Summary
The purpose of this systematic literature review is to obtain an overall picture of Nordic research on the work environment and the health of healthcare professionals, and to thereby identify risk and health-promoting factors. The focus is on health-related risk and health-promoting factors at the organisational level, i.e., an organisation’s structure, principles of work or production, and values.
The goal is for the systematic literature review to serve as a support in work environment management and in practical efforts to prevent illness and promote well-being in healthcare organisations.
We currently have good knowledge of what constitutes work-related risk and health-promoting factors at the workplace level, especially with regard to the factors that increase the risk of illness and disease, but also about what promotes positive experiences associated with the work environment. In summary, high job demands and insufficient resources at work lead to an increased risk of illness. High job demands and insufficient resources can be said to be risk factors at the workplace level, i.e., where tasks are performed and social interactions take place. Conversely, the presence of resources such as social support and perceived autonomy increases the likelihood of well-being, motivation and job satisfaction. Thus, these constitute health-promoting factors at the workplace level. The relationship between job demands and resources, as well as the health of employees, transcends the boundaries of nations, professions, backgrounds, education, or anything else that might seem to distinguish any one person from another on an individual level. On the other hand, these relationships vary across occupations and groups, both in terms of the demands and resources that are present in the work environment and the extent to which these affect employees.
In the healthcare sector, occupational demands or risk factors relate, for example, to emotionally demanding work and work in which various values are in conflict with each other. Yet work that entails heavy lifting and static postures is also fraught with demands and risks. We currently have access to a wealth of past research that focuses on the health and work environment of healthcare professionals.
As a background to this systematic literature review, we have reviewed some of the systematic literature reviews conducted in recent years, wherein the focus has been on the work environment of healthcare professionals and its connection to health and well-being. We have also summarised existing knowledge about risk and health-promoting factors in the healthcare sector. The summary shows that risk and health-promoting factors are often investigated at the workplace level and comprise various types of demands and resources inherent in the responsibilities and social aspects of work in this sector.
Organisational risk and health-promoting factors emerge more sporadically, for example, in terms of how care is designed and shifts are staffed.
The summary of the previous reviews also reveals that the risk and health-promoting factors in the work environment of healthcare professionals are similar to those of other occupational groups. Moreover, in terms of sickness absence, exhaustion, depression, pain and physical illness, the risk factors pose the same threat to healthcare professionals as they do to the rest of the country’s working population. Furthermore, access to a range of resources constitutes a health-promoting factor at the workplace level, and the presence of health-promoting factors promotes engagement, job satisfaction and well-being among employees in this sector, just as it does for the rest of the working population.
This systematic literature review focuses on identifying risk and health-promoting factors at an organisational level, because this level has been the subject of significantly less research than risk and health-promoting factors at the individual and workplace level. Here we define the organisational level as the level at which decisions are made about the organisation’s structure, principles for work or production, and the values that should underpin the work. It is at the organisational level that conditions are created, rules are established, and the game plan for the work is defined. Thus, this level plays a key role in the risk and health-promoting factors that exist at the workplace level. By focusing on risk and health-promoting factors at the organisational level, it becomes possible to identify the underlying causes of the challenges in the work environment that are present at the workplace level. It is then possible to eliminate causes of illness, and the organisation also gains the opportunity to provide the necessary resources to ensure the well-being and health of its employees.
This systematic literature review was written by:
Magnus Åkerström, Associate Professor, Institute of Stress Medicine, Region Västra Götaland
Anna-Carin Fagerlind Ståhl, Ph.D., Institute of Stress Medicine, Region Västra Götaland
Jens Wahlström, Associate Professor, Section of Sustainable Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University
Agneta Lindegård Andersson, Associate Professor, Institute of Stress Medicine, Region Västra Götaland
Inger Arvidsson, Associate Professor, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University
More info:
Important knowledge of work environment risks and health factors in health care personnel