Interventions to promote work ability by increasing physical activity among workers with physically strenuous jobs: A scoping review.

Aims: The potential benefits of workplace physical activity (PA) interventions are in improving both health and important workplace outcomes. Despite the differences in PA level between physically strenuous and inactive work, the literature reporting the effectiveness of the interventions does not usually differentiate physically active and inactive jobs. The aim of the current study was therefore to collect and synthesise research evidence on workplace PA interventions to promote work ability specifically among workers in physically strenuous jobs by means of a scoping review. Methods: The databases Medline, Cochrane Central and Scopus were used to identify interventions to promote work ability by increasing PA among workers in physically strenuous jobs. An iterative method was used to obtain an overview of the study elements and to extract details on the study design, sample, intervention, outcomes and effectiveness. Results: A total of 47 studies evaluating eight categories of interventions were found. Out of these, 18 reported significant effects on work ability. Positive results came from a range of different interventions, including aerobic exercise, strength training, combined aerobic exercise and strength training, stretching, yoga, consultation and tailored physical exercise programmes. Conclusions: Few interventions were effective in promoting work ability by increasing PA among workers in physically strenuous jobs. In particular, trials based on the demands of work, multimodal interventions and applying wearable technology are needed.

Personal meaning of work and perceived work ability among middle-aged workers with physically strenuous work: a Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between personal meaning of work and perceived work ability among middle-aged workers with physically strenuous or light work. We evaluated the course of perceived work ability from 31 to 46 years and examined the possible differences in the association between personal meaning of work and perceived work ability at the age of 46 depending on physical workload. METHODS: The study population consisted of participants of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 4420). Data were collected through questionnaires at 31 and 46 years. The main outcome was perceived work ability (0-7 = poor, 8-10 = good) and the main explanatory measures were physically strenuous work and personal meaning of work. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were adjusted for unhealthy habits, number of diseases, job strain, social support at work, employment history and gender. They were also stratified for the strenuousness of work. RESULTS: Perceived work ability decreased during the 15-year follow-up in both the strenuous and light work groups, and was lowest among workers with strenuous work. Perceived work ability remained poor or decreased in 22% of men and 21% of women in the strenuous work group vs. 14% and 13% in the light work group, respectively. After adjusting for confounders, the participants in both groups who reported low personal meaning of work were at approximately a twofold risk of having poor perceived work ability at 46 years compared to the participants who reported high personal meaning of work. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived work ability was significantly lower and deteriorated more during the follow-up among participants with strenuous work. High personal meaning of work was important for good work ability, irrespective of the strenuousness of work.

Sleep disturbances predict long-term changes in low back pain among Finnish firefighters: 13-year follow-up study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence of low back pain among Finnish firefighters and to examine whether sleep disturbances predict membership of low back pain trajectories. METHODS: In this prospective study, 360 actively working firefighters responded to a questionnaire in 1996, 1999 and 2009. The outcome variables were radiating and local low back pain during the preceding year. Using logistic regression modeling, the likelihood of membership of pain trajectories was predicted by sleep disturbances at baseline. RESULTS: During the 13-year follow-up, the prevalence of radiating low back pain increased from 16 to 29 % (p < 0.0001) and that of local low back pain from 28 to 40 % (p < 0.001). The following trajectories were identified: "pain free," "recovering," "new pain," "fluctuating" and "chronic." More than one-fifth of the participants belonged to the new pain trajectory as regards both pain types, 6 % of the participants belonged to the chronic radiating and 12 % to the chronic local low back pain trajectory. Those with sleep disturbances at baseline had a 2.4-fold risk (adjusted OR 2.4; 95 % CI 1.2-4.7) of belonging to the new pain or chronic radiating pain cluster compared to pain-free participants. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first prospective study to show that low back symptoms are common and persistent among firefighters and that sleep disturbances strongly predict membership of a radiating pain trajectory. Occupational health and safety personnel, as well as the firefighters themselves, should recognize sleep problems early enough in order to prevent back pain and its development into chronic pain.

Can job crafting eLearning intervention boost job crafting and work engagement, and increase heart rate variability? Testing a health enhancement process.

Applying job demands-resources theory, this quasiexperimental, three-wave study investigated whether work engagement can be increased via an eLearning intervention aiming to increase job crafting behavior. Furthermore, proposing a refinement to job demands-resources theory, that is, adding "a health enhancement process," this study also investigated whether through improvements in work engagement, the intervention would yield health-related benefits, utilizing an objective indicator of physical health (i.e., optimal functioning of autonomic nervous system activity indicated by increased heart rate variability [HRV]). The study was conducted among all the employees of a municipality (n = 69/experimental group, n = 45/control group), and the effects were assessed 2 weeks and 4 months after the intervention. Job crafting and work engagement were measured using an electronic questionnaire, and HRV using ambulatory monitoring period of two nights' sleep. Latent change score modeling revealed, as expected, that job crafting increased both immediately and delayed after the intervention. Furthermore, as hypothesized, the intervention increased work engagement via increased job crafting when measured immediately after the intervention, but there was no indirect delayed effect on work engagement. There were no indirect immediate or delayed effects on HRV. However, unexpectedly, HRV decreased among the control group after the intervention. Thus, an eLearning intervention based on the principles of job crafting is a promising tool to increase job crafting and consequently work engagement. Furthermore, the findings provide an initial indication that a job crafting eLearning intervention could have a buffering effect on autonomic nervous system activity and help to maintain its optimal functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Is work engagement related to work ability beyond working conditions and lifestyle factors?

PURPOSE: To examine the associations of age, lifestyle and work-related factors, and particularly work engagement with the work ability index (WAI) and its sub-dimensions. METHODS: Step-wise regression analysis with a sample of Finnish firefighters (n = 403) was used. The outcome variables were the WAI and its six sub-dimensions. The independent variables consisted of age, lifestyle variables (alcohol consumption, BMI, smoking, physical exercise, and sleep problems), working conditions (job demands, physical workload, supervisory relations, and task resources), and work engagement. The outcome variables and all the variables related to lifestyle, working conditions, and work engagement were measured in 2009. Work ability at baseline 10 years earlier was adjusted for in the models. RESULTS: Work engagement, age, physical exercise, sleep problems, and physical workload were associated with the WAI. All independent variables, except BMI and alcohol consumption, were associated with at least one sub-dimension of the WAI after controlling the baseline WAI. Lifestyle variables, working conditions, and work engagement were more strongly related to the subjective WAI sub-dimensions than to the two more objective WAI sub-dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Work engagement was significantly associated with work ability even after adjusting for various factors, indicating its importance in promoting work ability. Other key factors for good work ability were frequent exercise, good sleep, non-smoking, low job demands, low physical workload, and high task resources. More specifically, this study suggests that in maintaining work ability, it is valuable not only to promote lifestyle factors or working conditions, but also to enhance employees' positive state of work engagement.

Interventions to promote work ability by increasing sedentary workers' physical activity at workplaces - A scoping review.

Although worksite interventions increase physical activity, little is known about their effects on work ability. The objective of this scoping review was to examine the extent, range and nature of interventions to promote work ability by increasing the physical activity or decreasing the sedentary time of sedentary workers in order to identify implications for health promotion at workplaces. We searched Medline, Cochrane Central, and Scopus and identified 29 intervention studies. Using an iterative method, we provided an overview of the study elements and extracted details on study sample, design, intervention content, outcomes, and beneficial effects. Most of the studies (N = 25) were RCTs. Thirteen studies reported beneficial effects on work ability. Tailored and group-based interventions and interventions including environmental actions were often beneficial (9/13). We identified features of feasible and effective interventions for promoting work ability by increasing the physical activity or decreasing the sedentary time of sedentary workers. However, more studies are needed on the sustainability of these effects, and versatile interventions tailored to workers and work demands.

Thermal strain in fire fighters while wearing task-fitted versus en 469:2005 protective clothing during a prolonged rescue drill.

Fire fighters are normally overprotected during their working hours because of the tendency to keep the personal protection level sufficiently high in case of the worst possible scenarios. This study investigated the effects of task-fitted protective clothing on thermal strain in fire fighters as compared to EN 469:2005 protective clothing during a prolonged (2 1/2 hrs) job-related rescue drill under neutral and hot climates. The subjects were 23 healthy, physically fit professional male fire fighters aged 26-44 years. Measurements included cardiovascular and thermal responses and subjective assessments. Wearing task-fitted clothing during rescue tasks in a neutral climate considerably reduced total thermal and cardiovascular strain in prolonged rescue work. The fire fighters also perceived physical work as significantly harder on average, and reported more intense subjective discomfort while wearing EN 469:2005 as compared to task-fitted clothing.

A practical guidance for assessments of sedentary behavior at work: A PEROSH initiative.

Sedentary behavior is defined as sitting or lying with low energy expenditure. Humans in industrialized societies spend an increasing amount of time in sedentary behaviors every day. This has been associated with detrimental health outcomes. Despite a growing interest in the health effects of sedentary behavior at work, associations remain unclear, plausibly due to poor and diverse methods for assessing sedentary behavior. Thus, good practice guidance for researchers and practitioners on how to assess occupational sedentary behavior are needed. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guidance for practitioners and researchers on how to assess occupational sedentary behavior. Ambulatory systems for use in field applications (wearables) are a promising approach for sedentary behavior assessment. Many different small-size consumer wearables, with long battery life and high data storage capacity are commercially available today. However, no stand-alone commercial system is able to assess sedentary behavior in accordance with its definition. The present paper offers decision support for practitioners and researchers in selecting wearables and data collection strategies for their purpose of study on sedentary behavior. Valid and reliable assessment of occupational sedentary behavior is currently not easy. Several aspects need to be considered in the decision process on how to assess sedentary behavior. There is a need for development of a cheap and easily useable wearable for assessment of occupational sedentary behavior by researchers and practitioners.

Musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms as predictors of trajectories in work ability among finnish firefighters at 13-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: To identify work ability trajectories among Finnish firefighters during a 13-year follow-up. We examined whether baseline musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms (DPS) predicted membership of the trajectories. METHODS: We studied 411 male firefighters who responded to a questionnaire at both baseline and at least one of two follow-ups. The outcome variable was perceived work ability (0 to 10). The predictors were musculoskeletal and depressive symptoms. Covariates included age, diseases, lifestyle habits, and work-related factors. RESULTS: One fourth of the firefighters belonged to the Diminished work ability trajectory. Musculoskeletal and depressive symptoms, lifestyle risks and diseases, and, in separate analyses, low back pain, were strong predictors of this. CONCLUSIONS: When planning preventive actions and workplace health promotion among firefighters, even one site musculoskeletal pain and mild signs of depression should be taken into account. Prevention of adverse lifestyle habits is also essential.

Developmental trajectories of multisite musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms: the effects of job demands and resources and individual factors.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate developmental paths in multisite musculoskeletal pain (MPS) and depressive symptoms (DPS) and the effects of job demands (JD), job resources (JR), optimism and health-related lifestyle on these paths. We expected to find four trajectories--Low Symptoms, High Pain, High Depression and High Symptoms--and hypothesised that high JDs, low JRs, low optimism and adverse lifestyle predict belonging to trajectories with high symptom levels. DESIGN: Data on Finnish firefighters (N = 360) were collected in 1996, 1999 and 2009. The effects of JDs (mental and physical workload), JRs (supervisory relations, interpersonal relations, task resources), optimism and lifestyle (alcohol consumption, smoking, physical exercise, sleeping) on MPS and DPS were assessed. Latent class growth modelling and multinomial logistic regression were applied. RESULTS: Three trajectories emerged: Low Symptoms; High Pain; and High Depression. In a multivariable model, high mental workload (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5-5.5), poor interpersonal relations (2.6, 1.4-5.0), sleeping problems (2.7, 1.4-5.2) and low optimism (2.0, 1.0-3.7) predicted belonging to High Depression. Alcohol consumption (2.4, 1.4-4.1) and sleeping problems (2.1, 1.3-3.6) were related to High Pain. CONCLUSIONS: Different developmental paths in MPS and DPS are possible. Partly different factors predict the development of pain and depressive symptoms.

Positive and negative mood trajectories and their relationship with work ability, self-rated health, and life satisfaction: a 13-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the change trajectories of positive and negative moods and their relationship to work ability, self-rated health, and life satisfaction in a three-wave 13-year follow-up study. METHODS: The data, consisting of Finnish firefighters (n = 360), were collected via questionnaires in 1996, 1999, and 2009. RESULTS: Four distinct mood trajectories were identified by latent class growth modeling: (1) high positive, (2) high positive but decreasing, (3) moderately positive, and (4) high negative. The trajectory groups were differentially related to well-being. Members of the high positive trajectory had better well-being than members of other latent mood trajectories. CONCLUSIONS: Different trajectories exist in positive and negative moods, and these trajectories are differentially related to well-being. Developing work environments in which a positive mood can flourish is beneficial in terms of better well-being among employees.

Lifestyle factors predicting changes in aerobic capacity of aging firefighters at 3- and 13-year follow-ups.

OBJECTIVE: To describe changes in aging firefighters' aerobic capacity at 3- and 13-year follow-ups, and to investigate the lifestyle factors predicting them. We evaluated the sufficiency of aerobic capacity for the demands of rescue diving. METHODS: We studied 78 male Finnish firefighters aged 30 to 44 years at baseline. The outcome variable was aerobic capacity (L·min(-1) and mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)). The predictors were exercise, smoking, and drinking habits. RESULTS: The average annual change (range) in absolute and relative aerobic capacity was -1.12% (-3.43 to 1.39) and -1.33% (-3.98 to 1.63). Exercising at least 4 to 5 times a week was the best protective factor, and regular smoking and more than 15 units of alcohol a week were risk factors for decline in aerobic capacity. CONCLUSIONS: To prevent the excessive decline of aerobic capacity related to work demands, we must pay particular attention to exercise regularity.

Factors associated with changes in perceived strain at work among fire-fighters: a 3-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate individual and work-related psychosocial factors associated with changes in the perceived physical and mental strain among fire-fighters. METHODS: The 3-year follow-up study, done by a questionnaire, was based on data on 632 fire-fighters. The associations were investigated mainly by logistic regression modelling. RESULTS: Accidents were associated with increased perceived physical as well as mental strain (OR 1.4-2.6). Unfair distribution of work tasks was associated with increased perceived physical strain (OR 8.5, CI 1.5-49.6). Frequent differences of opinion disturbing work (OR 2.7, CI 1.2-6.1) and lack of possibilities for career advancement (OR 4.6, CI = 1.0-22.5) were associated with perceived increased mental strain at work. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that measures to reduce the perceived physical and mental strain of fire-fighters should be multi-factorial. However, to determine the content of the measures needs further intervention studies.

Balance abilities of different-aged workers in physically demanding jobs.

The postural and functional balance abilities of workers in physically demanding jobs were assessed in relation to age and occupation. Postural balance was tested with a force platform, and functional balance was measured during walking on a wooden plank. The subjects, 23-61 years of age, were fire fighters (men, n = 69), construction workers (men, n = 52), nursing staff (women, n = 51), and home care workers (women, n = 66). In the older (> or = 50 years) groups the time used for the functional balance test was 3-5 s longer and the velocity moment of the postural balance was 16-30 mm2/s higher than in the groups aged < or = 39 years. Construction workers performed better than fire fighters, and both groups had better functional balance than home care workers and nursing staff. The balance demands of work and deterioration with age should be taken into account when work ability is promoted, especially among older workers in physically demanding jobs.

Functional, postural and perceived balance for predicting the work ability of firefighters.

OBJECTIVE: The importance of balance abilities for firefighting and rescue work has already been recognized, but there are no valid balance tests available in the test batteries for the physical work capacity of firefighters. Moreover, few studies have examined the associations between balance and work ability in general. Valid work-related balance tests are needed for the purpose of screening in occupational health care and in rehabilitation for assessing the effects of balance training. This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of functional, postural and perceived balance in respect to work ability among firefighters at baseline and after a 3-year follow-up. METHODS: The subjects were 135 male firefighters aged 33-56 years. The outcome variables were the work ability index and perceived physical work ability (PWA), determined by questionnaire in 1996 and 1999. The predictors assessed in 1996 were postural balance (tested with a force platform), functional balance (measured during walking on a wooden plank), and perceived balance abilities, enquired about through a questionnaire. RESULTS: Most of the balance test results and the perceived balance ability were associated with the perceived PWA at baseline. The final logistic regression models showed that the best predictors of decreased work ability among firefighters after 3 years were poor-to-moderate perceived balance [odds ratios (ORs) 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9-6.6]; more than one error in the functional balance test (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.0-12.7); and a high mean amplitude of postural sway with the eyes closed (OR 2.7, 95% CI 0.9-6.1). CONCLUSIONS: The results support the work-related and predictive validity, in terms of perceived work ability, perceived balance, errors in the functional balance test and amplitude of postural sway with the eyes closed, of measuring balance among firefighters.