Contribution of work ability and core self-evaluations to worker health.

BACKGROUND: Work ability (WA) concerns the capacity to manage job demands in relation to physical and psychological resources. Core self-evaluations (CSE) refer to a composite personality construct comprising self-esteem, locus of control, self-efficacy and emotional stability traits. Studies have shown the independent contribution of WA and CSE to work outcomes, yet none has explored their additive contribution, when applied together, to identify workers at risk of impaired health and performance-related outcomes. AIMS: The aim was to explore the contribution of WA and CSE to explaining variance in psychological distress and work engagement in a sample of UK manufacturing sector workers. METHODS: A self-report questionnaire containing validated measures of WA, CSE, psychological distress and work engagement was administered to employees in four UK manufacturing organizations. Bivariate correlations were calculated to identify patterns of relationships between the variables and hierarchical linear regression analyses performed to examine the incremental contribution of WA and CSE to the target variables. RESULTS: Analyses were conducted on data contributed by 311 workers (21% response rate). WA accounted for around one-quarter of the variance in psychological distress and around one-fifth of the variance in work engagement. The addition of CSE explained a further 10% (psychological distress) and 7% (work engagement) of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: These exploratory findings suggest that WA and CSE might be useful in the identification of workers at risk of poor psychological well-being and work effectiveness in UK manufacturing. Longitudinal sector-representative studies are required to establish the constructs' predictive power.

Occupational health professionals' knowledge, understanding and use of work ability.

BACKGROUND: The concept of work ability (WA) has a 30-year history in Finland, where it has been used extensively in occupational health (OH) research and practice. The extent to which WA has been integrated into UK OH practice is unclear. AIMS: (i) To compare knowledge, understanding and use of WA among OH nurses and physicians in the UK and Finland and (ii) to identify factors that influence the use of WA in Finnish OH practice. METHODS: An online questionnaire administered to OH practitioners in the UK and Finland. RESULTS: A total of 436 UK and 97 Finnish OH practitioners completed the questionnaire. Though familiarity with the term 'work ability' was similar among Finnish and UK respondents, substantial differences were found in understanding of the term. Ninety-five per cent (Finland) and 7% (UK) of respondents reported using the Work Ability Index (WAI), a validated measure of WA, in their practice. Finnish respondents indicated that they used the WAI results primarily for individual case management, understanding population health trends, health promotion and determining WA across age groups. UK respondents primarily attributed failure to use the WAI to lack of training. Primary factors influencing use of WA in Finland included it being considered common practice and an effect ive system by which to conduct individual assessments. CONCLUSIONS: There are large differences between Finland and the UK in the assessment of WA in OH practice. Differences may reflect contrasting OH legislative frameworks.