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http://hdl.handle.net/1956/1925
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| Title: | Employment status and perceived health in the Hordaland Health Study (HUSK) |
| Authors: | Overland, Simon
Glozier, Nicholas
Mæland, John Gunnar
Aarø, Leif Edvard
Mykletun, Arnstein |
| Issue Date: | 29-Aug-2006 |
| Publisher: | BioMed Central |
| Series/Report no.: | BMC Public Health 6(219) |
| Abstract: | Background: Most western countries have disability benefit schemes ostensibly based upon
requiring (1) a work inhibiting functional limitation that (2) can be attributed to a diagnosable
condition, injury or disease. The present paper examines to what extent current practice matches
the core premises of this model by examining how much poorer the perceived health of disability
benefit recipients is, compared to the employed and the unemployed, and further to examine to
what extent any poorer perceived health among benefit recipients can be attributed to mental or
somatic illness and symptoms.
Methods: Information on disability benefit recipiency was obtained from Norwegian registry data,
and merged with health information from the Hordaland Health Study (HUSK) in Western
Norway, 1997–99. Participants (N = 14 946) aged 40–47 were assessed for perceived physical and
mental health (Short Form-12), somatic symptoms, mental health, and self reported somatic
conditions and diseases treated with medication. Differences associated with employment status
were tested in chi-square and t-tests, as well as multivariate and univariate regression models to
adjust for potential confounders.
Results: Recipients of disability benefits (n = 1 351) had poorer perceived physical and mental
health than employees (n = 13 156); group differences were 1.86 and 0.74 pooled standard
deviations respectively. Self reported somatic diagnoses, mental health and symptoms accounted
for very little of this difference in perceived health. The unemployed (n = 439) were comparable
to the employed rather than the recipients of disability benefits.
Conclusion: Recipients of disability benefits have poor perceived health compared to both the
employed and the unemployed. Surprisingly little of this difference can be ascribed to respondents'
descriptions of their illnesses and symptoms. Even allowing for potential underascertainment of
condition severity, this finding supports the increasing focus on non-disease oriented contributing
factors. Rehabilitation efforts aiming at return to work should have a strong focus on the patients'
perceptions of their health in addition to symptom relief and social factors. |
| URI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-219
http://hdl.handle.net/1956/1925 |
| Appears in Collections: | Department of Education and Health Promotion (Various)
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