scholarly journals How did the 2008-11 financial crisis affect work-related common mental distress? Evidence from 393 workplaces in Great Britain

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 193-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Kronenberg ◽  
Jan R. Boehnke
Author(s):  
Maija Korhonen ◽  
Katri Komulainen

This discourse analytical study explores how health professionals (HPs) construct burnout as a form of mental distress in the context of Finnish burnout rehabilitation framed with a particular rehabilitation ethos. Burnout is a fuzzy concept and lacks a disease status. Therefore, it calls for context-specific definition and justification. By highlighting the socially and interactionally produced character of categories of mental distress, the study investigates the kinds of discourses HPs use to formulate “the problem” and its solutions, and how people dealing with burnout are categorized in these discourses. The data consists of field notes from the observation of group discussion sessions in two 1-year burnout rehabilitation courses. As a result of the analysis, five partly overlapping discourses were identified: psychological, evolutionary, healthy lifestyle, biomedical, and welfare. Within these discourses, people who experience burnout were categorized as over-conscientious employees, “good girls,” “primitive people,” self-responsible rehabilitees, patients, and (aging) employees with social and legal rights. Burnout rehabilitation and HPs’ views reproduce a cultural and clinical discourse around burnout in which work-related problems are treated as individual-level problems and individuals are responsibilized for the management of mental distress. Based on the results, it is concluded that the hybrid type of interventions that attempt to influence both individual- and work-related problems behind burnout would help to prevent people dealing with burnout from being over-responsibilized for solving problems at the workplace.


Author(s):  
T. Gagné ◽  
I. Schoon ◽  
A. McMunn ◽  
A. Sacker

Abstract Purpose In Great Britain, few studies documented mental health trends in young adults in the years preceding 2020, the mental health dimensions affected, and how these compare with changes observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Long-term trends in mental health among 16–34 year old men and women between 1991 and 2018, and changes between 2018–19 and July–September 2020 were examined using all waves from the British Household Panel Study (1991–2008), the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–20), and the first five UKHLS COVID-19 waves administered in April, May, June, July, and September 2020. Findings are based on the GHQ-12 continuous score (0–36), clinically significant cases (4 + /12) and severe cases (7 + /12) for mental distress, and item endorsements. Results Between 1991 and 2018, the prevalence of cases (4 + /12) increased from 14–22% to 19–32% across groups. Increases were largest in women aged 16–24. In April 2020, the risk of caseness (4 + /12) increased across groups by 55% to 80% compared to the 2018–19 baseline. This increase, however, rapidly diminished over time: in July–September 2020, there was only a higher risk of caseness (4 + /12) in men aged 25–34 (prevalence ratio = 1.29, 95% CI 1.01–1.65) compared to the 2018–19 baseline. Conclusion Whereas distress surged in April 2020, its return to pre-pandemic levels by September 2020 highlights the nuanced impact that the pandemic may have over time. Given the magnitude of the decline in mental health over the past decade, attention must be given to young adults once the pandemic ends.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Elliott ◽  
Daniel Kopasker ◽  
Diane Skåtun

PurposeDistinguishing what employers in different areas of Great Britain need to pay to attract and retain labour has been a central component of public-sector resource allocation decisions. This paper examines how changes in the pattern of spatial wage differentials following the global financial crisis have impacted on the formulae which allocate government funding to local government and health providers in the NHS.Design/methodology/approachUsing employer-reported data on earnings, we examine spatial patterns of private-sector wages in Great Britain between 2007 and 2017. The method permits the analysis of finely defined geographical areas and controls for differences in industry and workforce composition to distinguish those differences that are attributable from unmeasured characteristics, such as differences between areas in the cost of living and amenities. These standardised spatial wage differentials (SSWDs) underpin the funding allocation formulae.FindingsThe analysis shows that since 2007 private-sector wage dispersion, both within and between regions, has reduced: lower paid areas have experienced a relative increase in wages and higher paid a relative decline. Over the period, there was a significant reduction in the London wage premium.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the importance of ensuring established policies are applied using contemporary data. The SSWDs used to distribute government funds have not been re-estimated for some time. As a result, the current resource allocation model has overcompensated the London region and undercompensated others during this period.


Author(s):  
Annemarie Money ◽  
Melanie Carder ◽  
Peter Noone ◽  
Johnny Bourke ◽  
James Hayes ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-256
Author(s):  
Jonatan E G Wistrand

This article explores the complexity of mental distress among physicians, as portrayed in two literary narratives: John Berger and Jean Mohr’s A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor (1967) and Pia Dellson’s Väggen: En utbränd psykiaters noteringar (2015, ‘The Wall: Notes by a Burnt-Out Psychiatrist’). Departing from a historical understanding of medical practice, the article seeks to discuss whether some of the noted similarities and differences in the two narratives could be related to changes appearing over time in the role model of the medical encounter. As the two narratives provide illustrative descriptions of the difficulties experienced by doctors suffering from mental discomfort, they also call for a greater awareness among medical practitioners of the sociological terms of doctoring. Practising a person-centred, rather than patient-centred, care might be part of such awareness and is discussed as a possible protective strategy for physicians at risk of work-related mental distress.


Work & Stress ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Griffiths
Keyword(s):  

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