Resource-enhancing group intervention against depression at workplace: who benefits? A randomised controlled study with a 7-month follow-up.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether participation in a structured resource-enhancing group intervention at work would act as primary prevention against depression. The authors analysed whether the intervention resulted in universal, selected or indicated prevention.

Methods: A total of 566 persons participated in a prospective, within-organisation, randomly assigned field experimental study, which consisted of 34 workshops in 17 organisations.

Common mental disorders and subsequent work disability: a population-based Health 2000 Study.

Background: Work disability due to common mental disorders has increased in Western countries during the past decade. The contribution of depressive, anxiety, and alcohol use disorders to all disability pensions at the population level is not known.

Methods: Epidemiological health data from the Finnish Health 2000 Study, gathered in 2000-2001, was linked to the national register on disability pensions granted due to the ICD-10 diagnoses up to December 2007.

General health and quality-of-life measures in active, recent, and comorbid mental disorders: a population-based health 2000 study.

Aims: We studied the impact of comorbidity and recency in psychiatric disorders on psychological well-being, perceived health, and quality of life and compared their effect with the effect of a chronic medical condition, type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Established instruments for psychological distress (12-item General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-12]), self-rated general health, and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D and 15D) were administered for the participants of the nationwide Finnish Health 2000 survey. The diagnoses of depressive, anxiety, and alcohol use disorders and their unique comorbid combinations were based on the Munich version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI).

The association of social support at work and in private life with mental health and antidepressant use: the Health 2000 Study.

Background: Social support is assumed to protect mental health, but it is not known whether low social support at work increases the risk of common mental disorders or antidepressant medication. This study, carried out in Finland 2000-2003, examined the associations of low social support at work and in private life with DSM-IV depressive and anxiety disorders and subsequent antidepressant medication.

Methods: Social support was measured with self-assessment scales in a cohort of 3429 employees from a population-based health survey.

Overcrowding in hospital wards as a predictor of antidepressant treatment among hospital staff.

Objective: This report assessed whether hospital ward overcrowding predicts antidepressant use among hospital staff.

Method: The extent of hospital ward overcrowding was determined using administrative records of monthly bed occupancy rates between 2000 and 2004 in 203 somatic illness wards in 16 Finnish hospitals providing specialized health care. Information on job contracts for personnel was obtained from the employers' registers.

Occupational burnout and medically certified sickness absence: a population-based study of Finnish employees.

Objective: Occupational burnout is a common problem in working populations, but its association with sickness absence is poorly understood. The contribution of occupational burnout to medically certified sickness absence was examined in a population-based sample of employees.

Methods: A representative sample of 3151 Finnish employees aged 30-60 years participated in a comprehensive health study in 2000-2001, including an assessment of physician-diagnosed physical illnesses and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) mental disorders based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Quality of treatment and disability compensation in depression: comparison of 2 nationally representative samples with a 10-year interval in Finland.

Objective: Depressive disorders cause substantial work impairment that can lead to disability compensation. The authors compared treatment received for depression preceding disability pension between 2 nationally representative samples with a 10-year interval.

Method: The medical statements for 2 random samples drawn from the Finnish national disability pension registers, representing populations granted a disability pension for DSM-III-R major depression during a 12-month period from October 1993 through September 1994 (N = 277) and for ICD-10 depressive disorders (F32-F33) from October 2003 through September 2004 (N = 265) were examined.

Interventions in relation to occupational burnout: the population-based health 2000 study.

Objective: To study participation in occupational and individual-focused interventions in relation to burnout.

Methods: We used data from a questionnaire, structured interview, national register of psychopharmacological prescriptions, and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview in a nationally representative Finnish sample of 3276 employees (30 to 64 years).

Results: When compared with employees free of burnout, the odds ratio of severe burnout for participation in occupational interventions was 0.

Job strain and psychologic distress influence on sickness absence among Finnish employees.

Background: Work stress is a recognized risk factor for mental health disorders, but it is not known whether work stress is associated with the morbidity among individuals with psychologic distress. Another shortcoming in earlier research is related to common method bias-the use of individual perceptions of both work stress and psychologic distress. This prospective study was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), which identified psychologic distress as a predictor of sickness absence and the effect of work-unit measures of job strain on sickness absence among cases.

Alexithymia and occupational burnout are strongly associated in working population.

Objective: The relationship between alexithymia and occupational burnout has not previously been studied. We investigated the association between alexithymia and occupational burnout in a representative nationwide population health study.

Methods: This study was a part of the Finnish Health 2000 Study.

Employment predictors for discharged schizophrenia patients.

Objective: To investigate predictors for competitive employment in a three-year follow-up study of discharged schizophrenia patients.

Methods: The nationally representative sample comprised 2168 schizophrenia patients aged 15-64 years, who had been discharged from psychiatric hospitals in 1986, 1990, and 1994 in Finland. Comprehensive data were collected from psychiatric case records on the patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics at discharge and use of services during the follow-up period.

The effect of pre-employment factors on job control, job strain and psychological distress: a 31-year longitudinal study.

This study examined the role of pre-employment factors, such as maternal antenatal depression, low birth weight, childhood socioeconomic position, early adolescence health risk behaviours and academic performance, in the relationship between work characteristics (low job control and high job demands, or job strain) and psychological distress at age 31. The data of 2062 women and 2231 men was derived from the prospective unselected population-based Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort study. Results of linear regression models showed that being female, father's low socioeconomic position, and poor academic achievement in adolescence were linked to low control and high job strain jobs at age 31, and that low control and high job strain were associated with psychological distress at age 31.

Employment status, mental disorders and service use in the working age population.

Objectives: This study examined the association between employment status and specific DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, IVth edition) depressive, anxiety and alcohol use disorders and the association between employment status and service use for these disorders.

Methods: As part of the representative population-based "Health 2000 Study" of Finns aged 30 years or over, 3440 employed, 429 unemployed, and 820 economically inactive persons of working age (30-64 years) participated in a comprehensive health examination, including the standardized Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Results: The risk of mental disorders was generally higher among the unemployed and the economically inactive than among the employed.

Temporary employment and antidepressant medication: a register linkage study.

Evidence on the association between temporary employment and mental health is mixed. This study examined associations of temporary employment with register-based antidepressant medication by type and length of temporary job contract and socioeconomic position. Antidepressant prescriptions (1998-2002) were linked to register data for 17,071 men and 48,137 women in 10 Finnish municipalities.

Organisational downsizing and increased use of psychotropic drugs among employees who remain in employment.

Objective: Organisational downsizing is common in modern work life, but its effect on employees' mental health is not known. The authors examined whether working in downsizing organisations predicts use of psychotropic drugs among employees who remain in employment.

Design, Setting And Participants: Prospective cohort study of municipal employees in Finland.

Body mass index and functioning in long-term schizophrenia. Results of the DSP project.

Objective: The study evaluates the association of body mass index (BMI) with functioning in male and female patients with long-term schizophrenia.

Method: 722 long-term schizophrenia patients were interviewed three years after discharge from hospital. Their weight and height were recorded and data on their background, illness history, psychosocial functioning (Global Assessment Scale; GAS), health behaviour, daily doses of neuroleptics, and psychiatric symptoms were collected.

Work stress, mental health and antidepressant medication findings from the Health 2000 Study.

Background: Population-based studies on the association between work stress and mental disorders are scarce, and it is not known whether work stress predicts mental disorders requiring treatment.

Aims: To examine the associations of work stress with DSM-IV mental disorders and subsequent antidepressant medication.

Methods: 3366 participants from a representative sample of the Finnish working population responded to a survey (The Health 2000 Study).

Contribution of burnout to the association between job strain and depression: the health 2000 study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of burnout to the association between job strain and depression.

Methods: A representative sample of 3270 Finnish employees aged 30 to 64 years responded to the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and the Beck Depression Inventory and participated in the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Results: High strain compared with low strain was associated with 7.

Alcohol dependence in relation to burnout among the Finnish working population.

Aims: To investigate the relationship of burnout to alcohol dependence and high alcohol consumption.

Design: A cross-sectional population-based multi-disciplinary 'Health 2000 Study'. The analyses were performed separately for the women and the men and adjusted for socio-demographic factors.

The association between burnout and physical illness in the general population--results from the Finnish Health 2000 Study.

Objective: The association between burnout and physical diseases has been studied very little. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout and physical illness in a representative nationwide population health study.

Methods: As a part of the "Health 2000 Study" in Finland, 3368 employees aged 30-64 years were studied.

Subjective life satisfaction and living situations of persons in Finland with long-term schizophrenia.

Objective: This study measured subjective life satisfaction among patients with long-term schizophrenia who were living in the community.

Methods: A representative national sample of 2,221 persons with schizophrenia who were discharged from psychiatric hospitals in Finland in 1986, 1990, and 1994 were interviewed three years after discharge. Subjective life satisfaction was measured; patients were asked about their current level of satisfaction and the level of satisfaction they recalled having at the time of discharge.

The relationship between job-related burnout and depressive disorders--results from the Finnish Health 2000 Study.

Background: Depression and burnout are common health problems in working populations today. They appear to be interrelated, and the need for their differential diagnosis has been highlighted in many reviews. We analysed the overlap of job-related burnout and depressive disorders, i.

Violent victimization in schizophrenia.

Background: We investigated the 3-year prevalence, and the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of violent victimization in a large and unselected nationwide sample of deinstitutionalized patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: The sample comprised 670 schizophrenic patients aged 15-64 years, who had been discharged from psychiatric hospitals in Finland in 1994. Comprehensive data were collected from psychiatric case records on the patients' sociodemographic factors and psychiatric history, as well as the patients' overall level of functioning.