Romaine Malenfant

ABSTRACT Background The association between the psychosocial work environment and mental health problems has been well documented over the past years. Karasek and Theorell's job strain model and Siegrist's effort/reward imbalance model have been associated to several physical and mental health problems. Moreover, in the last decade, the Quebec correctional services sector has known an important increase in sickness benefit claims for mental health problems. This study aimed to describe the psychosocial work characteristics and health of Quebec correctional officers and to determine the occupational risk factors associated to psychological distress among them. Methods This cross-sectional study was realized among 1034 correctional officers from 18 prisons in the province of Quebec, 668 men and 366 women. The response rate was 76%. Psychological demands, decision latitude, social support at work, reward, and psychological distress have been documented by telephone interviews during spring 2000. Results Correctional officers were more exposed to adverse psychosocial factors at work than a comparable sample of Quebec workers and they reported more health problems. Results showed that the same sources of psychological distress affected men and women, but sometimes at different degrees. High psychological demands combined with low or high decision latitude, and effort/reward imbalance were associated to psychological distress independently of potential confounding factors. Among other work factors associated to the report of high psychological distress among correctional officers were low social support at work, and conflicts with colleagues and superiors. Conclusion Many adverse psychosocial factors at work were in excess among correctional officers compared to workers from the general population. These factors, also related to high levels of psychological distress, could be addressed with the goal of primary prevention of mental health problems at work.

... Andrée LaRue. ... On stagne toujours [...] Je vais peut-être me réveiller à 40 ans pis bon, je vais avoir un poste de nuit, pis j'aurai pas de vie sociale, pis ... Les périodes d'arrêt sont aussi sourced'angoisse par rapport au maintien des compétences professionnelles (LaRue et al., 1999 ...

In the last 15 years, the health care system has undergone significant restructuring. The study's objective was to examine the psychosocial work environment and the health of nurses after major restructuring in comparison with two reference populations. This cross-sectional study involved 2,006 nurses from 16 health centers. A questionnaire measured current work characteristics: psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support at work from Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire, organizational changes, and health effects. Prevalence ratios and binomial regression were used to examine the associations between current work characteristics, changes and psychological distress (PSI). There was a considerable increase in the prevalence of PSI and of adverse psychosocial work factors in comparison to the prevalence reported by a comparable group of nurses in 1994. These adverse factors were also more prevalent among nurses than among Québec working women and they were independently associated with psychological distress. Workplace interventions should be based on elements identified by many nurses as being problematic.