TY - JOUR A1 - Muschalla, Beate A1 - Henning, Anne A1 - Haake, Tim Woody A1 - Cornetz, Kathrin A1 - Olbrich, Dieter T1 - Mental health problem or workplace problem or something else BT - what contributes to work perception? JF - Disability and rehabilitation : an international, multidisciplinary journal N2 - Purpose: Work perception is an important predictor for work ability and, therefore, of interest for rehabilitation. Until now it is unclear to which extent different psychological aspects explain work perception. This study investigates in which way workplace problems on the one hand, and mental health and coping on the other hand, contribute to work perception. Methods: A heterogeneous sample of 384 persons in working age with and without mental health problems was recruited. Participants gave self-reports on workplace problems, mental health problems, work-coping, work-anxiety, and work perception. Results: Persons with mental health problems and workplace problems (M + W) perceive the highest degree of work demands, followed by persons with workplace problems but without mental health problems (NM + W). Work-anxiety appeared as the strongest factor explaining perception of high work demands, whereas general mental health problems did not contribute significantly to variance explanation. Conclusions: Persons with specific mental health problems in terms of work-anxiety may be expected to perceive higher work demands. They may be detected when asking for work perception, e.g., within the frame of return-to-work interventions in rehabilitation, or in occupational health settings by mental hazard analysis. KW - work ability KW - work anxiety KW - workplace KW - mental disorders KW - rehabilitation KW - work perception Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2018.1501099 SN - 0963-8288 SN - 1464-5165 VL - 42 IS - 4 SP - 502 EP - 509 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - 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 - Muschalla, Beate T1 - Work-related anxieties in research and practice JF - Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie : german journal of work and organizational psychology N2 - Workplaces contain by their very nature different anxiety-provoking characteristics. When workplace-related anxieties manifest, absenteeism, long-term-sick leave, and even disability pension can be the consequences. In medical-vocational rehabilitation about 30-60 % of the patients suffer from workplace-related anxieties that are often a barrier for return to work. Even in mentally healthy employees, 5 % said that they were prone to ask for a sick leave certificate due to workplace-related anxieties. Future research should focus on workplace-related anxieties not only in rehabilitation, but more earlier, i. e. in the workplace. The concept of workplace-related anxieties offers ideas which can be useful in mental-health-oriented work analysis, employee-workplace-fit, and job design. KW - workplace KW - anxiety KW - sick leave KW - mental health-oriented work analysis Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1026/0932-4089/a000166 SN - 0932-4089 SN - 2190-6270 VL - 58 IS - 4 SP - 206 EP - 214 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen 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 -