The effect of re-employment on perceived health

BackgroundThe relationship between unemployment and poor health has been well established. Unemployment causes poor health, and poor health increases the probability of unemployment.MethodsA prospective study with 6 months' follow-up was conducted among unemployed participants receiving social...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) 2011-07, Vol.65 (7), p.639-644
Main Authors: Schuring, M, Mackenbach, J, Voorham, T, Burdorf, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age
Attitude to Health
Biological and medical sciences
Community health
Data collection
Diagnostic Self Evaluation
Emotional distress
Employment
Employment - psychology
Female
Follow-Up Studies
General aspects
Health Status
Health surveys
Humans
Hypotheses
Male
Maternity & paternity leaves
Medical sciences
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health care
Meta-analysis
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Older workers
Population
Proportional Hazards Models
Prospective Studies
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Questionnaires
Research report
Self-rated health
Social Security benefits
Sociodemographics
Socioeconomic factors
Studies
Training
Unemployment
Unemployment - psychology
unemployment and health
Vitality
Young Adult
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Summary:BackgroundThe relationship between unemployment and poor health has been well established. Unemployment causes poor health, and poor health increases the probability of unemployment.MethodsA prospective study with 6 months' follow-up was conducted among unemployed participants receiving social security benefits who were capable of full-time employment and were referred to a re-employment training centre. Re-employment was defined as ending social security benefits for at least 3 months because of starting with paid employment. Health-related quality of life was measured by the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. A Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to determine the factors that predicted re-employment during follow-up. The influence of re-employment on changes in perceived health was investigated with linear regression analysis.ResultsUnemployed participants with a poor health at baseline were less likely to return to paid employment during follow-up. Almost all dimensions of health at baseline had an influence on the likelihood of becoming employed. Among the re-employed participants, general health, physical functioning, social functioning, vitality, mental health, bodily pain and role limitations due to emotional or physical problems improved, with an effect size varying from 0.11 to 0.66.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that re-employment leads to improvement of self-perceived health within a short time window. This suggests that labour force participation should be considered as therapeutic intervention within health promotion programmes among unemployed persons.
ISSN:0143-005X
1470-2738
DOI:10.1136/jech.2009.103838