondary outcomes. RESULTS: Forty-three (44%) participants responded to the follow-up survey, 20 in the tailored behavioural medicine treatment group and 23 in the exercise-based physiotherapy group. The groups did not differ in terms of the change in the scores for the primary outcome ( p=0.17) of pain-related disability between the experimental group (median: 2.5, Q1-Q3: -2.5-14.25), and the control group (median: 0, Q1-Q3: -5-6). Further, there were also no significant differences found for the secondary outcomes except for sickness-related absence, where the exercise-based physiotherapy group had more days of sickness-related absence three months before treatment ( p= 0.02), and at the 10-year follow-up ( p=0.03). DISCUSSION: The beneficial effects favouring tailored behavioural medicine treatment that observed post-treatment and at the two-year follow-up were not maintained 10 years after treatment.

Reliability and Validity of Six Selected Observational Methods for Risk Assessment of Hand Intensive and Repetitive Work.

Risk assessments of hand-intensive and repetitive work are commonly done using observational methods, and it is important that the methods are reliable and valid. However, comparisons of the reliability and validity of methods are hampered by differences in studies, e.g., regarding the background and competence of the observers, the complexity of the observed work tasks and the statistical methodology. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate six risk assessment methods, concerning inter- and intra-observer reliability and concurrent validity, using the same methodological design and statistical parameters in the analyses. Twelve experienced ergonomists were recruited to perform risk assessments of ten video-recorded work tasks twice, and consensus assessments for the concurrent validity were carried out by three experts. All methods' total-risk linearly weighted kappa values for inter-observer reliability (when all tasks were set to the same duration) were lower than 0.5 (0.15-0.45). Moreover, the concurrent validity values were in the same range with regards to total-risk linearly weighted kappa (0.31-0.54). Although these levels are often considered as being fair to substantial, they denote agreements lower than 50% when the expected agreement by chance has been compensated for. Hence, the risk of misclassification is substantial. The intra-observer reliability was only somewhat higher (0.16-0.58). Regarding the methods ART (Assessment of repetitive tasks of the upper limbs) and HARM (Hand Arm Risk Assessment Method), it is worth noting that the work task duration has a high impact in the risk level calculation, which needs to be taken into account in studies of reliability. This study indicates that when experienced ergonomists use systematic methods, the reliability is low. As seen in other studies, especially assessments of hand/wrist postures were difficult to rate. In light of these results, complementing observational risk assessments with technical methods should be considered, especially when evaluating the effects of ergonomic interventions.

Cost-effectiveness of an individually tailored oral health educational programme based on cognitive behavioural strategies in non-surgical periodontal treatment.

AIM: The aim of this cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), performed from a societal perspective, was to compare costs and consequences of an individually tailored oral health educational programme (ITOHEP) based on cognitive behavioural strategies integrated in non-surgical periodontal treatment compared with a standard treatment programme (ST). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A randomized (n = 113), evaluator-blinded, controlled trial, with two different active treatments, was analysed with respect to their costs and consequences 12 months after non-surgical treatment. Costs referred to both treatment costs and costs contributed by the patient. Consequences (outcome) were expressed as the proportion of individuals classified as having reached the pre-set criteria for treatment success after non-surgical treatment ("successful-NSPT"). RESULTS: More individuals in the ITOHEP group reached the pre-set criteria for treatment success than individuals in the ST group did. The CEA revealed an incremental cost-effectiveness of SEK1724 [€191.09; SEK9.02 = €1 (January 2007)] per "successful-NSPT" case, of which treatment costs represented SEK1189 (€131.82), using the unit cost for a dental hygienist. CONCLUSION: The incremental costs per "successful-NSPT" case can be considered as low and strengthens the suggestion that an ITOHEP integrated into non-surgical periodontal treatment is preferable to a standardized education programme.

Factors influencing oral hygiene behaviour and gingival outcomes 3 and 12 months after initial periodontal treatment: an exploratory test of an extended Theory of Reasoned Action.

AIM: The aim was to empirically test the extended Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the prospective direct and indirect role of attitudes, beliefs, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and a cognitive behavioural intervention in adult's oral hygiene behaviour and gingival outcomes at 3- and 12-month follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were derived from an RCT evaluating the effectiveness of oral hygiene educational programs integrated in non-surgical periodontal treatment (n = 113). Before baseline examination, participants completed a self-report questionnaire. Structural equation modelling using maximum likelihood estimation with bootstrapping was used to test the direct and indirect (mediated) pathways within the extended TRA model. RESULTS: The extended TRA model explained a large amount of variance in gingival outcome scores at 12 months (56%). A higher level of self-efficacy at baseline was associated with higher frequencies of oral hygiene behaviour at 3 months. Being female was linked to more normative beliefs that, in turn, related to greater behavioural beliefs and self-efficacy. Gender was also related to behavioural beliefs, attitudes and subjective norms. Both frequency of oral hygiene behaviour at 3 months and the cognitive behavioural intervention predicted gingival outcome at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: The model demonstrated that self-efficacy, gender and a cognitive behavioural intervention were important predictors of oral hygiene behavioural change.

Work and health among immigrants and native Swedes 1990-2008: a register-based study on hospitalization for common potentially work-related disorders, disability pension and mortality.

BACKGROUND: There are many immigrants in the Swedish workforce, but knowledge of their general and work-related health is limited. The aim of this register-based study was to explore whether documented migrant residents in Sweden have a different health status regarding receipt of a disability pension, mortality and hospitalization for lung, heart, psychiatric, and musculoskeletal disorders compared with the native population, and if there were variations in relation to sex, geographical origin, position on the labor market, and time since first immigration. METHODS: This study included migrants to Sweden since 1960 who were 28-47 years old in 1990, and included 243 860 individuals. The comparison group comprised a random sample of 859 653 native Swedes. These cohorts were followed from 1991 to 2008 in national registers. The immigrants were divided into four groups based on geographic origin. Hazard ratios for men and women from different geographic origins and with different employment status were analyzed separately for the six outcomes, with adjustment for age, education level, and income. The influence of length of residence in Sweden was analyzed separately. RESULTS: Nordic immigrants had increased risks for all investigated outcomes while most other groups had equal or lower risks for those outcomes than the Swedes. The lowest HRs were found in the EU 15+ group (from western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand). All groups, except Nordic immigrants, had lower risk of mortality, but all had higher risk of disability pension receipt compared with native Swedes. Unemployed non-Nordic men displayed equal or lower HRs for most outcomes, except disability pension receipt, compared with unemployed Swedish men. A longer time since first immigration improved the health status of men, while women showed opposite results. CONCLUSIONS: Employment status and length of residence are important factors for health. The contradictory results of low mortality and high disability pension risks need more attention. There is great potential to increase the knowledge in this field in Sweden, because of the high quality registers.

A trained communication partner's use of responsive strategies in aided communication with three adults with Rett syndrome: A case report.

Purpose: To explore and describe a trained communication partner's use of responsive strategies in dyadic interaction with adults with Rett syndrome. Introduction: Responsive partner strategies facilitate social, communicative, and linguistic development. The common feature is that the communication partner responds contingently to the other's focus of attention and interprets their acts as communicative. Research on responsive partner strategies that involves individuals with significant communication and motor disabilities remains sparse. The same applies to if, and how, the use of communication aids impacts on the partner's use of responsive strategies. Materials and methods: A therapist, trained in responsive partner strategies and aided communication interacted during 14 sessions with each of three participants. The participants were adults with Rett syndrome. A gaze-controlled device and responsive strategies were used during all sessions. The Responsive Augmentative and Alternative Communication Style scale (RAACS) was used to assess the partner's responsiveness. RAACS consists of 11 items including ratings of to what extent the partner is being attentive to, confirms, and expands the individual's communication. During eight of the 14 sessions, aided AAC Modelling was also used, i.e., the communication partner pointed at symbols on the gaze-controlled device while interacting. In addition to RAACS, each time the communication partner confirmed or expanded on communication when (a) the participants used the gaze-controlled device and (b) the participants did not use the gaze-controlled device was counted. Descriptive statistics were used to present the results. Non-parametric tests were used to compare means between the two conditions and between participants. Results: Inter-rater agreement for the different RAACS items ranged from 0.73 to 0.96 and was thus found to be fair to excellent. The communication partner's use of responsive strategies varied when communicating with different participants and the scores were higher when aided AAC modeling was used. The communication partner's number of responses and use of responsive strategies were higher when the participants communicated through a gaze-controlled device. Conclusion: The communication partner's use of responsive and scaffolding strategies is not a fixed construct but varies in interactions with different non-speaking persons. The same is true whether the non-speaking person uses a gaze-controlled device with digitized speech or not.

Restoration Skills Training in a Natural Setting Compared to Conventional Mindfulness Training: Sustained Advantages at a 6-Month Follow-Up.

Restoration skills training (ReST) is a mindfulness-based course in which participants draw support from a natural practice setting while they learn to meditate. Well-established conventional mindfulness training (CMT) can improve psychological functioning but many perceive it as demanding and fail to sustain practice habits. Applying non-inferiority logic, previous research indicated that ReST overcomes compliance problems without compromising the benefits gained over 5 weeks' training. This article applies similar logic in a 6-month follow-up. Of 97 contacted ReST and CMT course completers, 68 responded and 29 were included with multiple imputation data. The online survey included questions about their psychological functioning in three domains (dispositional mindfulness, cognitive lapses, and perceived stress) and the forms and frequencies with which they had continued to practice mindfulness after the course. Former ReST participants continued, on average, to show higher dispositional mindfulness and fewer cognitive lapses compared to pre-course ratings. Improved psychological functioning in one or more domains was demonstrated by 35%, as determined by a reliable change index. Again, analyses detected no indications of any substantive disadvantages compared to the more demanding, established CMT approach. Compared to the CMT group, more ReST participants had also continued to practice at least occasionally (92 vs. 67%). Continued practice was linked to sustained improvements for ReST but not clearly so for CMT. ReST participants thus continued to use the skills and sustained the improvements in psychological functioning that they had gained in the course, further supporting the utility of ReST as a health intervention.

Life values as predictors of pain, disability and sick leave among Swedish registered nurses: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Prospective studies on high-risk populations, such as subgroups of health care staff, are limited, especially prospective studies among staff not on sick-leave. This paper is a report of a longitudinal study conducted to describe and compare the importance and consistency of life domains among registered nurses (RNs) working in a Swedish hospital and evaluate a model based on the consistency of valued life domains for prediction of pain, disability and sick leave. METHOD: Importance and consistency ratings of life values, in 9 domains, were collected during 2003 and 2006 from 196 RNs using the Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ). Logistic regression analyses were used for prediction of pain, disability and sick leave at the three-year follow-up. The predictors family relations, marriage couples/intimate relations, parenting, friends/social life, work, education, leisure time, psychological well-being, and physical self-care were used at baseline. RESULTS: RNs rated life values regarding parenting as most important and with the highest consistency both at baseline and at follow-up. No significant differences were found between RNs' ratings of importance and consistency over the three-year period, except for friends/social relations that revealed a significant decrease in importance at follow-up. The explanatory models for pain, disability and sick leave significantly predicted pain and disability at follow-up. The odds of having pain were significantly increased by one consistency rating (psychological well-being), while the odds were significantly decreased by physical self-care. In the model predicting disability, consistency in psychological well-being and education significantly increased the odds of being disabled, while consistency in physical self-care significantly decreased the odds. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that there might be a link between intra-individual factors reflecting different aspects of appraised life values and musculoskeletal pain (MSP).

Evaluation of an individually tailored oral health educational programme on periodontal health.

AIM: To evaluate an individually tailored oral health educational programme (ITOHEP) on periodontal health compared with a standard oral health educational programme. A further aim was to evaluate whether both interventions had a clinically significant effect on non-surgical periodontal treatment at 12-month follow-up. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A randomized, evaluator-blinded, controlled trial with 113 subjects (60 females and 53 males) randomly allocated into two different active treatments was used. ITOHEP was based on cognitive behavioural principles and motivational interviewing. The control condition was standard oral hygiene education (ST). The effect on bleeding on probing (BoP), periodontal pocket depth, "pocket closure" i.e. percentage of periodontal pocket >4 mm before treatment that were <5 mm after treatment, oral hygiene [plaque indices (PlI)], and participants' global rating of oral health was evaluated. Preset criteria for PlI, BoP, and "pocket closure" were used to describe clinically significant non-surgical periodontal treatment success. RESULTS: The ITOHEP group had lower BoP scores 12-month post-treatment (95% confidence interval: 5-15, p<0.001) than the ST group. No difference between the two groups was observed for "pocket closure" and reduction of periodontal pocket depth. More individuals in the ITOHEP group reached a level of treatment success. Lower PlI scores at baseline and ITOHEP intervention gave higher odds of treatment success. CONCLUSIONS: ITOHEP intervention in combination with scaling is preferable to the ST programme in non-surgical periodontal treatment.

Biopsychosocial predictors of pain, disability, health care consumption, and sick leave in first-episode and long-term back pain: a longitudinal study in the general population.

BACKGROUND: Long-term outcome in back pain is related mainly to cognitive factors such as pain-related beliefs and expectations. Most research has been performed on patient samples. PURPOSE: This study aimed at investigating changes over time in reported back pain, pain intensity, disability, health care consumption, and sick leave as well as biopsychosocial factors over a 12-month period. A second aim was to identify predictors of reported pain, pain intensity, disability, health care consumption, and sick leave. METHOD: As parts of a large back pain sample from a general population (n = 1,024), two groups-one with first-episode pain (n = 77) and one with long-term pain (n = 302)-responded twice to a self-administered questionnaire. Among participants reporting pain at both assessments, changes over time were analyzed and predictive models were tested. RESULTS: Generally, the results demonstrated overall stability in the self-reports over time. However, reported pain decreased in both groups, while pain catastrophizing and pain expectations increased in the first-episode group. Pain intensity and disability were predicted in regression models including four cognitive factors and initially reported levels of pain intensity and disability. CONCLUSION: The significance of pain-related beliefs and expectations both in early and later stages of a back pain condition is pointed out. The results in this study based on a sample from the general population are in line with previous research on patient samples.

Subgroups of haemodialysis patients in relation to fluid intake restrictions: a cluster analytical approach.

AIMS: To determine whether definable subgroups exist in a sample of haemodialysis patients with regard to self-efficacy, attentional style and depressive symptomatology and to compare whether interdialytic weight gain varies between patients in groups with different cognitive profiles. BACKGROUND: Theory-based research suggests that cognitive factors (e.g. self-efficacy and attentional style) and depressive symptomatology undermine adherence to health protective regimens. Preventing negative outcomes of fluid overload is essential for haemodialysis patients but many patients cannot achieve fluid control, and nursing interventions aimed to help the patients reduce fluid intake are ineffective. Understanding the interaction between cognitive factors and how this is related to adherence outcomes might therefore lead to the development of helpful nursing interventions. DESIGN: Explorative cross-sectional multicentre survey. METHODS: The sample consisted of 133 haemodialysis patients. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. A brief self-report form and data on interdialytic weight gain was also used. Two-step cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups. One-way analysis of variance (anova) or Pearson's chi-square test was used for comparing subgroups. RESULTS: Three distinct subgroups were found and subsequently labelled: (1) low self-efficacy, (2) distraction and depressive symptoms and (3) high self-efficacy. The subgroups differed in fluid intake, but not in age, dialysis vintage, gender, residual urine output or in receiving any fluid intake advice. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically relevant subgroups of haemodialysis patients could be defined by their profiles regarding self-efficacy, attentional style and depressive symptoms. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Based on this study, we would encourage clinical practitioners to take into account cognitive profiles while performing their work. This is especially important when a targeted nursing intervention, which aims to encourage and maintain the patient's fluid control, is introduced.

Mindfulness-Based Restoration Skills Training (ReST) in a Natural Setting Compared to Conventional Mindfulness Training: Psychological Functioning After a Five-Week Course.

Restoration skills training (ReST) is a mindfulness-based course that draws on restorative nature experience to facilitate the meditation practice and teach widely applicable adaptation skills. Previous studies comparing ReST to conventional mindfulness training (CMT) showed that ReST has important advantages: it supports beginning meditators in connecting with restorative environmental qualities and in meditating with less effort; it restores their attention regulation capabilities; and it helps them complete the course and establish a regular meditation habit. However, mindfulness theory indicates that effortful training may be necessary to achieve generalized improvements in psychological functioning. Therefore, this study tests whether the less effortful and more acceptable ReST approach is attended by any meaningful disadvantage compared to CMT in terms of its effects on central aspects psychological functioning. We analyze data from four rounds of development of the ReST course, in each of which we compared it to a parallel and formally matched CMT course. Randomly assigned participants (total course starters = 152) provided ratings of dispositional mindfulness, cognitive functioning, and chronic stress before and after the 5-week ReST and CMT courses. Round 4 also included a separately recruited passive control condition. ReST and CMT were attended by similar average improvements in the three outcomes, although the effects on chronic stress were inconsistent. Moderate to large improvements in the three outcomes could also be affirmed in contrasts with the passive controls. Using a reliable change index, we saw that over one third of the ReST and CMT participants enjoyed reliably improved psychological functioning. The risk of experiencing deteriorated functioning was no greater with either ReST or CMT than for passive control group participants. None of the contrasts exceeded our stringent criterion for inferiority of ReST compared with CMT. We conclude that ReST is a promising alternative for otherwise healthy people with stress or concentration problems who would be less likely to complete more effortful CMT. By adapting the meditation practices to draw on restorative setting characteristics, ReST can mitigate the demands otherwise incurred in early stages of mindfulness training without compromising the acquisition of widely applicable mindfulness skills.

Comparisons between five self-administered instruments predicting sick leaves in a 4-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore and compare the ability of five instruments for self-rating to predict future sick leave rates. METHODS: In three Swedish municipalities 2,252 employees completed a baseline questionnaire and were followed up for 4 years. Five health-oriented instruments for self-rating were used as potential predictors of the two outcome measures no sick leave at all, and one or more spells of long-term sick leave >or=28 days. Positive and negative predictive values as well as Cox proportional hazard ratios (denoted as RRs) adjusted for age and work type were calculated. RESULTS: The instruments showed no statistical difference in predicting future sick leave for either of the sexes. For no sick leave RRs ranged between 1.27 and 1.52 (women), 1.35 and 1.61 (men); for long-term sick leave RRs ranged between 1.78 and 2.39 (women), 2.87 and 5.53 (men). However, the best prediction of long-term sick leave for men, RR 5.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.37-9.08, was significantly higher than the best prediction for women, RR 2.39, 95% CI 1.97-2.90. CONCLUSION: Prediction of long-term sick leave was better than that of no sick leave, and better among men than among women. There was a tendency for somewhat better prediction of future sick leave by multiple-question instruments, but single-question instruments can very well be used in predicting future sick leaves, and crude analyses stratified by sex can be used for screening purposes.

Interdialytic weight gain and ultrafiltration rate in hemodialysis: lessons about fluid adherence from a national registry of clinical practice.

Excessive interdialytic weight gain (IWG) and ultrafiltration rates (UFR) above 10 mL/h/kg body weight imply higher morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of high fluid consumers, describe UFR patterns, and describe patient characteristics associated with IWG and UFR. The Swedish Dialysis DataBase and The Swedish Renal Registry of Active Treatment of Uremia were used as data sources. Data were analyzed from patients aged >/=18 on regular treatment with hemodialysis (HD) and registered during 2002 to 2006. Interdialytic weight gain and dialytic UFR were examined in annual cohorts and the records were based on 9693 HD sessions in 4498 patients. Differences in proportions were analyzed with the chi-square test and differences in means were tested using the ANOVA or the t test. About 30% of the patients had IWG that exceed 3.5% of dry body weight and 5% had IWG >/=5.7%. The volume removed during HD was >10 mL/h/kg for 15% to 23% of the patients, and this rate increased during the first dialytic year. Patient characteristics associated with fluid overload were younger age, lower body mass index, longer dialytic vintage, and high blood pressure. By studying IWG and dialytic UFR as quality indicators, it is shown that there is a potential for continuing improvement in the care of patients in HD settings, i.e., to enhanced adherence to fluid restriction or alternatively to extend the frequency of dialysis for all patients, e.g., by providing daily treatment.

The same factors influence job turnover and long spells of sick leave--a 3-year follow-up of Swedish nurses.

BACKGROUND: In many countries, a general shortage of nurses is a public health problem, and retention of nurses in active work is a challenge. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the same individual factors, working conditions and health problems had led to increased probability of both leaving jobs and prolonged sickness absence in a cohort of Swedish nurses over a period of 3 years. METHODS: A baseline questionnaire was answered by 2293 nurses, representing a response rate of 86%. Exposed and unexposed nurses were compared with regard to two outcomes. During the 3-year follow-up, exposed and unexposed nurses were compared with regard to two outcomes: resigning and having at least one sick leave spell that lasted 28 days or longer. RESULTS: We found that 18% of the nurses left their employment, and 16% had sick leave spells > or =28 days. Work in geriatric care, being socially excluded by superiors and/or workmates, negative effects of organizational changes and poor self-rated general health were factors that increased the likelihood of both leaving jobs and long-term sick leave. CONCLUSIONS: The present results underline the importance of improving working conditions and supporting sustainable health in order to prevent high turnover and prolonged sick leave among nurses. Resigning and moving to another institution can be interpreted as a way to actively cope with an unhealthy work environment.

The Pain Belief Screening Instrument (PBSI): predictive validity for disability status in persistent musculoskeletal pain.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the predictive validity of a screening instrument measuring disability, self-efficacy, fear of movement and catastrophizing, for disability status in patients with musculoskeletal pain in primary health care physical therapy. Development over time of pain-related disability, pain intensity, self-reported work capacity and overall daily function for subgroups of patients was also investigated. METHOD: Prospective and correlational study, where patients (n = 168) with a pain-duration of 4 weeks or more completed the questionnaires and their cases were followed for 8 months to assess the variables of interest. For predictive validity of the screening instrument discriminant analyses were conducted. The development over time for subgroups was analysed by comparing scores at the first and second measurement. RESULTS: The PBSI correctly classified 72% of the subjects as High-disabled (n = 33) or Low-disabled (n = 110), as measured with the Pain Disability Index (Wilks' lambda = 0.848, p < 0.005). For pain intensity, self-reported changes in work capacity and overall daily function the discriminant analyses were not significant. The High-disability group had increased disability, unchanged pain intensity and decreased work capacity and daily function after 8 months. CONCLUSION: The predictive validity of the PBSI for disability was confirmed. In clinical use the PBSI could serve as a mean to obtain supplementary and clinically useful information.

When no one has time: measuring the impact of computerization on health care workers.

Technological change is a constant in today's workplace, especially the modern health care workplace. The introduction of electronic health records changes workloads, job demands, interactions with other health care professionals, and work roles-all elements that have previously been noted to increase work stress and impact health. Despite the significant changes that accompany computerization, it is seldom studied as a source of stress. Also, the health effects of computerization within health care have not been extensively studied. This article summarizes the potential environmental impact of computerization on workers, with special reference to health care workers, and suggests ways occupational health nurses can monitor the health consequences of new technology and intervene in case of adverse health impact. In many health care organizations, high work pressure and staff shortages make it impractical, and perhaps impossible, to use standard in-depth research methods to investigate this issue. Therefore, several less obtrusive methods that can be triangulated are suggested as an alternative.