Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health
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Scand J Work Environ Health · May 2016
LetterMethodological and conceptual issues regarding occupational psychosocial coronary heart disease epidemiology.
Overview Psychosocial occupational epidemiology has mainly focused on the demand-control and, to a much lesser extent, the effort-reward-imbalance (ERI) models. These models and the strong focus on them raise some conceptual and methodological issues we will address in the following letter. The conceptual issues include the empirical confirmation of the assumptions of these models, the extent to which the focus on the demand-control and ERI models is warranted, and whether the sub-dimensions of the scales in these models have common health effects. ⋯ Hence, whether a certain worker experiences job strain or not depends on which other workers are part of the sample (18). This poses a problem when the distributions of demands and control differ between populations. Comparisons between Denmark and Spain and across Europe suggest that such differences exist (19, 20), rendering it at the least a challenge to combine populations in meta-analyses. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
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Scand J Work Environ Health · May 2016
Associations between number of consecutive night shifts and impairment of neurobehavioral performance during a subsequent simulated night shift.
This study aimed to investigate sleep and circadian phase in the relationships between neurobehavioral performance and the number of consecutive shifts worked. ⋯ A greater number of consecutive night shifts has a negative impact on neurobehavioral performance, likely due to cognitive slowing.
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Scand J Work Environ Health · Jan 2016
The 18th Collegium Ramazzini statement: The global health dimensions of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases.
The Collegium Ramazzini reaffirms its long-standing position that responsible public health action is to ban all extraction and use of asbestos, including chrysotile. This current statement updates the Collegium's earlier statements with a focus on global health dimensions of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases (ARD). ⋯ Industrialized countries that have already gone through the transition to an asbestos ban have learned lessons and acquired know-how and capacity that could be of great value if deployed in industrializing countries embarking on the transition. The accumulated wealth of experience and technologies in industrialized countries should thus be shared internationally through global campaigns to eliminate ARD.
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Scand J Work Environ Health · Jul 2015
Worktime control access, need and use in relation to work-home interference, fatigue, and job motivation.
Worktime control (WTC) has been suggested as a tool to reduce employees' work-home interference and fatigue and improve job motivation. The purpose of this study was twofold: (i) to examine the prevalence of employees' need for, access to, and use of WTC, as well as the incongruence between need for and access to WTC (ie, mismatch); and (ii) to examine the associations of this mismatch and the use of WTC with employees' work-home interference (WHI), fatigue and job motivation. ⋯ It is relevant to examine WTC comprehensively, that is, to include measurements of employees' need for and access to WTC and assess employees' (mis)match between components of WTC. For practice, we recommend to introduce WTC on an organizational level and assess employees' need for WTC on an individual basis.