Organizational types in relation to exposure at work and sickness - a repeated cross-sectional study within public dentistry.

Objective: Organizations and state agencies that provide dental care continuously face various and novel demands related to the need for dental care. However, rearrangements of work tasks by reducing the number of tasks performed by dental personnel might make the work more monotonous, repetitive, and static within an organization. The aim of this study is to compare how two dental work organizations, with different staffing and clinic size, are perceived by dental personnel focusing on physical and psychosocial conditions, leadership, work ability and presenteeism in 2012 and 2014.Material and Methods: This repeated cross-sectional study included personnel from the Public Dental Service in Sweden. There were 282 dentists, dental hygienists, and dental nurses who answered a questionnaire 2012 and 299 in 2014.Results and conclusion: In 2012, nine per cent of medium clinics reported poor leadership compared with 27% in 2014. For large clinics, 17% perceived poor leadership in 2012 compared with 31% in 2014. A higher proportion of the employees reported presenteeism due to high physical load (43%) and high psychosocial load (21%) in 2014 compared with 31% and 13% in 2012. These results indicate the need for work place interventions promoting health among dental employees.

Risk factors for neck pain among forklift truck operators: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: No previous research has been performed into neck pain among forklift operators. This is a common complaint among these workers, who number around 150,000 in Sweden and six million in Europe. The aim of the study was to examine long-term exposure to unnatural neck positions among forklift operators as a risk factor for neck pain. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of all eligible employees at a high-level warehouse. Forklift operators and office workers answered an 18-page questionnaire comprising questions about joint pain, work tasks, work postures and year of start for all items. By using person years in the exposed and less-exposed groups before start of neck pain we were able to calculate Incident Rate ratios for various exposures. RESULTS: Forty nine percent of the forklift operators reported having experienced neck pain compared to 30 % of office workers. Being a forklift operator was associated with an increased risk of neck pain (OR = 5.1, 95% CI 1.4-18.2). Holding the head in an unnatural position resulted in significantly increased risks for neck pain, irrespective of type of position. The risks for neck pain remained after taking other ergonomic exposures and psychosocial aspects into consideration. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first published study showing that forklift operators have an increased risk of neck pain. The results are therefore of significance for improving work schedules, the adjustment of work tasks for these workers and the design of the vehicles.

Workplace health in dental care - a salutogenic approach.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to explore self-reported psychosocial health and work environments among different dental occupations and workplaces from a salutogenic perspective. A further purpose was to analyse possible associations between three salutogenic measurements: The Sense of Coherence questionnaire (SOC), the Salutogenic Health Indicator Scale (SHIS) and the Work Experience Measurement Scale (WEMS). METHODS: Employees in the Public Dental Service in a Swedish county council (n = 486) were invited to respond to a self-reported web survey including demographics, work-related factors, the SOC, the SHIS and the WEMS. RESULTS: This study showed positive associations between employee characteristics and self-reported overall psychosocial health as well as experienced work environment. Autonomy was reported more among men than women (P < 0.000) and to a higher degree by dentists and dental hygienists than dental nurses (P < 0.000). Meaningfulness, happiness, job satisfaction, autonomy and positive to reorganization were reported by personnels aged less than 40 years (P ≤ 0.047). Clinical coordinators reported significant better health (SOC, SHIS) and experienced more autonomy, better management and more positive to reorganization than other dental professions. Dental hygienists and nurses experienced less time pressure than dentists (P ≤ 0.007). Better health and positive work experiences were also seen in smaller clinics (P ≤ 0.29). CONCLUSION: Dental professionals reported a high degree of overall psychosocial health as well as a positive work experience. Some variations could be seen between employee characteristics such as gender, years in dental care, professionals, managing position and workplace size. Identify resources and processes at each workplace are important and should be included in the employee's/employers dialogue.

Work-related stress assessed by a text message single-item stress question.

BACKGROUND: Given the prevalence of work stress-related ill-health in the Western world, it is important to find cost-effective, easy-to-use and valid measures which can be used both in research and in practice. AIMS: To examine the validity and reliability of the single-item stress question (SISQ), distributed weekly by short message service (SMS) and used for measurement of work-related stress. METHODS: The convergent validity was assessed through associations between the SISQ and subscales of the Job Demand-Control-Support model, the Effort-Reward Imbalance model and scales measuring depression, exhaustion and sleep. The predictive validity was assessed using SISQ data collected through SMS. The reliability was analysed by the test-retest procedure. RESULTS: Correlations between the SISQ and all the subscales except for job strain and esteem reward were significant, ranging from -0.186 to 0.627. The SISQ could also predict sick leave, depression and exhaustion at 12-month follow-up. The analysis on reliability revealed a satisfactory stability with a weighted kappa between 0.804 and 0.868. CONCLUSIONS: The SISQ, administered through SMS, can be used for the screening of stress levels in a working population.