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Background The link between workplace bullying and poor mental health is well-known. However, little is known about the prospective and potentially reciprocal association between workplace bullying and mental health-related sickness absence. This 2-year prospective study examined bidirectional associations between exposure to workplace bullying and sickness absence due to common mental disorders (SA-CMD) while controlling for confounding factors from both work and private life. Methods The study was based on propensity score-matched samples (N = 3216 and N = 552) from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health, using surveys from years 2012, 2014 and 2016. Self-reported exposure to workplace bullying was linked to registry-based information regarding medically certified SA-CMD (≥ 14 consecutive days). The associations were examined by means of Cox proportional hazards regression and via conditional logistic regression analysis. Hazard ratios and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Results Exposure to workplace bullying was associated with an increased risk of incident SA-CMD (HR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0–1.8), after accounting for the influence of job demands, decision authority, previous SA-CMD, as well as other sociodemographic covariates. However, we found no statistically significant association between SA-CMD and subsequent workplace bullying (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.7–1.9). Conclusions The results support an association between self-reported workplace bullying and SA-CMD, independent of other sociodemographic factors and workplace stressors. Preventing workplace bullying could alleviate a share of the individual and societal burden caused by SA globally., Open access funding provided by Stockholm University. The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) supported this work (grant number 2019–01318). This work utilised data from SLOSH which is part of the REWHARD consortium supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR #2021–00154).

Aims Spending time in natural environments has been linked to mental health benefits, and may have been an important resilience factor during the COVID-19 pandemic, but longitudinal studies are limited. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the development of nature-related habits and their relationship to different mental health outcomes before and during early and later phases of COVID-19 (2019–2022). Furthermore, the buffering potential of nature-related habits on effects of major life events on mental health outcomes was investigated. Subject and methods A subsample of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) was studied during 2018–2022, including follow-ups in early 2021 (n = 1902) and 2022 (n = 1580). Visits to various types of nature, mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression, anxiety, loneliness, sleep difficulties), and major life events were analyzed across the study period while controlling for confounders. Results Greater overall engagement in nature visits, particularly visiting forests or using one’s garden, was associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and sleep problems in early 2021 and 2022. Importantly, changes in nature visits were consistently negatively associated with investigated mental health outcomes across the study period. All nature visits, except for garden time, increased in the long term (2019–2022). Visiting forests also increased in the short term, while overall nature visits initially decreased (2019–2020). Conclusion Generally, nature visits increased longitudinally and were associated with better mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This underscores the importance of green- and blue-space accessibility for facilitating outdoor recreation in natural environments, to support resilience and public health during pandemics.

Objective: The study investigated experiences of different types of work-related gender-based harassment (GBH), specifically sexual and gender harassment, as risk factors for alcohol-related morbidity and mortality (ARMM). Methods: Information about experiences of (i) sexual harassment (SH-I) and (ii) gender harassment (GH-I) from inside the organization and (iii) sexual harassment from a person external to the organization (SH-E) were obtained from the Swedish Work Environment Survey 1995–2013, a biannual cross-sectional survey, administered to a representative sample of the Swedish working population. The survey responses from 86 033 individuals were connected to multiple registers containing information about alcohol-related diagnoses, treatment, or cause of death. Cox proportional hazard models were fitted to assess hazard ratios (HR) of incident ARMM during a mean follow-up of eight (SH-I and GH-I) and ten (SH-E) years. Results: A higher prospective risk estimate of ARMM was found among participants who reported experiences of SH-E [HR 2.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.61–2.52], GH-I (HR 1.33, CI 1.03–1.70), or SH-I (HR 2.37, CI 1.42–3.00). Additional analyses, distinguishing one-time from reoccurring harassment experiences, indicated a dose–response relationship for all three harassment types. Gender did not modify the associations. Under the assumption of causality, 9.3% (95% CI 5.4–13.1) of the risk of ARMM among Swedish women and 2.1% (95% CI 0.6–3.6) among Swedish men would be attributable to any of the three types of GBH included in this study. Conclusions: Experiences of GBH in the work context may be a highly relevant factor in the etiology of ARMM.

Background: Individuals' lives have been substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to describe changes in psychosocial work environment and mental health and to investigate associations between job insecurity and mental ill-health in relation to changes in other psychosocial work factors, loneliness and financial worries. Methods: A sub-sample of individuals from the eighth Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health answered a web-based survey in early 2021 about current and pandemic-related changes in health, health behaviours, work and private life. We investigated participants working before the pandemic (N=1231) in relation to standardised measures on depression, anxiety and loneliness, together with psychosocial work factors, in descriptive and logistic regression analyses. Results: While 9% reached the clinical threshold for depression and 6% for anxiety, more than a third felt more worried, lonelier or in a low mood since the start of the pandemic. Two per cent had been dismissed from their jobs, but 16% experienced workplace downsizings. Conditioning on socio-demographic factors and prior mental-health problems, the 8% experiencing reduced job security during the pandemic had a higher risk of anxiety, but not of depression, compared to employees with unaltered or increased job security. Loneliness and other psychosocial work factors explained more of the association than objective measures of job insecurity and financial worries. Conclusions: Reduced job security during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have increased the risk of anxiety among individuals with a strong labour market attachment, primarily via loneliness and other psychosocial work factors. This illustrates the potentially far-reaching effects of the pandemic on mental health in the working population., The study was funded by AFA Insurance (grant number #200400).

Importance Workplace psychosocial resources naturally tend to cluster in some work teams. To inform work-related sleep health promotion interventions, it is important to determine the associations between clustering of workplace resources and sleep disturbances when some resources are high while others are low and to mimic an actual intervention using observational data. Objective To examine whether clustering of and changes in workplace psychosocial resources are associated with sleep disturbances among workers. Design, Setting, and Participants This population-based cohort study used data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (2012-2018), the Work Environment and Health in Denmark study (2012-2018), and the Finnish Public Sector Study (2008-2014), collected biennially. Statistical analysis was conducted from November 2020 to June 2022. Exposure Questionnaires were distributed measuring leadership quality and procedural justice (ie, vertical resources) as well as collaboration culture and coworker support (ie, horizontal resources). Resources were divided into clusters of general low, intermediate vertical and low horizontal, low vertical and high horizontal, intermediate vertical and high horizontal, and general high. Main Outcomes and Measures Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were reported from logistic regression models for the associations between the clustering of resources and concurrent and long-term sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances were measured by self-administered questionnaires. Results The study identified 114 971 participants with 219 982 participant-observations (151 021 [69%] women; mean [SD] age, 48 [10] years). Compared with participants with general low resources, other groups showed a lower prevalence of sleep disturbances, with the lowest observed in the general high group concurrently (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.37-0.40) and longitudinally after 6 years (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.48-0.57), Importance: Workplace psychosocial resources naturally tend to cluster in some work teams. To inform work-related sleep health promotion interventions, it is important to determine the associations between clustering of workplace resources and sleep disturbances when some resources are high while others are low and to mimic an actual intervention using observational data. Objective: To examine whether clustering of and changes in workplace psychosocial resources are associated with sleep disturbances among workers. Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based cohort study used data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (2012-2018), the Work Environment and Health in Denmark study (2012-2018), and the Finnish Public Sector Study (2008-2014), collected biennially. Statistical analysis was conducted from November 2020 to June 2022. Exposure: Questionnaires were distributed measuring leadership quality and procedural justice (ie, vertical resources) as well as collaboration culture and coworker support (ie, horizontal resources). Resources were divided into clusters of general low, intermediate vertical and low horizontal, low vertical and high horizontal, intermediate vertical and high horizontal, and general high. Main Outcomes and Measures: Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were reported from logistic regression models for the associations between the clustering of resources and concurrent and long-term sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances were measured by self-administered questionnaires. Results: The study identified 114 971 participants with 219 982 participant-observations (151 021 [69%] women; mean [SD] age, 48 [10] years). Compared with participants with general low resources, other groups showed a lower prevalence of sleep disturbances, with the lowest observed in the general high group concurrently (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.37-0.40) and longitudinally after 6 years (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.48-0.57). Approximately half of the particip

OBJECTIVE To examine whether characteristics of workplace psychosocial resources are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes among employees. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants were 49,835 employees (77% women, aged 40–65 years, and diabetes free at baseline) from the Finnish Public Sector cohort study. Characteristics of horizontal (culture of collaboration and support from colleagues) and vertical (leadership quality and organizational procedural justice) psychosocial resources were self-reported. Incident type 2 diabetes (n = 2,148) was ascertained through linkage to electronic health records from national registers. We used latent class modeling to assess the clustering of resource characteristics. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the relationship between the identified clusters and risk of type 2 diabetes during 10.9 years of follow-up, adjusting for age, sex, marital status, educational level, type of employment contract, comorbidity, and diagnosed mental disorders. RESULTS We identified four patterns of workplace psychosocial resources: unfavorable, favorable vertical, favorable horizontal, and favorable vertical and horizontal. Compared with unfavorable, favorable vertical (hazard ratio 0.87 [95% CI 0.78; 0.97]), favorable horizontal (0.77 [0.67; 0.88]), and favorable vertical and horizontal (0.77 [0.68; 0.86]) resources were associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, with the strongest associations seen in employees at age ≥55 years (Pinteraction = 0.03). These associations were robust to multivariable adjustments and were not explained by reverse causation. CONCLUSIONS A favorable culture of collaboration, support from colleagues, leadership quality, and organizational procedural justice are associated with a lower risk of employees developing type 2 diabetes than in those without such favorable workplace psychosocial resources.

Background: Little research has investigated the associations between proximity to physical activity facilities and behavior-related health and the majority have focused on proximity from home address. We add to the literature by examining proximity of these facilities to work and home address and including a wide range of physical activity facilities. We assess the associations for proximity of physical activity facilities from home and work address with self-reported frequency of exercise and obesity. Methods: Our analytical sample of 7358 participants was from the 2018 wave of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. We used logistic binomial regression adjusting for age, sex, education, civil status, individual socioeconomic status, neighborhood socioeconomic status, number of children under 12 years of age, work strain, and chronic disease. Results: Longer distance from home to paid outdoor and paid indoor physical activity facilities was associated with low frequency of exercise (fully adjusted Relative Risk for both 1.01, 95% CI 1.01–1.02). Associations of any or free outdoor facility with low frequency of exercise were not robust. Findings also indicated associations between long distance from workplace to any and paid outdoor facility and low frequency of exercise. Results for obesity were in the similar direction, however, these were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Increased distance of paid outdoor and paid indoor physical activity facilities from home and of paid outdoor facilities from work was associated with low frequency of exercise. Longitudinal and larger studies are needed to confirm our findings, particularly regarding obesity.

Objective In terms of prevention, it is important to determine effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) when some workplace psychosocial resources are high while others are low. The aim of the study was to assess the prospective relationship between clustering of workplace psychosocial resources and risk of CVD among employees. Methods We pooled data from three cohort studies of 135 669 employees (65% women, age 18–65 years and free of CVD) from Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Baseline horizontal resources (culture of collaboration and support from colleagues) and vertical resources (leadership quality and procedural justice) were measured using standard questionnaire items. Incident CVD, including coronary heart and cerebrovascular disease, was ascertained using linked electronic health records. We used latent class analysis to assess clustering (latent classes) of workplace psychosocial resources. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association between these clusters and risk of CVD, adjusting for demographic and employment-related factors and pre-existing physical and mental disorders. Results We identified five clusters of workplace psychosocial resources from low on both vertical and horizontal resources (13%) to generally high resources (28%). High horizontal resources were combined with either intermediate [hazard ratio (HR) 0.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74–0.95] or high (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.78–1.00) vertical resources were associated with lower risks of CVD compared to those with generally low resources. The association was most prominent for cerebrovascular disease (eg, general high resources: HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.67–0.96). Conclusions Individuals with high levels of workplace psychosocial resources across horizontal and vertical dimensions have a lower risk of CVD, particularly cerebrovascular disease.

Population-based studies of individual-level residential greenspace and mental health outcomes are still limited. Thus, the present study investigates greenspace–mental health associations—including depressive symptoms, burnout symptoms, and life satisfaction—in a population-based sample of adults, the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health, in 2016 (n = 14,641). High-resolution land cover of greenspace and green–blue-space was assessed at 50, 100, 300 and 500 m buffers around residential addresses. Higher residential greenspace and green–blue-space were associated with lower levels of depressive and burnout symptoms among non-working individuals and with higher life satisfaction in the whole study population, after controlling for age, sex, individual income, and neighborhood socioeconomics. The immediate residential-surrounding environment (50 m) consistently showed the strongest associations with the outcomes. Having a partner was associated with better mental health outcomes and with having more residential greenspace, and adjusting for this rendered greenspace–health associations mostly statistically non-significant. In conclusion, higher levels of greenspace and green–blue-space in the immediate residential-surrounding environment were associated with better mental health outcomes in the present study, which contributes additional nuances to prior studies. The importance of residential greenspace for public health, urban planning, and development is discussed., This research was supported by grants to last author from the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS, 2018-00246), within the national research program for sustainable urban development, and Region Stockholm (RS 2020-0501).