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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many employees away from their offices into their homes. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in early spring 2020, most countries recommended or required that employees work remotely from home to reduce the spread of infection at workplaces and during travel to and from these workplaces. OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between working from home, work/life conflict and mental wellbeing in Europe during the pandemic. METHODS: The study was based on a large-scale, online survey that was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic three times, in 2020, 2021 and 2022, in 27 EU countries, and included 53 214 respondents that were employed at the time of the study. RESULTS: The results showed that working from home, work-to-life conflict and life-to-work conflict has increased and that mental wellbeing has decreased during the pandemic. Our regression analyses showed that the number of hours worked from home was negatively associated with work-to-life conflict and positively associated with life-to-work conflict. These results indicate that working from home can have both positive and negative consequences for employees' work/life conflict. The regression results showed that hours worked from home, work-to-life conflict and life-to-work conflict were negatively associated with mental wellbeing. CONCLUSION: It is important to consider different work situations for different working life groupings when implementing work-from-home measures. Organizations must consider how work is supervised and help managers understand how to support employees to achieve work-life balance when working remotely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to investigate the knowledge and the attitude regarding recovery among practitioners working in the Swedish mental health system, Personligt Ombud (PO), Supported Housing Team (SHT) and Psychiatric Out Patient Service (POPS), to determine whether and how knowledge and attitude regarding recovery differ between the three services. A web-based questionnaire based on the Recovery Knowledge Inventory was sent to the participants. Participant selection ensured that different parts of Sweden were represented. A multiple linear regression was used to examine the result under control of Sex, Age, Educational Level, Further Education, Relevant Work Experience and Training in Recovery. The result of the regression showed that POs had higher scores than both SHT and POPS on the subscales, even under control of other variables. The SHT differed significantly from POs on two of the subscales and POPS differed significantly from POs on all subscales. Personnel with university education, more work experience or specific training in recovery also had a higher mean score. Swedish practitioners need to learn more about certain aspects of the recovery process. The differences between the services may possibly be due to the services' organization, assignment and role. Other important aspects were the level of education and having specific training in recovery; the combination of these elements could facilitate the development of a recovery-oriented mental health system.

Given the increased heterogeneity of the transition from work to retirement, this study aimed to analyse the associations between different reasons for retirement and psychosocial wellbeing as a pensioner. The study used data from the Swedish Panel Survey of Ageing and the Elderly (PSAE), a nationally representative survey of the living conditions of older people in Sweden. The results show that almost one-half of all pensioners cited health problems as a contributory reason for ceasing work. Furthermore, those who retired for 'push' reasons, such as health problems or labour market factors, experienced lower psychosocial wellbeing than those who retired for other reasons. Moreover, the results show that those who were able to influence the time of their retirement enjoyed better psychosocial wellbeing than those who had little or no opportunity to do so. This was true when controlling for other factors relevant to the wellbeing of pensioners. The results lend support to the argument that, if a man's retirement is instigated because his skills are no longer required, there will be a decidedly negative effect on his wellbeing and that this effect is stronger than the equivalent impact on a woman's wellbeing. In relation to previous findings in this field, the results make it clear that retirement is far from a uniform process or state. KEY WORDS--psychosocial wellbeing, reasons for retirement, older people, influence on retirement.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the association between number of working hours, the level of perceived physical strain, work-home interface and musculoskeletal pain and fatigue among women and men employed in the public sector. Cross-sectional data from 1,180 employees (86% women) in 49 public workplaces in 2002-2003 were analyzed. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used as measures of the associations. The analyses showed differences as well as similarities between women and men. Overall the women reported higher levels of perceived physical strain relative to total workload. A high level of physical strain was strongly associated with musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. Nevertheless, no detrimental effects were observed on health of high total working hours which indicates that a large number of total working hours might be balanced by accompanying multiple roles or many responsibilities and therefore not be generally regarded as risk factors for ill health. doi:10.1300/J013v47n01_02 KEYWORDS. Gender, physical strain, work hours, paid work, unpaid work, work-home interface

Abstract Background The increasing gender equality during the 20th century, mainly in the Nordic countries, represents a major social change. A well-established theory is that this may affect the mental health patterns of women and men. This study aimed at examining associations between childhood and adulthood gendered life on mental ill-health symptoms. Methods A follow-up study of a cohort of all school leavers in a medium-sized industrial town in northern Sweden was performed from age 16 to age 42. Of those still alive of the original cohort, 94% (n = 1007) participated during the whole period. Gendered life was divided into three stages according to whether they were traditional or non-traditional (the latter includes equal): childhood (mother’s paid work position), adulthood at age 30 (ideology and childcare), and adulthood at age 42 (partnership and childcare). Mental ill-health was measured by self-reported anxious symptoms (“frequent nervousness”) and depressive symptoms (“frequent sadness”) at age 42. The statistical method was logistic regression analysis, finally adjusted for earlier mental ill-health symptoms and social confounding factors. Results Generally, parents’ gendered life was not decisive for a person’s own gendered life, and adulthood gender position ruled out the impact of childhood gender experience on self-reported mental ill-health. For women, non-traditional gender ideology at age 30 was associated with decreased risk of anxious symptoms (76% for traditional childhood, 78% for non-traditional childhood). For men, non-traditional childcare at age 42 was associated with decreased risk of depressive symptoms (84% for traditional childhood, 78% for non-traditional childhood). A contradictory indication was that non-traditional women in childcare at age 30 had a threefold increased risk of anxious symptoms at age 42, but only when having experienced a traditional childhood. Conclusion Adulthood gender equality is generally good for self-reported mental health regardless of whether one opposes or continues one’s gendered history. However, the childcare findings indicate a differentiated picture; men seem to benefit in depressive symptoms from embracing this traditionally female duty, while women suffer anxious symptoms from departing from it, if their mother did not.

The article explores whether people experiences a lower level of workuhousehold conflict in a context that is characterized by extensive family policies (Sweden and to some extent Hungary and Czech Republic) aimed at facilitating participation in the labour market. This is done by studying perceived workuhousehold conflict among women and men living in Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. The analyses are based on the answers to a questionnaire distributed to nearly 6,000 randomly selected individuals within the framework of the European Union financed 'Household, Work, and Flexibility' (HWF) study. The results show that women in Sweden experience conflicts between work and household demands to a higher degree than any other category in all five countries. The differences between Swedish women and women living in the Netherlands and the UK are explained by variables indicating qualifications and workload in the main job, but the lower degree of workuhousehold conflict among Czech and Hungarian women is still significant when controlling for household composition and working conditions. Data indicate that a possible explanation for this can be found in the interplay between men's and women's attitudes toward gender roles and the actual situation in terms of division of labour.

The family and the work place are two arenas of central importance for most adult people. Consequently, one can assume that the level of satisfaction with one's family life and job may be critical to one's level of happiness in general. However, there are reasons to believe that there are variations according to gender and gender regime. The general aim of this study is to analyse the relative importance of job satisfaction and satisfaction with family life for happiness among women and men in different gender regimes. Analyses are based on comparative data from the International Social Survey Program 2012. Results show that the level of satisfaction with family life appears more important to the general level of happiness than the level of job satisfaction. This is true for both women and men and in different gender regimes. However, the level of satisfaction with family life appears less important to men's level of happiness in countries representing a conservative gender regime. Another interesting related result is that the level of happiness appears generally lower among women living in a conservative gender regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]