Biomedical subjects

Joanna Wieclaw

Publications and source records attributed to Joanna Wieclaw.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Work related violence and threats and the risk of depression and stress disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the risk of depression and stress related disorders as a function of occupational exposure to violence and threats. DESIGN: Population based nested case-control study. SETTING: All gainfully employed Danes. Cases and controls: 14 166 hospital inpatients and outpatients, aged 18-65, treated for affective or stress related disorders during 1995-1998 selected from The Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register and 58 060 controls matched for age, sex, and time, drawn from Statistics Denmark's Integrated Database for Labour Market Research. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Clinical psychiatric diagnosis (WHO ICD-10) of affective (F30-39) or stress related (F40-48) disorders compared with controls by the occupation held the year before treatment. The occupation held the year before treatment was used as exposure proxy. RESULTS: Potential exposure to occupational violence is associated with significantly increased relative risks of both disorders in either sex (women: depression RR 1.45 CI 1.27 to 1.65, stress RR 1.32 CI 1.19 to 1.46; men: depression RR 1.48 CI 1.18 to 1.86, stress RR 1.55 CI 1.29 to 1.84). Work related threats are associated with increase in the risk of depression in women (RR 1.48 CI 1.23 to 1.79) and the risk of stress related disorders in men (RR 1.59 CI 1.32 to 1.91). Risks rose with increasing prevalence of violence and threats. The results remain significant and only slightly attenuated after controlling for extent of professional contact with people other than colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: Employment in occupations involving exposure to work related threats and violence is a risk factor for depression and stress related disorders in both sexes. These findings have implications for health and safety at work policies.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Occupational disorders and return to work: a randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: Goal setting and motivational factors are strongly associated with maintaining a job and return to work after sick leave, but research into the effects of interventions targeting these factors is limited. We conducted a randomized controlled study to examine the vocational effect of intervention focusing on motivation, goal setting and planning for return to work. DESIGN AND METHODS: Of 243 patients at risk of long-term sick leave or job dropout, 184 (76%) provided complete baseline information for the study. After randomization to an intervention group (n=92) and a reference group (n=92), occupational physicians examined the participants in accordance with standard guidelines. The intervention group received additional support from a social worker in order to enhance goal setting, motivation and planning for return to work. After 1 year 163 participants (89%) provided data on general health and employment status. The risk of not being gainfully employed was analysed by logistic regression analysis with adjustment for several covariates. RESULTS: The intervention did not increase the likelihood of gainful employment after 1 year or reduce the average number of days of sick leave. CONCLUSION: A low-cost counselling program addressing motivation, goal setting and planning for return to work did not improve vocational outcomes or reduce sick leave among patients with work-related disorders.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Occupational risk of affective and stress-related disorders in the Danish workforce.

OBJECTIVES: A population-based, nested, case-control study was carried out to quantify the risk of affective and stress-related disorders according to occupation in the entire Danish workforce. METHODS: All incident hospital patients and out-patients aged 18-65 years who received a first-time-ever diagnosis of an affective disorder (ICD-10, F 30-39) or stress-related condition (ICD-10, F 40-48) in Denmark from 1 January 1995 through 31 December 1998 were identified in the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register (N=28 971). For each case, five randomly selected referents of the same age and gender were drawn from a 5% sample of the Danish population (N= 144 855). The occupation held 1 year before a person became a case was obtained from Denmark's Integrated Database for Labour Market Research. Occupation was classified according to the Danish version of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ICD). Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for 25 occupational categories with clerical staff as the reference were calculated using a conditional logistic regression adjusted for sociodemographic covariates. RESULTS: Eight occupations were associated with significantly elevated risks (RR range 1.20-1.58) among the women, while eight occupations were associated with a significantly reduced risk (RR range 0.50-0.76) among the men. The risks were highest for the teaching (RR 1.58) and health (RR 1.53) professions. Only social workers and professionals caring for mentally and physically disabled persons faced an elevated risk irrespective of gender (women RR 1.72, 95% CI 1.38-2.16; men RR 2.09, 95% CI 1.38-3-15). CONCLUSIONS: Major depression and stress-related psychiatric disorders are related to occupation. Risk profiles vary strongly according to gender.

Adolescent↗