Prevention and rehabilitation in Swedish public sector workplaces: Effects on co-workers’ and leaders’ health and psychosocial working conditions

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Leaders and co-workers in Swedish public sector organizations are exposed to demanding psychosocial working conditions; more knowledge about workplace-based interventions in this sector of working life is needed.

OBJECTIVE:

To compare co-workers’ and leaders’ self-ratings of health and psychosocial working conditions, and investigate how prevention and rehabilitation in Swedish public sector workplaces affects these ratings.

METHOD:

The longitudinal panel data consisted of 311 individuals (20 leaders, 291 co-workers) at 19 workplaces. Based on questionnaire data, statistical analyses were performed using Mann-Whitney U-Test, pair-wise Spearman correlations, a mixed between-within subjects ANOVA and Friedman’s test.

RESULTS:

Results indicate differences in how the leaders and the co-workers judge their health and psychosocial working conditions. Leaders report work content that is more varied and interesting as well as more possibilities for personal development through work, yet they also report more tiredness, concern over managing their work situation and time pressure at work. Comparisons of mean values for used indicators show some improvements after one year, but also several non-significant or negative time trends two years after the interventions were initiated.

CONCLUSION:

The study provides some support for experienced differences between co-workers’ and leaders’ health and psychosocial working conditions in public sector workplaces, indicating the importance of different workplace-oriented prevention and rehabilitation interventions for these two categories of employees.

Keywords

Female-dominated workplaces interventions self-rated health longitudinal design

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