Psychosocial work environment among immigrant and Danish cleaners

TY - JOUR

T1 - Psychosocial work environment among immigrant and Danish cleaners

AU - Olesen, Kasper

AU - Carneiro, Isabella G

AU - Jørgensen, Marie B

AU - Flyvholm, Mari-Ann

AU - Rugulies, Reiner

AU - Rasmussen, Charlotte D N

AU - Søgaard, Karen

AU - Holtermann, Andreas

PY - 2012/1

Y1 - 2012/1

N2 - INTRODUCTION: Non-Western cleaners have been shown to have poorer health than their Danish colleagues. One reason could be a poorer psychosocial work environment. However, it is unknown if differences in self-reported psychosocial work environment exist between non-Western and Danish workers within the same social class. The aim of this study was to investigate such differences among cleaners with the hypothesis that the non-Western compared with Danish cleaners would report a generally poorer psychosocial work environment.METHODS: Two hundred and eighty-five cleaners (148 Danes and 137 non-Western immigrants) from 9 workplaces in Denmark participated in this cross-sectional study. The cleaners' immigrant status was tested for association with psychosocial work environment scales from the short version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) using ordinal logistic regression.RESULTS: Models adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking, workplace, and perceived physical work exertion showed that non-Western cleaners compared with Danish cleaners reported significantly higher scores with regard to Predictability (OR = 3.97), Recognition (OR = 1.92), Quality of Leadership (OR = 1.81), Trust Regarding Management (OR = 1.72), and Justice (OR = 2.14).CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that non-Western immigrant cleaners reported a statistically significantly better psychosocial work environment than Danish cleaners on a number of scales. Therefore, the hypothesis of non-Western immigrants reporting worse psychosocial work environment than their Danish colleagues was not supported.

AB - INTRODUCTION: Non-Western cleaners have been shown to have poorer health than their Danish colleagues. One reason could be a poorer psychosocial work environment. However, it is unknown if differences in self-reported psychosocial work environment exist between non-Western and Danish workers within the same social class. The aim of this study was to investigate such differences among cleaners with the hypothesis that the non-Western compared with Danish cleaners would report a generally poorer psychosocial work environment.METHODS: Two hundred and eighty-five cleaners (148 Danes and 137 non-Western immigrants) from 9 workplaces in Denmark participated in this cross-sectional study. The cleaners' immigrant status was tested for association with psychosocial work environment scales from the short version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) using ordinal logistic regression.RESULTS: Models adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking, workplace, and perceived physical work exertion showed that non-Western cleaners compared with Danish cleaners reported significantly higher scores with regard to Predictability (OR = 3.97), Recognition (OR = 1.92), Quality of Leadership (OR = 1.81), Trust Regarding Management (OR = 1.72), and Justice (OR = 2.14).CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that non-Western immigrant cleaners reported a statistically significantly better psychosocial work environment than Danish cleaners on a number of scales. Therefore, the hypothesis of non-Western immigrants reporting worse psychosocial work environment than their Danish colleagues was not supported.

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Denmark

KW - Emigrants and Immigrants/psychology

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Job Satisfaction

KW - Male

KW - Stress, Psychological/etiology

KW - Workplace/psychology

U2 - 10.1007/s00420-011-0642-7

DO - 10.1007/s00420-011-0642-7

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 21556838

SN - 0340-0131

VL - 85

SP - 89

EP - 95

JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

IS - 1

ER -