TY - JOUR A1 - Muschalla, Beate A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Linden, M. T1 - Self-reported workplace perception as indicators of work anxieties JF - Occupational medicine N2 - Work anxiety is a potentially disabling mental health problem, which can cause (long-term) sickness absence. In many cases patients do not openly report their anxieties and tend to give externalizing explanations of inner problems. Therefore people with work anxiety may perceive their workplace more negatively than those without such anxiety. To investigate the relation between subjective work description and work anxiety. There were 148 inpatient participants and 8015 general population controls. Patients with work anxiety described their workplace significantly more negatively than patients without work anxiety and employees in the general population, with no differences in workplace descriptions between psychosomatic patients without work anxiety and the general population sample. The type of complaint about work conditions was related to the specific type of work anxiety. Reports about workplace burdens can be indicative of work anxiety and should prompt further in-depth assessments. The content of complaints about work conditions may point to the type of underlying work anxiety. KW - Anxiety KW - diagnostic KW - sickness absence KW - work anxiety KW - workplace Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqv160 SN - 0962-7480 SN - 1471-8405 VL - 66 SP - 168 EP - 170 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linden, Michael A1 - Muschalla, Beate A1 - Hansmeier, Thomas A1 - Sandner, Gabriele T1 - Reduction of sickness absence by an occupational health care management program focusing on self-efficacy and self-management JF - Work : a journal of prevention, assessment & rehabilitation N2 - BACKGROUND: The aim of occupational health care management programs (OHMP) is to improve the health status of employees, increase work ability and reduce absence time. This includes better coping abilities, work-related self-efficacy and self-management which are important abilities that should be trained within OHMPs. OBJECTIVES: To study the effectiveness of an OHMP including special interventions to enhance self-efficacy and self-management. PARTICIPANTS: Employees from the German Federal Pension Agency. METHODS: Effects of an OHMP on sickness absence was studied by comparing an intervention group (N = 159) and two control groups (N = 450). A core feature of the OHMP were group sessions with all members of working teams, focussing on self-efficacy and self management of the individual participant as well as the team as a group (focus groups). Participants in the OHMP were asked for their subjective evaluation of the focus groups. Rates of sickness absence were taken from the routine data of the employer. RESULTS: Participants of the OHMP indicated that they had learned better ways of coping and communication and that they had generated intentions to make changes in their working situation. The rate of sickness absence in the intervention group decreased from 9.26% in the year before the OHMP to 7.93% in the year after the program, while there was in the same time an increase of 7.9% and 10.7% in the two control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that OHMP with focus on self-efficacy and self management of individuals and teams are helpful in reducing work absenteeism. KW - Focus group KW - team training KW - prevention KW - health status KW - sickness absence Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-131616 SN - 1051-9815 SN - 1875-9270 VL - 47 IS - 4 SP - 485 EP - 489 PB - IOS Press CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Muschalla, Beate A1 - Heldmann, Madleen A1 - Fay, Doris T1 - The significance of job-anxiety in a working population JF - Occupational medicine N2 - Background Job-anxiety, as distinguished from trait-anxiety, is associated with long-term sickness absence. The prevalence of job-anxiety within a working population is not known. Identifying individuals who would benefit from intervention might be useful. Aims To investigate job-anxiety in employees not undergoing treatment for mental health illness, firstly by assessing the level of job-anxiety and work-related avoidance tendencies in a working sample, and secondly by testing whether job-anxiety is distinguishable from trait-anxiety. Methods Cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample obtained through personal contact distribution. Employees from different professional settings completed an anonymous questionnaire and provided information on their employment status. The State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) was used to measure trait-anxiety and the Job-Anxiety-Scale (JAS) was used to assess job (state) anxiety. Results There was a 69% response rate (240 responses); 188 responses were available for analysis of whom 62% were women. There were no employees with high trait-anxiety. Ten employees (5%) reported increased job-anxiety and of these nine employees reported high 'tendencies of avoidance and workplace absence'. Avoidance was most often accompanied by the comorbid job-anxieties 'job-related social anxiety', 'fear of changes at work' and 'fears of existence', 'anticipatory' and 'conditioned' job-anxiety and 'panic symptoms'. Conclusions In this sample, self-reported job-anxiety appeared as a specific type of anxiety as opposed to trait-anxiety. In the workplace job-anxiety can present as job-avoidance and sickness absence and should be distinguished from trait-anxiety. In practice, employers and occupational health practitioners should be aware of those employees prone to sickness absence. KW - Job-anxiety KW - occupational health KW - sickness absence KW - trait-anxiety KW - workplace Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqt072 SN - 0962-7480 VL - 63 IS - 6 SP - 415 EP - 421 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER -