Psychosocial Factors at Work

Abstract

During the last 25 years many things have happened in the world and on the labour market. There has been a constant global population growth, structural unemployment, an IT revolution, free global markets, gender awareness, increased education, an increasing similarity in social policies, and the continuation of wars, the threat of wars and migrating populations. This new society’s characteristics will probably include a regional instead of a state-based structure and a transformation from a local to a global perspective. Transnational companies will create large centres of creativity and small units of production and distribution near the market. There will be an increase of mobility of people and information, and increasing complexity. In future the labour force is likely to be divided into 20% attractive elite workers, 40% highly skilled, 20% low paid flexible workers and 20% unemployed.

This scenario will have a strong impact on psychological and social factors for individuals, groups of employees, families and societies. To measure the health consequences, different models have been proposed. One example is the demand-control model (demands from the job situation related to the degree of control) by Karasek and Theorell, supplemented with the degree of social support from supervisors and work mates, introduced by Jeff Johnson. This model provides the basis for many redesign efforts aimed at improving the work environment.

Another model of interest is the effort/reward model proposed by Johannes Siegrist, concerned with the degree of effort and the amount of reward achieved from the job. An imbalance, with high effort and low reward, is associated with adverse health effects. Coping strategies are of interest, as well as the balance between skill and demand. In recent years empowerment as a basis for redesign has been discussed as a health factor. Negative life events, and their relationships with different health outcomes such as ischaemic heart disease and psychiatric disorders among women, have been shown.

To measure the relevant psychological and social factors, different questionnaires and interview techniques have been developed. The intrinsic and extrinsic validity of these instruments in different societies needs to be discussed, together with considerations of the ethics and morality of using them.

The conference took place in Copenhagen, 24–26August 1998. The workshop, led by Eva Vingdrd and Tores Theorell, accompanied the international conference organised by ICOH, with the same title.