Marja-Liisa Kinnunen

The factor structure and factorial invariance of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) across time: evidence from two community-based samples.

This study provides new knowledge about the factor structure of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12; D. Goldberg, 1972) through the application of confirmatory factor analysis to longitudinal data, thereby enabling investigation of the factor structure, its invariance across time, and the rank-order stability of the factors. Two community-based longitudinal adult samples with 1-year (n = 640) and 6-year (n = 330) follow-up times were studied. As a result, the correlated 3-factor model (i.e., Anxiety/Depression, Social Dysfunction, and Loss of Confidence) showed a better fit with both samples than the alternative models. The correlated 3-factor structure was also relatively invariant across time in both samples, indicating that the scale has good construct validity. The rank-order stabilities of the factors were low across time, which suggests that the GHQ-12 measures temporal mental state.

Effects of vigorous late‐night exercise on sleep quality and cardiac autonomic activity

Sleep is the most important period for recovery from daily load. Regular physical activity enhances overall sleep quality, but the effects of acute exercise on sleep are not well defined. In sleep hygiene recommendations, intensive exercising is not suggested within the last 3 h before bed time, but this recommendation has not been adequately tested experimentally. Therefore, the effects of vigorous late‐night exercise on sleep were examined by measuring polysomnographic, actigraphic and subjective sleep quality, as well as cardiac autonomic activity. Eleven (seven men, four women) physically fit young adults (VO2max 54 ± 8 mL·kg−1·min−1, age 26 ± 3 years) were monitored in a sleep laboratory twice in a counterbalanced order: (1) after vigorous late‐night exercise; and (2) after a control day without exercise. The incremental cycle ergometer exercise until voluntary exhaustion started at 21:00 ± 00:28 hours, lasted for 35 ± 3 min, and ended 2:13 ± 00:19 hours before bed time. The proportion of non‐rapid eye movement sleep was greater after the exercise day than the control day (P < 0.01), while no differences were seen in actigraphic or subjective sleep quality. During the whole sleep, no differences were found in heart rate (HR) variability, whereas HR was higher after the exercise day than the control day (54 ± 7 versus 51 ± 7, P < 0.01), and especially during the first three sleeping hours. The results indicate that vigorous late‐night exercise does not disturb sleep quality. However, it may have effects on cardiac autonomic control of heart during the first sleeping hours.

Feasibility of a Personal Health Technology-Based Psychological Intervention for Men with Stress and Mood Problems: Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Background Work-related stress is a significant problem for both people and organizations. It may lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, resulting in increased work absences and disabilities. Scalable interventions to prevent and manage harmful stress can be delivered with the help of technology tools to support self-observations and skills training. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the P4Well intervention in treatment of stress-related psychological problems. P4Well is a novel intervention which combines modern psychotherapy (the cognitive behavioral therapy and the acceptance and commitment therapy) with personal health technologies to deliver the intervention via multiple channels, includinggroup meetings, Internet/Web portal, mobile phone applications, and personal monitoring devices. Methods This pilot study design was a small-scale randomized controlled trial that compared the P4Well intervention with a waiting list control group. In addition to personal health technologies for self-assessment, the intervention consisted of 3 psychologist-assisted group meetings. Self-assessed psychological measures through questionnaires were collected offline pre- and post-intervention, and 6 months after the intervention for the intervention group. Acceptance and usage of technology tools were measured with user experience questionnaires and usage logs. Results A total of 24 subjects were randomized: 11 participants were followed up in the intervention group (1 was lost to follow-up) and 12 participants did not receive any intervention (control group). Depressive and psychological symptoms decreased and self-rated health and working ability increased. All participants reported they had benefited from the intervention. All technology tools had active users and 10/11 participants used at least 1 tool actively. Physiological measurements with personal feedback were considered the most useful intervention component. Conclusions Our results confirm the feasibility of the intervention and suggest that it had positive effects on psychological symptoms, self-rated health, and self-rated working ability. The intervention seemed to have a positive impact on certain aspects of burnout and job strain, such as cynicism and over-commitment. Future studies need to investigate the effectiveness, benefits, and possible problems of psychological interventions which incorporate new technologies. Trial Registration The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES), Project number 40011/08

Personality profiles and health: Longitudinal evidence among Finnish adults

This study investigates the associations of longitudinal Big Five personality profiles with long-term health in 304 adults (53% males). Personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) were assessed at ages 33, 42, and 50. Subjective (self-rated health, symptoms, psychological distress) and objective (body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides) indicators of health were measured at ages 42 and 50. Five longitudinally stable personality profiles were extracted over 17 years by latent profile analysis. The levels of traits were the same in each profile at each age. Resilient individuals (N = 65; Neuroticism low, other traits high) had the best subjective health and Overcontrolled individuals (N = 40; Neuroticism high, other traits low) the poorest health over eight years. Reserved individuals (N = 25; high Conscientiousness, other traits low), Undercontrolled (N = 41; high Openness and Extraversion, low Conscientiousness), and Ordinary (N = 133; all traits scored medium) individuals were in the middle of these extremes in subjective health. No differences between the profiles were found in the objective indicators of health. Thus, overcontrol and resilience were most discriminative in terms of good health. Moreover, personality profiles revealed associations with health to be more nuanced than simply being composed of single traits. High Extraversion needed to be combined with high Conscientiousness (Resilients) in order to be associated with the best health; high Extraversion with low Conscientiousness (Undercontrolled) was associated with average health; and low Extraversion with high Neuroticism (Overcontrolled) was associated with the poorest health.

Is work engagement related to healthy cardiac autonomic activity? Evidence from a field study among Finnish women workers

The present study investigated whether work engagement is related to and can explain healthy cardiac autonomic activity as indicated by decreased heart rate (HR; i.e., sympathetic and parasympathetic activity) and increased high-frequency power (HFP) of heart rate variability (i.e., parasympathetic activity). A total of 30 healthy Finnish female cleaning workers underwent an ambulatory monitoring period of two nights and two regular workdays, and mean values of work period HR and HFP were utilized as dependent variables. Correlations revealed that work engagement was, as hypothesized, negatively related to HR and positively to HFP. Furthermore, in hierarchical linear regression analysis, work engagement accounted for an additional 19% of the variance explained in HFP, independent of individual baseline, age, Body Mass Index, physical fitness, and medication. However, the explanation rate for HR did not reach statistical significance. The findings suggest that work engagement is associated with healthy, adaptable cardiac autonomic activity, particularly increased parasympathetic activity.

Allostatic Load of Men and Women in Early Middle Age

Abstract. The present longitudinal study investigated three aspects of allostatic load, a long-term negative consequence of physical responses to stress: (1) sex differences in allostatic load in early middle age, (2) associations between career stability history and allostatic load, and (3) relationships between allostatic load and health problems. Participants consisted of 62 men and 55 women from the ongoing Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, Finland. Allostatic load was the sum of eight parameters (dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate, 12-h urinary norepinephrine, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and waist-to-hip ratio) for which the participant fell into the high-risk quartile. Results showed that 41.9% of men and 21.8% of women had an elevated allostatic load at age 42. Participants with preceding unstable career assessed prospectively at age 36 had an over three-fold risk for high allostatic load six ...

P4Well concept to empower self-management of psychophysiological wellbeing and load recovery

Chronic health problems related to mental wellbeing are rapidly growing, calling for novel solutions focusing on individual as a psychophysiological being. We describe a novel technology-based concept for empowering citizen towards holistic self-management of her wellbeing: “P4Well” (Pervasive Personal and PsychoPhysiological management of WELLness). The primary focus of the concept is on management of stress and recovery from stress caused by daily life through improved health management strategies. The P4Well concept combines modern psychological methods with personal health technologies. The technologies include a web-portal and web-based tools, mobile phone with mobile client applications, wearable health monitoring devices, and different analysis methods based on physiological models for interpretation and feedback. The concept supports secured private expert consultation and peer-support through social media. Our driving principle is to recognize that an individual is the best master of her own wellness, and we target to empower her for realizing the fact.

A concept to empower self-management of psychophysiological wellbeing: Preliminary user study experiences

In prevention of chronic diseases, health promotion and early interventions based on self-management should be emphasized. Mental health problems and stress cause a significant portion of healthcare costs, and also complicate the management of other chronic conditions. In addition to physical health, psychophysiological and social wellbeing should be equally promoted. Thus, we have previously designed and reported the P4Well or Pervasive Personal and PsychoPhysiological management of WELLness concept for working-age citizens. The concept supports the stress and recovery management on a daily basis through improved health management strategies, and combines psychological methods with personal health technologies. In this paper, we discuss the preliminary user study experiences of ongoing evaluations with two different user groups consisting of: 1) middle-aged men who are using the concept for managing their mental wellbeing or mild depression; and 2) entrepreneurs who are using the concept for coping with stress. Our results provide a preliminary assessment of the role and importance of experts, technologies, and peer-support in the concept.

Association Between Long-Term Job Strain and Metabolic Syndrome Factor Across Sex and Occupation

The present study investigated whether long-term job strain increases the prevalence of risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, across sex and occupation. The participants (64 men, 62 women) were drawn from the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, Finland. Job strain was measured by a combination of high job demands and low job control (Karasek, 1979) at ages 36 and 42. Metabolic syndrome was measured at age 42. The results indicated that both sex and occupational group moderated the association between long-term job strain and the metabolic syndrome factor but in an unexpected way. In women, low long-term job strain was associated with higher levels of the metabolic syndrome factor. Among white-collar workers high long-term job strain was related to low levels of the metabolic syndrome factor. Hence, more research is needed to identify additional potential moderators of long-term job strain on metabolic syndrome across sex and occ...

Job skill discretion and emotion control strategies as antecedents of recovery from work

Recovery from work protects employees’ health and well-being, and therefore it is important to understand its antecedents. The aim of this study conducted among 183 middle-aged participants drawn from the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development was to examine whether job skill discretion and emotion control strategies (emotional rumination and emotional inhibition) are related to psychological aspects of recovery from work (subjective recovery evaluation, psychological detachment and relaxation). The results of hierarchical general linear models confirmed the hypothesis that job skill discretion is positively associated with subjective recovery evaluation and relaxation. As expected, high emotional rumination predicted difficulties in psychological detachment and relaxation. Emotional inhibition moderated the relationship between job skill discretion and psychological detachment: where emotional inhibition was at a moderate level, job skill discretion was positively related to psychological detachment. The findings suggest that not only job characteristics but also individual factors contribute to recovery, revealing practical implications for employees, employers and occupational health care professionals seeking to promote employees’ work ability, health and well-being.