Factors explaining being present at work in the forest industry, case–control study

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine factors explaining few sickness absence hours (=SAH) among forest industry employees. Methods: The source population consisted of 636 forest industry employees in Finland, of which 140 were used as cases (SAH ≤ 1.5% during the past 6.5 years). Controls (140) were randomly selected from the source population (SAH > 1.5%). The study data were collected via a questionnaire. The response rate was 65.4% (mean age 48.5 years, men 67%). Discriminant and log-linear analysis were used to examine the relationships between variables and study groups. Results: Workers are more likely to have few sickness absences when their overall subjective health condition is better, musculoskeletal symptoms are fewer, relationship with supervisor is good, and psychological resources are at a lower level. The explanatory factors predicted 60.7% of participants into the correct categories: 75% of the research cases and 43.3% of controls. When gender and age were added into the model, age was not significant. Gender displaced relationship with supervisor as a factor explaining a low level of sickness. The probability of having only a few sickness absence hours was 2.4 times greater for men than women. Conclusions: Health condition, musculoskeletal symptoms, and relationship with supervisor are factors that should be considered when designing methods of health-promoting strategies aimed at increasing employee presence at work, particularly among women. However, the more unexpected association between a lower level of psychological resources and a low