Latin American Agricultural Workers' Job Demands and Resources and the Association With Health Behaviors at Work and Overall Health.

In the present study, we describe the job demands and job resources (JD-R) experienced by agricultural workers in three Latin American countries and their relationship to proactive health behaviors at work and overall health. Following previous research on the JD-R model, we hypothesized that job demands (H1) would be negatively related to agricultural workers' self-reported overall health. On the other hand, we hypothesized that job resources (H2) would be positively related to agricultural workers' overall health. Furthermore, we hypothesized (H3) that workers' engagement in jobsite health promotion practices via their proactive health behaviors at work would partially mediate the relationship between workers' job resources and job demands and overall health. We also had a research question (R1) about whether there were differences by type of job held. The sample of workers who participated in this study (N = 1,861) worked in Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua for one large agribusiness that produces sugar cane. They worked in two distinct areas: company administration and agricultural operations. We administered employee health and safety culture surveys using survey methods tailored to meet the needs of both types of workers. Stratified path analysis models were used to test study hypotheses. In general, we found support for hypotheses 1 and 2. For example, operations workers reported more physically demanding jobs and administrative workers reported more work-related stress. Regardless, the existence of high job demands was associated with poorer overall health amongst both types of workers. We found that workers in more health-supportive work environments perform more proactive health behaviors at work, regardless of their role within the organization. However, hypothesis 3 was not supported as proactive health behaviors at work was not associated with overall health. We discuss future research needs in terms of evaluating these hypotheses amongst workers employed by small- and medium-sized agribusinesses as well as those in the informal economy in Latin America. We also discuss important implications for agribusinesses seeking to develop health promotion programs that meet the needs of all workers.

Using Peer Education to Promote Psychosocial and Occupational Health and Empowerment Among Female Sex Workers in Nepal.

Female sex workers (FSWs) in Nepal are vulnerable to an array of occupational risks, which may compromise their psychosocial health and ability to engage in protective behaviors. A peer education (PE) intervention designed to empower and promote the psychosocial health of FSWs was pilot tested in Kathmandu, Nepal. FSWs who were exposed to the PE intervention (n = 96) had significantly higher scores on psychosocial health knowledge, perceived self-efficacy and ability to access resources, happiness, and job control compared with those who were not (n = 64). PE may be a promising way to promote psychosocial health and empowerment among FSWs.

Age and job fit: The relationship between demands-ability fit and retirement and health.

Understanding the antecedents of retirement and health is increasingly important given the proportion of older adults in the global workforce. The current study examines the relationship between the demands-ability facet of person-job fit and retirement status and health. The sample consists of older workers and retired adults (N = 383) from the Study of Cognition and Aging in the U.S.A. (a national study of age and cognitive abilities). Objective demands-ability fit was operationalized as the fit between a person's cognitive abilities assessed with an extensive battery of reasoning (fluid abilities) and knowledge (crystallized abilities) and relevant job demands taken from the Occupational Information Network. Results indicated that as the congruence between workers' reasoning abilities and job demands increased, workers reported fewer chronic health conditions. When reasoning abilities required by a job exceeded worker abilities, workers reported more health conditions and were more likely to be retired versus working. Fewer health conditions were reported when reasoning abilities exceeded reasoning job demands. Congruence for knowledge abilities and demands fit was significant only at medium levels of knowledge abilities and demands. Overall, these results suggest that demands-ability fit is relevant to the experience of work in older age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Early labor force exit subsequent to permanently impairing occupational injury or illness among workers 50-64 years of age.

BACKGROUND: Severity of workplace injury tends to increase with age. Whether older workers who experience a workplace injury or illness exit the labor force sooner than comparable peers is not established. METHODS: A case-cohort study design and complementary log-log model were used to identify factors associated with average time to early substantial labor force exit among workers' compensation claimants 50-64 years of age with permanent impairment from an occupational injury or illness. Analysis was based on Ontario's workers' compensation claimant data from 1998 to 2006 linked with Canadian tax files. RESULTS: Workers with permanent impairment left the labor force earlier, on average, than peers without claims. Early retirement was associated with older age in the injury/illness year, greater impairment, lower pre-claim income, physically demanding jobs, and soft-tissue injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Policies aiming to extend older adults' working lives should account for the potentially disparate impacts on older workers of occupational injury and illness.

Same-level fall injuries in US workplaces by age group, gender, and industry.

BACKGROUND: As the workforce ages, occupational injuries from falls on the same level will increase. Some industries may be more affected than others. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate same-level fall injury incidence rates by age group, gender, and industry for four sectors: 1) healthcare and social assistance; 2) manufacturing; 3) retail; and 4) transportation and warehousing. We calculated rate ratios and rate differences by age group and gender. RESULTS: Same-level fall injury incidence rates increase with age in all four sectors. However, patterns of rate ratios and rate differences vary by age group, gender, and industry. Younger workers, men, and manufacturing workers generally have lower rates. CONCLUSIONS: Variation in incidence rates suggests there are unrealized opportunities to prevent same-level fall injuries. Interventions should be evaluated for their effectiveness at reducing injuries, avoiding gender- or age-discrimination and improving work ability.

A Comparison of Subjective and Objective Job Demands and Fit with Personal Resources as Predictors of Retirement Timing in a National U.S. Sample.

Population aging and attendant pressures on public budgets have spurred considerable interest in understanding factors that influence retirement timing. A range of sociodemographic and economic characteristics predict both earlier and later retirement. Less is known about the role of job characteristics on the work choices of older workers. Researchers are increasingly using the subjective ratings of job characteristics available in the Health and Retirement Study in conjunction with more objective measures of job characteristics from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database. Employing a theoretically-informed model of job demands-personal resources fit, we constructed mismatch measures between resources and job demands (both subjectively and objectively assessed) in physical, emotional, and cognitive domains. When we matched comparable measures across the two data sources in the domains of physical, emotional, and cognitive job demands, we found that both sources of information held predictive power in relation to retirement timing. Physical and emotional but not cognitive mismatch were associated with earlier retirement. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings and directions for future research.

Individual and work factors related to perceived work ability and labor force outcomes.

Perceived work ability refers to a worker's assessment of his or her ability to continue working in his or her job, given characteristics of the job along with his or her resources. Perceived work ability is a critical variable to study in the United States, given an aging workforce, trends to delay retirement, and U.S. policy considerations to delay the age at which full Social Security retirement benefits may be obtained. Based on the job demands-resources model, cognitive appraisal theory of stress, and push/pull factors related to retirement, we proposed and tested a conceptual model of antecedents and outcomes of perceived work ability using 3 independent samples of U.S. working adults. Data regarding workers' job characteristics were from self-report and Occupational Information Network measures. Results from relative importance analysis indicated that health and sense of control were consistently and most strongly related to work ability perceptions relative to other job demands and job and personal resources when perceived work ability was measured concurrently or 2 weeks later in samples with varying occupations. Job demands (along with health and sense of control) were most strongly related to work ability perceptions when perceived work ability was measured in a manufacturing worker sample 1.6 years later. Perceived work ability also predicted lagged labor force outcomes (absence, retirement, and disability leave) while controlling for other known predictors of each. Consistent indirect effects were observed from health status and sense of control to all 3 of these outcomes via perceived work ability.

The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study: study design and methods.

OBJECTIVE: We describe the design and methods of the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS), a new national study that will provide data on the antecedents, prevalence, outcomes, and costs of dementia and "cognitive impairment, not demented" (CIND) using a unique study design based on the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We also illustrate potential uses of the ADAMS data and provide information to interested researchers on obtaining ADAMS and HRS data. METHODS: The ADAMS is the first population-based study of dementia in the United States to include subjects from all regions of the country, while at the same time using a single standardized diagnostic protocol in a community-based sample. A sample of 856 individuals age 70 or older who were participants in the ongoing HRS received an extensive in-home clinical and neuropsychological assessment to determine a diagnosis of normal, CIND, or dementia. Within the CIND and dementia categories, subcategories (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia) were assigned to denote the etiology of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Linking the ADAMS dementia clinical assessment data to the wealth of available longitudinal HRS data on health, health care utilization, informal care, and economic resources and behavior, will provide a unique opportunity to study the onset of CIND and dementia in a nationally representative population-based sample, as well as the risk factors, prevalence, outcomes, and costs of CIND and dementia.