O-48 Effects of psychosocial work factors on medically certified sick leave due to mental disorder in home care employees

Introduction

A large proportion of the high level of sick leave in the home care services is due to common mental disorders, and a substantial number of such cases can be attributed to psychosocial risk factors at work. Knowledge about occupation-specific risk factors for sick leave is needed to develop targeted preventive measures.

Objectives

Determine the most prominent psychosocial factors affecting sick leave due to mental disorder.

Methods

Norwegian home care workers (N=1.819), distributed across a random sample of 130 Norwegian home care services, were surveyed at baseline and followed up for two years in registries on medically certified sick leave. Two models were analysed; the sick leave outcome variable in model 1 included all mental disorders, whereas in model 2 it only included common mental disorders. Predictors in both models were 15 psychosocial factors. Risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using negative binomial regression with robust standard deviations.

Results

In model 1, emotional dissonance (RR 1.32, CI95% 1.08–1.61) was associated with an excess risk of sick leave. In model 2, emotional dissonance (RR 1.30, CI95% 1.05–1.60) was associated with an excess risk, while control over work intensity (RR 0.78, CI95% 0.62–0.98) was associated with a reduced risk of sick leave.

Conclusion

Emotional dissonance was consistently associated with excess risk of sick leave episodes with mental disorder in the home care services, whereas control over work intensity was found to be a protective factor against common mental disorders.