Abstract
The Swedish public sector is facing great challenges in recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals, due to increasing sick leave numbers. The aim of this study was to describe Swedish occupational therapists’ occupational health in terms of risk factors in the social and organizational work environment, occupational balance, and work-related mental health problems. A web survey was emailed to all working members of the Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists (n = 7600) and 3658 answered the survey. The web survey included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, social and organizational environment, occupational balance, and work-related health. The occupational therapists in general rated their workload as high, which was described as leading to increased stress, difficulties doing a good job, and increased job turnover. They also reported having difficulties maintaining occupational balance. Almost a fifth reported having symptoms related to mild incipient exhaustion or a pronounced exhaustion disorder. Almost 60 percent reported having, during the last year, seriously considered seeking new employment as an occupational therapist and 35 percent had seriously intended to leave their profession. In conclusion, there is an urgent need to improve the work situation of occupational therapists. If not, increases in mental health problems, sick leave and job turnover rates may seriously jeopardize the welfare system by eroding healthcare.
Highlights
In Sweden, as in most European countries, mental health problems are increasing, especially among individuals of working age [1]
Most of them worked within the Swedish healthcare service (85%)
The results of this study showed that the Swedish occupational therapists participating in this study in general rated their workload as high and most of them had difficulties finishing their work tasks by the end of a working day and maintaining occupational balance
Summary
In Sweden, as in most European countries, mental health problems are increasing, especially among individuals of working age [1]. Sweden’s public healthcare service, in particular, is facing great challenges in recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals, due to high sick leave numbers because of mental health problems [2,4]. With comparatively fewer healthcare professionals available, more healthcare needs to be provided due to demographic changes, with an increasing number of elderly people in the Swedish population. This is a major societal problem, threatening the maintenance of the Swedish welfare system [2]
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