A Multi-Wave Study of Organizational Justice at Work and Long-Term Sickness Absence among Employees with Depressive Symptoms

Objectives Mental health problems are strong predictors of long-term sickness absence (LTSA). In this study, we investigated whether organizational justice at work - fairness in resolving conflicts and distributing work - prevents risk of LTSA among employees with depressive symptoms. Methods In a l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment ＆ Health Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 176 - 185
Main Authors:	Hjarsbech, Pernillle U, Christensen, Karl Bang, Bjorner, Jakob B, Madsen, Ida E H, Thorsen, Sannie V, Carneiro, Isabella G, Christensen, Ulla, Ruglies, Reiner
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Helsinki Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment ＆ Health 01-03-2014 Nordic Association of Occupation Safety and Health Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health Nordic Association of Occupational Safety and Health (NOROSH)
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Adult and adolescent clinical studies Aged Biological and medical sciences Business risks Causality Cognitive models Cohort Studies Data collection Denmark - epidemiology Depression Depression - epidemiology Depressive disorders depressive symptom Disease models Employees Female Health problems Humans Labor market Legislation. Organization Life events long-term sickness absence Longitudinal Studies Male Medical sciences Men Mental depression Mental disorders Mental health Mental illness Middle Aged Mood disorders Occupational medicine Organizational Innovation Organizational justice Organizational Policy Prospective Studies Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopathology. Psychiatry psychosocial work environment Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine Public Policy Questionnaires repeated measurement Risk reduction Sex Distribution Sex Factors Sick Leave - legislation & jurisprudence Sick Leave - statistics & numerical data Social Justice - legislation & jurisprudence Social Justice - psychology Socioeconomic Factors Statistical significance Surveys and Questionnaires Womens health work ability Work environment Working conditions Workplace - legislation & jurisprudence Workplace - psychology Young Adult Denmark Europe work ability psychosocial work environment depression mental health repeated measurement Mood disorder Human Justice Disease Mental health Depression Absenteeism Psychosocial factor Sickness absence Long term Occupational environment Symptomatology Employee Repeated measurement Vocational aptitude Job engineering Occupational medicine
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Summary:	Objectives Mental health problems are strong predictors of long-term sickness absence (LTSA). In this study, we investigated whether organizational justice at work - fairness in resolving conflicts and distributing work - prevents risk of LTSA among employees with depressive symptoms. Methods In a longitudinal study with five waves of data collection, we examined a cohort of 1034 employees with depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms and organizational justice were assessed by self-administered questionnaires and information on LTSA was derived from a national register. Using Poisson regression analyses, we calculated rate ratios (RR) for the prospective association of organizational justice and change in organizational justice with time to onset of LTSA. All analyses were sex stratified. Results Among men, intermediate levels of organizational justice were statistically significantly associated with a decreased risk of subsequent LTSA after adjustment for covariates [RR 0.49, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.26-0.91]. There was also a decreased risk for men with high levels of organizational justice although these estimates did not reach statistical significance after adjustment (RR 0.47, 95% CI 0.20-1.10). We found no such results for women. In both sexes, neither favorable nor adverse changes in organizational justice were statistically significantly associated with the risk of LTSA. Conclusions This study shows that organizational justice may have a protective effect on the risk of LTSA among men with depressive symptoms. A protective effect of favorable changes in organizational justice was not found.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0355-3140 1795-990X
DOI:	10.5271/sjweh.3401