Epidemiology
The research area focuses on improved understanding of how stress-related illnesses and health problems arise and can be prevented in and outside of the workplace. In particlar, we focus on how working life, in a broad sense, affects health, taking also factors outside working life into consideration, e.g. retirement, unemployment, health behaviours, and the balance between work and private life.
Current research topics
- Working life organisation and leadership
Research and results
About the research area
We focus mainly on longitudinal studies aiming to:
- explore associations between work organisation, work environment and health, e.g. self-rated health, sleep disturbances, hearing problems, cognitive disturbances, depression, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and premature death.
- study the causes and consequences of sickness absence, sickness presenteeism, and retirement.
- investigate how acquired behavioural patterns, personal choices, and the balance between work and private life affects the associations between stress in working life and health.
- study the health consequences of downsizing, organisational changes, and business cycle.
- investigate the role of sleep and restitution in the relationship between stress in working life and health outcome.
- study physiological mechanisms which mediate the association between stress and manifest disease, e.g. atherosclerosis and disturbances in hormonal regulation.
- evaluate workplace interventions aiming to improve the work environment, reduce harful stress, as well as to promote health and productivity among the emplyees.
We are the home to SLOSH – Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health – a nationally representative cohort study of the health consequences of psychosocial factors at work with 18,915 participants. Through extensive international collaboration, researchers at the Division are also able to use a number of large databases both in Sweden and in other countries to explore questions about working life and health.
Web editor:
Sofia Lagergren
Last updated:
March 26, 2012
Source: Stress Research Institute
