Effort-reward imbalance and self-rated health among Gambian healthcare professionals

Abstract

Background: The effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model of work stress has been widely applied in investigating association between psychosocial factors at work and health. This study examined associations between perceived psychosocial work stress as measured by the ERI model and self-rated health (SRH) among nurses and environmental health officers (EHOs) working in secondary public healthcare facilities in the Gambia. Method: A cross-sectional study on a random sample of 287 health care professionals (201 nurses and 86 EHOs). A 22-item ERI questionnaire was used to collect data on the psychosocial factors defined by the ERI model. SRH was assessed using a single item measure. Results: The distribution of subjective health was not statistically different between nurses and EHOs. However, our study uncovered significant associations between perceived psychosocial work stress and subjective health. Specifically, we found that a perceived high effort-reward imbalance (ER-ratio > 1) is a significant risk factor for poor SRH, in both occupational groups. However, over-commitment was not significantly associated with poor SRH in the two groups. When efforts and rewards were considered as separate variables in the analysis, rewards were inversely associated with poor SRH in both groups. Conclusion: Because of the high perceived Effort-Reward Imbalance among healthcare professionals at secondary public healthcare facilities, it is necessary to modify working conditions through improvement of psychosocial work environment, such as reasonable allocation of resources to increase pay, incentives or other forms of rewards from government. Interventions that could mitigate and prevent stress at work are worth considering in future healthcare policies.

Associations between effort–reward imbalance and health indicators among school teachers in Chuquisaca, Bolivia: a cross-sectional study

“…Our results confirm previous studies indicating that ERI might be a risk factor for health outcomes including self-rated overall health,46 low back pain47 and mental distress3 in different working populations. Self-rated health was described to be a good indicator of health status and mortality risk48 especially for women 49.…”

Effects of effort-reward imbalance, job satisfaction, and work engagement on self-rated health among healthcare workers

“…and Brazil (65.6%) [11,29,30]. Additionally, this rate was lower than that of the general population in previous studies [31,32], suggesting that self-rated health among healthcare workers in the current study was generally low.…”

“…This model also proposes that this process will be reinforced by overcommitment, such that overcommitted employees will respond with more strained reactions to an effort-reward imbalance compared to less committed employees. Previous studies found that ERR and overcommitment were signi cantly associated with adverse health outcomes among healthcare workers in Gambia, Japan, and China [11,12,15,16]. Likewise, empirical studies found that ERR and overcommitment signi cantly predicted other negative outcomes, such as low job satisfaction and low work engagement [15,17,18].…”

“…Effort-reward imbalance is an important factor causing the decline in the health status of healthcare workers [11,12]. Siegrist proposed the effort-reward imbalance model to explain this association.…”

Effects of effort-reward imbalance, job satisfaction, and work engagement on self-rated health among healthcare workers

“…Effort-reward imbalance is an important factor causing the decline in the health status of healthcare workers [ 11 , 12 ]. Siegrist proposed the effort-reward imbalance model to explain this association.…”