Chronic exposure to adverse psychosocial work factors and high psychological distress among white-collar workers: A 5-year prospective study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.01.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •

    Chronic exposure to ERI was associated with high psychological distress.

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    The deleterious health effects of ERI were found among men and women.

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    A lack of adaptation to chronic ERI over time was observed.

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    Repeated ERI exposure led to greater prevalence than single baseline exposure.

Abstract

Objectives

Prospective studies which evaluated whether the effects of chronic exposure to psychosocial work factors on mental health persisted over time are scarce. For the first time, this study evaluated: 1) the effect of chronic exposure to effort-reward imbalance over 5 years on the prevalence of high psychological distress among men and women, and 2) the persistence of this effect over time.

Methods

Overall, 1747 white-collar workers from three public organizations participated in a prospective study. Psychological distress and effort-reward imbalance were measured using validated questionnaires at baseline, and at 3- and 5-year follow-ups. Prevalence ratios (PRs) of high psychological distress were estimated using log-binomial regression according to baseline and repeated exposure.

Results

Compared to unexposed workers, those with repeated exposure to effort-reward imbalance had a higher prevalence of high psychological distress. Workers exposed only at some time-points also had a higher prevalence. The deleterious effect of repeated exposure observed at the 3-year follow-up persisted at the 5-year follow-up among women (PR = 2.48 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.97–3.11) and men (PR = 1.91 95% CI 1.20–3.04). These effects were greater than those found using a single baseline measurement.

Conclusion

The current study supported a deleterious effect of repeated exposure to effort-reward imbalance on psychological distress, and a lack of adaptation to these effects over time among men and women. Since psychological distress may later lead to severe mental problems, current results highlight the need to consider exposure to these adverse work factors in primary and secondary preventions aimed at reducing mental health problems at work.

Section snippets

Study design and population

The current study used data from a large prospective cohort of 2335 white-collar workers from three public organizations in Quebec City, Canada. Their jobs encompassed the full range of white-collar positions (senior and middle managers, professionals, technicians and office workers). Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on their work characteristics and psychological distress at their workplace. Data were collected three times: at baseline in 2000–2003, and then at 3- and

Results

Overall 25.8% of men and 37.8% of women had high psychological distress in the current sample of white-collar workers. Men were more likely to hold professional and executive jobs, smoke, and have sedentary behavior. Women were less educated, had lower BMI, drank less alcohol, and reported more stressful events and greater home load than men. No meaningful gender difference was observed for ERI exposure (Table 1).

Table 2 presents PRs of high psychological distress at 3- and 5-year follow-ups

Discussion

In the present prospective study conducted among Canadian workers employed in white collar occupations, men and women having repeated exposure to ERI had a high prevalence of high psychological distress at follow-up. Compared to never exposed workers, those with exposure onset and exposure cessation also had a higher prevalence of high psychological distress at follow-up. The deleterious effects observed at 3-year persisted at 5-year follow-up, regardless of gender. Moreover, the effect of

Conclusion

The current study showed a deleterious effect of repeated exposure to ERI on high psychological distress, regardless gender. Moreover, there was a lack of adaptation to repeated exposure as the deleterious effects of ERI persisted over time. Finally, the effect of chronic exposure tends to be greater than the effect of single exposure. Future studies should evaluate the persistence of the effect of chronic exposure on psychological distress and other more severe and certified mental health

List of the author's contributions to the study

R. Ndjaboue supervised and synthesized the data analyses and led the writing. C. Brisson originated and supervised all aspects of the study. M. Vezina supervised the aspects of the study related to mental health measurement and supervised the public health issues of the study. D. Talbot participated to data analyses. All authors participated in reviewing and drafting the article.

Competiting interests

The authors have no competing interests to report.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by two grants from the CDC-NIOSH (Grant R01 OH007647-02) and the Canadian Institute of Health Research (Grant GIR—91062). C. Brisson was a Canadian Institutes of Health Research investigator when this work was conducted. This research was also supported by a scholarship from the Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Santé et en Sécurité au travail for R. Ndjaboue.

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