Sick leave and departure from working life are highest in the municipal services, with kindergartens and nursing and welfare services at the very top. There is a need for more research to understand the connection between the various workloads and health as a basis for being able to develop organizational measures as part of the prevention work in the workplace.
SINTEF has extensive experience with sickness absence research, party collaboration and occupational health and safety (OHS) work in the industry. This interdisciplinary competence will be used in the project to be able to develop requirements, guidelines, and standards for risk exposure through systematic OHS work in the public sector.
Research questions:
- What elements of the work create a burden that contributes to poorer health among employees in nursing and welfare services?
- How can objective health outcome measures (sleep, physical exertion) and self-reported health (stress, mental factors) be used to develop good working environment interventions?
- How can the identified burdens be prevented to reduce the risk of long and/or frequent sick leave?
- How can work environment interventions in the workplace help prevent sick leave and improve the work environment?
- How can party cooperation contribute to a working environment that prevents health problems, sick leave and early departure from working life?
The knowledge from the project will be an important contribution in the long term to be able to develop clearer requirements, guidelines, and standards for risk exposure through systematic OHS work in the public sector. This can contribute to lower sickness absence and prevent dropouts from working life in municipal services.