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8261239 Psychosocial measures in occupational epidemiology

Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Objective To give an overview of aims and approaches for measuring exposure to adverse psychosocial work environment conditions, with a particular focus on differences in ‘Psychosocial Occupational Epidemiology’ versus ‘Work and Organizational Psychology/Occupational Health Psychology’. Material and Methods A narrative and non-systematic review of reviews and meta-analyses on the association between psychosocial work environment exposures and risk of development of physical and mental health conditions. Results Exposure to adverse psychosocial work environment conditions can be measured by (i) self-reported working conditions analysed at the individual level; (ii) self-reported working conditions aggregated at the work group level; (iii) self-reported working conditions aggregated at the job group level (job exposure matrices); (iv) direct observations of working conditions by trained observers; (v) indirect indicators of working conditions, retrieved from administrative data sources. Each approach has its specific strengths and limitations, thus, none of the approaches can be regarded as a ‘gold standard’. Researchers in ‘Psychosocial Occupational Epidemiology’ are often focused on methods that help to reduce reporting bias. Researchers in ‘Work and Organizational Psychology/Occupational Health Psychology’ are often focused on the detailed documentation of the psychometric properties of the exposure measure and the link of the exposure measure to theory. Conclusion Measuring psychosocial work environment conditions is a humbling endeavour with no perfect solutions. Triangulating different approaches with complementing strengths and weaknesses may be a promising, but not easy, strategy for moving the field forward.
DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2025-epicohabstracts.7
Language: English
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4414852970
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