Effect of a participatory organizational-level occupational health intervention on short-term sickness absence: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Effect of a participatory organizational-level occupational health intervention on short-term sickness absence: a cluster randomized controlled trial by Framke E, Sørensen OH, Pedersen J, Rugulies R This RCT showed that pre-school employees participating in an organizational intervention focusing on the core task at work had a statistically significantly lower incidence rate of short-term sickness absence than control group employees during a 29-months follow-up period.Refers to the following texts of the Journal: 2006;32(6) Original article Scand J Work Environ Health. 2016;42(3):192-200. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3559 Effect of a participatory organizational-level occupational health intervention on short-term sickness absence: a cluster randomized controlled trial Objectives The aim of this study was to examine whether employees in pre-schools that implemented a participatory organizational-level intervention focusing on the core task at work had a lower incidence of short-term sickness absence compared to employees in the control group. MethodsThe cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) comprised 78 pre-schools that were allocated to the intervention (44 pre-schools with 1760 employees) or control (34 pre-schools with 1279 employees) group. The intervention lasted 25 months and followed a stepwise and structured approach, consisting of seminars, workshops, and workplace-directed intervention activities focusing on the core task at work. Using Poisson regression, we tested differences in incidence rates in short-term sickness absence between the intervention and control groups during a 29-months follow-up.Results Estimated short-term sickness absence days per person-year during follow-up were 8.68 and 9.17 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The rate ratio (RR) for comparing incident sickness absence in the intervention to control groups during follow-up was 0.93 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.86-1.00] in the crude analysis and 0.89 (95% CI 0.83-0.96) when adjusting for age, sex, job group, type and size of workplace, and workplace average level of previous short-term sickness absence. A supplementary analysis showed that the intervention also was associated with a reduced risk of long-term sickness absence with a crude RR of 0.83 (95% CI 0.69-0.99) and an adjusted RR of 0.84 (95% CI 0.69-1.01).Conclusions Pre-school employees participating in an organizational-level occupational health intervention focusing on the core task at work had a lower incidence of short-term sickness absence during a 29-month followup compared with control group employees.

Effect of a participatory organizational-level occupational health intervention on job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial

“…In a previous article of the same intervention study, we had shown that intervention group participants had a decreased risk of sickness absence during follow-up compared to control group participants [25]. Taken the previous and the current finding together, it seems that the intervention was efficacious with regard to sickness absence but not with regard to job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances.…”

“…However, one has to be cautious with drawing conclusions by comparing the two analyses, because the two samples were only partly overlapping. In the analysis on sickness absence, we used register data to assess the outcome variable and therefore we were able to analyze sickness absence for all employees at all workplaces, including employees who left the workplace during follow-up (who were excluded on the day they left their workplace) and employees who newly started at a workplace during follow-up (who were included on the day, they entered the workplace) [25]. In the current analysis on job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances, register data was not available and therefore the analysis was restricted to employees who filled in the questionnaire at both baseline and follow-up.…”

“…Thus, this qualitative process evaluation indicates that the intervention was appropriately implemented in at least some workplaces. In addition, the effect on risk of sickness absence [25] suggests that implementation failure is not likely.…”

“…In a previous article, we had shown that the intervention predicted a lower risk of sickness absence in the intervention group compared to the control group [25]. In this article, we test the effect of the intervention on three variables: job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances.…”

Can illegitimate job tasks be reduced by a participatory organizational-level workplace intervention? Results of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Danish pre-schools

“…The Pioneer intervention study has been described in detail elsewhere (8). Briefly, Pioneer was a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) implemented in 78 pre-schools in the Municipality of Copenhagen: 44 pre-schools in the intervention and 34 pre-schools in the control group.…”