Abstract
Research into working life in Finland shows how great changes in society, in combination with changed age structure of the working population, have increased the employees' working load. Because of these changes occupational health services confront new challenges. Internationally OHS in Finland has reached a high level. Simultaneuosly research reports show how the health professionals themselves experience growing work-related stress symptons. The main purpose of the study was to clarify how the occupational health professionals view the changes in their activity, to find out how the professionals in different occupational groups view their working tasks in the future, the collaboration in the oh-team, and the need for new knowledge. In this study a qualitative and naturalistic approach was used in order to undestand, describe and interpret the oh- nurses'and oh-physicians'points of view and their experiences of the phenomenon studied. Data collection was based on open-ended interviews. The data from the interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show how the oh-nurses and oh-physicians consider changes in the activity. Economic depression in society and the need to rationalize workinglife have influenced the problem-areas in oh-activity. The informants experience contradictions between their working goals and the managements' methods of evaluation. They have a clear conception about the main problem-areas in the future. The results also show that the nurses and physicians have different views of the need for new knowledge, mulitidisciplinarity and collaboration in the oh-teams.