Information and communication technology demands at work: the association with job strain, effort-reward imbalance and self-rated health in different socio-economic strata.

Magdalena Stadin,Eleonor I Fransson,Hugo Westerlund,Maria Nordin,Linda L Magnusson Hanson,Anders Broström

doi:10.1007/s00420-016-1140-8

Abstract

PurposeThe use of information and communication technology (ICT) is common in modern working life. ICT demands may give rise to experience of work-related stress. Knowledge about ICT demands in relation to other types of work-related stress and to self-rated health is limited. Consequently, the aim of this study was to examine the association between ICT demands and two types of work-related stress [job strain and effort-reward imbalance (ERI)] and to evaluate the association between these work-related stress measures and self-rated health, in general and in different SES strata.MethodsThis study is based on cross-sectional data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health collected in 2014, from 14,873 gainfully employed people. ICT demands, job strain, ERI and self-rated health were analysed as the main measures. Sex, age, SES, lifestyle factors and BMI were used as covariates.ResultsICT demands correlated significantly with the dimensions of the job strain and ERI models, especially with the demands (r = 0.42; p < 0.01) and effort (r = 0.51; p < 0.01) dimensions. ICT demands were associated with suboptimal self-rated health, also after adjustment for age, sex, SES, lifestyle and BMI (OR 1.49 [95 % CI 1.36–1.63]), but job strain (OR 1.93 [95 % CI 1.74–2.14) and ERI (OR 2.15 [95 % CI 1.95–2.35]) showed somewhat stronger associations with suboptimal self-rated health.ConclusionICT demands are common among people with intermediate and high SES and associated with job strain, ERI and suboptimal self-rated health. ICT demands should thus be acknowledged as a potential stressor of work-related stress in modern working life.

Highlights

Stress caused by psychosocial working conditions is an issue of occupational and public health
Significant differences in the proportion of information and communication technology (ICT) demands, job strain and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) were observed between different SES strata (Table 1)
ICT demands were most prevalent among participants with high SES (59.8 %), followed by participants with intermediate SES (54.9 %) and low SES (29.1 %)

Summary

Introduction

Stress caused by psychosocial working conditions is an issue of occupational and public health. Many employees are exposed to work-related stress defined as job strain or ERI, which has been found to be associated with suboptimal self-rated health 2013), cardiovascular diseases (Kivimaki et al 2012; Nyberg et al 2013), type 2 diabetes (Novak et al 2013; Nyberg et al 2014) and depression (Theorell et al 2014) among others This implies increased rates of sickness absence, entailing considerable societal costs (The Swedish Social Insurance Agency 2014). According to the Swedish Work Environment Authority, 36 % of gainfully employed people were working outside the contractual working hours at least once a week in 2013 (the Swedish Work Environment Authority 2014) This may affect the possibility of recuperation, which may increase the risk of negative health outcomes in the long run (Chesley 2014). As a result of the intensive use of ICT at work, concepts such as ICT demands (or similar concepts such as “telepressure” or “technostress”) have been introduced (Barber and Santuzzi 2015; Chesley 2014; Day et al 2012; Johansson-Hidén et al 2003; Stenfors et al 2013)

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