Bernd Hans Müller

Cohort profile: The lidA Cohort Study—a German Cohort Study on Work, Age, Health and Work Participation

The lidA Cohort Study (German Cohort Study on Work, Age, Health and Work Participation) was set up to investigate and follow the effects of work and work context on the physical and psychological health of the ageing workforce in Germany and subsequently on work participation. Cohort participants are initially employed people subject to social security contributions and born in either 1959 (n = 2909) or 1965 (n = 3676). They were personally interviewed in their homes in 2011 and will be visited every 3 years. Data collection comprises socio-demographic data, work and private exposures, work ability, work and work participation attitudes, health, health-related behaviour, personality and attitudinal indicators. Employment biographies are assessed using register data. Subjective health reports and physical strength measures are complemented by health insurance claims data, where permission was given. A conceptual framework has been developed for the lidA Cohort Study within which three confirmatory sub-models assess the interdependencies of work and health considering age, gender and socioeconomic status. The first set of the data will be available to the scientific community by 2015. Access will be given by the Research Data Centre of the German Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for Employment Research (http://fdz.iab.de/en.aspx).

Psychosocial Work Environment and Intention to Leave the Nursing Profession: A Cross-National Prospective Study of Eight Countries

Many countries throughout the world are facing a serious nursing shortage, and retention of nurses also is a challenge. The aim of this study was to compare the predictive contribution of a broad spectrum of psychosocial work factors, including job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and alternative employment opportunity, to the probability of intention to leave the nursing profession. A total of 7,990 registered female nurses working in hospitals in eight countries (Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, and China) were included in the one-year prospective study. A standardized questionnaire on job strain, effort-reward imbalance, employment opportunity, and intention to leave the nursing profession was used in the survey. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was used to analyze the data. Results showed that an imbalance between high effort and low reward (in particular, poor promotion prospects) and good employment opportunity at baseline were independently associated with a new intention to leave the nursing profession at follow-up. However, job strain appeared to have relatively less explanatory power. Findings suggest that interventions to improve the psychosocial work environment, especially the reciprocity experienced between effort and reward, may be effective in improving retention of nurses and tackling the international nursing shortage.

Determinanten der Erwerbsteilhabe im höheren Erwerbsalter – das „lidA-Denkmodell zu Arbeit, Alter und Erwerbsteilhabe“

Im Beitrag wird das „lidA-Denkmodell zu Arbeit, Alter und Erwerbsteilhabe“ dargestellt und im Kontext vergleichbarer Modelle diskutiert. Ziel des Denkmodells ist, die Erwerbsteilhabe älterer Beschäftigter genauer zu verstehen und zur interdisziplinären Betrachtung und Bearbeitung der Thematik anzuregen. Es stellt Determinanten der Erwerbsteilhabe Älterer in elf Domänen (z. B. Gesundheit) zusammen, zeigt wichtige Interdependenzen zwischen diesen und ermöglicht die Darstellung vier zentraler Charakteristika der Erwerbsteilhabe im höheren Erwerbsalter bzw. des Erwerbsausstiegs: die Komplexität, die Prozesshaftigkeit, die Individualität und die Strukturabhängigkeit der Erwerbsteilhabe. Abschließend wird anhand von Kriterien sowie praktischen Erfahrungen diskutiert, inwieweit das Denkmodell geeignet ist, die wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit der Thematik weiter voranzubringen.