Home working and social and mental wellbeing at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: Evidence from 7 longitudinal population surveys
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Home working has increased since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic's onset with concerns that it may have adverse health implications. We assessed the association between home working and social and mental wellbeing among the employed population aged 16 to 66 through harmonised analyses of 7 UK longitudinal studies. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We estimated associations between home working and measures of psychological distress, low life satisfaction, poor self-rated health, low social contact, and loneliness across 3 different stages of the pandemic (T1 = April to June 2020 -first lockdown, T2 = July to October 2020 -eased restrictions, T3 = November 2020 to March 2021 -second lockdown) using modified Poisson regression and meta-analyses to pool results across studies. We successively adjusted the model for sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex), job characteristics (e.g., sector of activity, pre-pandemic home working propensities), and pre-pandemic health. Among respectively 10,367, 11,585, and 12,179 participants at T1, T2, and T3, we found higher rates of home working at T1 and T3 compared with T2, reflecting lockdown periods. Home working was not associated with psychological distress at T1 (RR = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.79 to 1.08) or T2 (RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.88 to 1.11), but a detrimental association was found with psychological distress at T3 (RR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05 to 1.30). Study limitations include the fact that pre-pandemic home working propensities were derived from external sources, no information was collected on home working dosage and possible reverse association between change in wellbeing and home working likelihood. CONCLUSIONS: No clear evidence of an association between home working and mental wellbeing was found, apart from greater risk of psychological distress during the second lockdown, but differences across subgroups (e.g., by sex or level of education) may exist. Longer term shifts to home working might not have adverse impacts on population wellbeing in the absence of pandemic restrictions but further monitoring of health inequalities is required.
Source: PLoS Medicine
Authors: Jacques Wels, Bożena Wielgoszewska, Bettina Moltrecht, Charlotte Booth, Michael J. Green, Olivia KL Hamilton, Evangelia Demou, Giorgio Di Gessa, Charlotte Huggins, Jingmin Zhu, Gillian Santorelli, Richard J. Silverwood, Daniel Kopasker, Richard J. Shaw, Alun Hughes, Praveetha Patalay, Claire Steves, Nishi Chaturvedi, David J. Porteous, Rebecca Rhead, Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, George B. Ploubidis
Institutions: Université Libre de Bruxelles, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Western General Hospital, University of Edinburgh, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London
Language: English
Topic: COVID-19 and Mental Health
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,300
Funders: University of Essex, Wellcome Trust, Scottish Government, Government of the United Kingdom, UK Research and Innovation, National Institute for Health and Care Research, British Heart Foundation, Scottish Funding Council, University of East Anglia, University College London, University of Manchester, Health and Safety Executive, Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, National Institute on Aging
Awards: G1280324459, Born in Bradford 2nd Wave, G162713286, Understanding the economic, social and health impacts of COVID-19 using lifetime data: evidence from 5 nationally representative UK cohorts, G1886055176, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Resource Centre 2015-20, G205230472, G2393280133, G2437620908, G2572913257, G259633682, G2720107755, G2745558375, G2922291121, G2947762186, G3106167994, G3353681036, Generation Scotland:NextGenScot, G3766617297, G3829637933, G4062506641, G4069887101, Mental Ageing, Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL), ActEarly: a City Collaboratory approach to early promotion of good health and wellbeing, G5023556647, Centre for Longitudinal Studies Resource Centre 2022 - 2025, G5149132935, G5231239147, G5274634927, G5320626028, G5519160068, G5530677202, Inequalities in health, G5918494183, Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL), English Longitudinal Study of Ageing COVID-19 Substudy, G7115303499, G7225038946, G7304791810, G731517447, G8159760624, G8259478916, G839044655, G8415457339, G844453526, G8592735112, G8600011123, G8671766763, G8724570043, G8917394154, G8989501819
OpenAlex ID: W4367174252