Abstract
Objective: Demographic changes involving western countries and later retirements due to the recent pension reforms induce a gradual aging of the workforce. This imply an increasing number of workers with health problems and a decreasing of ability to work. In this direction, the present study aims at examining the role of job and personal resources between age and work ability within nurses.Method: The study was cross-sectional and not randomized; data were collected by a self-report questionnaire during a multi-center survey conducted in two Italian hospitals in 2016. In this way, 333 nurses were reached.Results: Multiple linear regression showed that age is significantly and negatively associated to work ability, and that job resources (e.g., decision authority and meaning of work) and personal resources (e.g., hope and resilience) moderate the relationship between age and work ability.Discussion: These results highlight that investing in work and personal resources to support WA is even more relevant for those professions where high physical effort is required.
Highlights
Aging is mainly considered from an individual perspective as the process involving any human being throughout his or her lifespan
It can be considered a global phenomenon that is affecting entire countries and populations: processes and changes must be considered in this “new” perspective not as single trajectories but in a systemic manner, taking into account the individual and the social changes as well as their interactions
It is renowned that western countries are getting older: the decline of fertility and low birth rates on one hand and rising life expectancies on the other are determining the increase in the mean age of the population
Summary
Aging is mainly considered from an individual perspective as the process involving any human being throughout his or her lifespan. It can be considered a global phenomenon that is affecting entire countries and populations: processes and changes must be considered in this “new” perspective (new: for the first time in history, older people have become the largest part of the population) not as single trajectories but in a systemic manner, taking into account the individual and the social changes as well as their interactions. It is renowned that western countries (and in the near future, many others in the east and in the south) are getting older: the decline of fertility and low birth rates on one hand and rising life expectancies on the other are determining the increase in the mean age of the population. Later retirements due to the consequent reforms adopted and the aforementioned demographic changes induce in turn a gradual aging of the workforce: in Europe the employment rate in the 55–64 years’ cohort increased 9.8% points (Eurostat, UE28, 2008–2016); the percentage of workers over 55 in Italy was 46.2% in 2014 (Eurostat, 2016).
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