Sick Leave and Its Determinants in Professional Soldiers of the Slovenian Armed Forces

Abstract

543www.cmj.hr Aim To assess whether demographic characteristics, selfrated health status, coping behaviors, satisfaction with important interpersonal relationships, financial situation, and current overall quality of life are determinants of sick leave duration in professional soldiers of the Slovenian Armed Forces.Methods In 2008, 448 military personnel on active duty in the Slovenian Armed Forces were invited to participate in the study and 390 returned the completed questionnaires (response rate 87%). The questionnaires used were the self-rated health scale, sick leave scale, life satisfaction scale, Folkman-Lazarus' Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and a demographic data questionnaire. To partition the variance across a wide variety of indicators of participants' experiences, ordinal modeling procedures were used.Results A multivariate ordinal regression model, explaining 24% of sick leave variance, showed that the following variables significantly predicted longer sick leave duration: female sex (estimate, 1.185; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.579-1.791), poorer self-rated health (estimate, 3.243; 95% CI, 1.755-4.731), lower satisfaction with relationships with coworkers (estimate, 1.333; 95% CI, 0.399-2.267), and lower education (estimate, 1.577; 95% CI, 0.717-2.436). The impact of age and coping mechanisms was not significant. ConclusionLonger sick leave duration was found in women and respondents less satisfied with their relationships with coworkers, and these are the groups to which special attention should be awarded when planning supervision, work procedures, and gender equality policy of the Armed Forces. A good way of increasing the quality of interpersonal relationships at work would be to teach such skills in teaching programs for commanding officers.

Healthy, but are they Satisfied? Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction in Professional Soldiers of the Slovenian Armed Forces

“…In our previous studies, we have explored key psychological factors in members of the Slovenian Armed Forces, who reported poorer bio-psycho-social well-being and more burnout, and therefore had reduced working effectiveness and motivation [32]. The determinants of sick leave duration were also researched; longer sick leave duration was found in women soldiers and the respondents were less satisfied with their relationships with coworkers [33]. There are other psychological factors and external triggers, e.g.…”

The Factors Associated with Anxiety and Depression in Slovenian Armed Forces Members on a Peacekeeping Mission in the Western Balkans / Dejavniki, Povezani Z Depresijo In Tesnobnostjo Pri Slovenskih Vojakih Na Mirovni Misiji Na Zahodnem Balkanu

“…On the other hand, another study showed that coping strategies do not affect self-reported sick leave in Slovenian soldiers (26). Since job demands, stress and the coping strategies of the soldiers on missions were not controlled in this study, which is an important limitation, we are not able to speculate about the impact of operational stress on the incidence of anxiety and depression.…”

“…Both depression and anxiety are known to be more prevalent in women (37,38), but in our study female gender was not shown to be significantly associated with either the SDS or SAS score (Table 3) or with the co-occurrence of depression and anxiety (Table 4). In one of our previous studies on Slovenian Armed Forces members, longer sick leave duration was found in female soldiers (26) and a negative association between satisfaction with co-workers and female gender was identified (39). It was suggested that special attention should be given to female soldiers when planning supervision, work procedures, and the gender equality policy of the Armed Forces (39).…”

Health-related Quality of Life in Soldiers in Croatia: Relationship with Combat Readiness and Psychological Dimensions

“…Self-rated overall health appears to be a valid measure of health status among soldiers (18). Moreover, poorer self-rated health is a significant predictor of longer sick-leave duration (19). Although in the univariate analyses the combat unready soldiers had a statistically higher impact of limitations on everyday activities due to emotional troubles as well as higher intensities of some psychological dimension than the combat ready soldiers, none of the specific psychological dimensions was a significant predictor of soldier combat readiness in multivariate analyses.…”