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Abstract
Objectives To investigate the associations between psychosocial risk factors and self-reported health, taking into account other occupational risk factors.
Design Cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire.
Setting The three military hospitals in Paris, France.
Participants Surveys were distributed to 3173 employees (1807 military and 1336 civilian), a total of 1728 employees completed surveys. Missing data prohibited the use of 26 surveys.
Primary and secondary outcome measures The authors used Karasek's model in order to identify psychosocial factors (psychological demands, decisional latitude, social support) in the workplace. The health indicator studied was self-reported health. Adjustments were made for covariates: age, gender, civil or military status, work injury, ergonomic score, physical and chemical exposures, and occupational profile. Occupational profile was defined by professional category, department, work schedule, supervisor status and service-related length in the hospital.
Results Job strain (defined as high psychological demands and low decisional latitude) (adjusted OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5 to 2.8, p<0.001) and iso-strain (job strain with low social support) were significantly associated with moderate or poor self-reported health. Among covariates, occupational profile (p<0.001) and an unsatisfactory ergonomic score (adjusted OR 2.3 95% CI 1.6 to 3.2, p<0.001) were also significantly associated with moderate or poor self-reported health.
Conclusions The results support findings linking moderate or poor self-reported health to psychosocial risk factors. The results of this study suggest that workplace interventions that aim to reduce exposure to psychological demands as well as to increase decisional latitude and social support could help improve self-reported health.
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Footnotes
To cite: Ferrand J-F, Verret C, Trichereau J, et al. Psychosocial risk factors, job characteristics and self-reported health in the Paris Military Hospital Group (PMHG): a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 2012;2:e000999. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-000999
Contributors J-FF, the main researcher, was involved in all phases of the study, including study design, literature search, conduct of the study, data analysis and final article write up. CV was involved in the interpretation of data and in the elaboration of the article, she supervised the study and reviewed the manuscript. JT performed statistical analysis and revised critically the paper for important intellectual content. J-PR was involved in the design of the study and in the drafting of the article. PV and RM were involved in study conception and in the acquisition of data, and they revised critically the manuscript for important intellectual content. All the authors gave the final approval of the version to be published.
Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None.
Ethics approval This study was approved under the guidelines for epidemiological studies by CESPA and by PMHG Ethics Committee.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement There are no additional data available.