Causes of Sickness Absenteeism in Europe—Analysis from an Intercountry and Gender Perspective

This study aims to extract and explain the territorially varied relation between socioeconomic factors and absence rate from work due to own illness or disability in European countries in the years 2006–2020. For this purpose, several causes were identified, depending on men and women. To explain the absenteeism and emphasize gender as well as intercountry differences, geographically weighted regression was applied. For men, there were five main variables that influenced sickness absence: body mass index, the average rating of satisfaction by job situation, employment in the manufacturing sector, social benefits by sickness/health care, and performing health-enhancing physical activity. For women, there were five main variables that increased the absence rate: the risk of poverty or social exclusion, long-standing illness or health problems, employment in the manufacturing sector, social protection benefits, and deaths due to pneumonia. Based on the conducted research, it was proven that the sickness absence observed in the analyzed countries was highly gender and spatially diverged. Understanding the multifactorial factors playing an important role in the occurrence of regional and gender-divergent sickness absence may be a good predictor of subsequent morbidity and mortality as well as be very useful to better prevent this outcome.

Examining Determinants of Absenteeism among Blue Collar Employees in Petroleum Sector of Pakistan

The study focuses on the relationship between job satisfaction, job performance, and social / family compulsion and absenteeism in blue collar employees working in petroleum sector of Pakistan.150 blue collar employees from refineries and oil marketing companies were included in the survey and responded the questionnaire, encompassing all variables. Results prove hypothesis 1 whereas, hypothesis 2 could not be proven. Results will help Pakistani organization to reduce absence rate in their blue collar employees by understanding the social and family compulsions.

Can Community Crime Monitoring Reduce Student Absenteeism?

In this paper we study the impact on student absenteeism of a large, school-based community crime monitoring program that employed local community members to monitor and report crime on designated city blocks during times when students traveled to and from school. We find that the program resulted in a 0.58 percentage point (8.5 percent) reduction in the elementary school-level absence rate in the years following initial implementation. We discuss and explore potential channels to explain this and believe our results are most consistent with improved neighborhood conditions in the form of reduced crime as an underlying mechanism.

COVID-19-related absence among surgeons: development of an international surgical workforce prediction model

BackgroundDuring the initial COVID-19 outbreak up to 28.4 million elective operations were cancelled worldwide, in part owing to concerns that it would be unsustainable to maintain elective surgery capacity because of COVID-19-related surgeon absence. Although many hospitals are now recovering, surgical teams need strategies to prepare for future outbreaks. This study aimed to develop a framework to predict elective surgery capacity during future COVID-19 outbreaks.MethodsAn international cross-sectional study determined real-world COVID-19-related absence rates among surgeons. COVID-19-related absences included sickness, self-isolation, shielding, and caring for family. To estimate elective surgical capacity during future outbreaks, an expert elicitation study was undertaken with senior surgeons to determine the minimum surgical staff required to provide surgical services while maintaining a range of elective surgery volumes (0, 25, 50 or 75 per cent).ResultsBased on data from 364 hospitals across 65 countries, the COVID-19-related absence rate during the initial 6 weeks of the outbreak ranged from 20.5 to 24.7 per cent (mean average fortnightly). In weeks 7–12, this decreased to 9.2–13.8 per cent. At all times during the COVID-19 outbreak there was predicted to be sufficient surgical staff available to maintain at least 75 per cent of regular elective surgical volume. Overall, there was predicted capacity for surgeon redeployment to support the wider hospital response to COVID-19.ConclusionThis framework will inform elective surgical service planning during future COVID-19 outbreaks. In most settings, surgeon absence is unlikely to be the factor limiting elective surgery capacity.

Efectivity Evaluation among Dengue Control Programs in Semarang City, Indonesia

Increased dengue cases occur throughout Southeast Asia. Semarang Health Office held programs to control dengue,which are Rainfall monitoring,Routine Mosquito Larvae Monitoring Program, One House One Larvae Observer Movement, And Students look For Mosquito Larvae Movement. To assess whether the programs reducing Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever caseswere effective. The method used were correlation analysis. Data obtained from every region in Semarang and reported to Semarang Health Office. Average Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever case was 79.5±13.69. Correlationtest results between dengue cases with rainfall was r=0.951;p=0.049, Larvae Absence Rate from Routine Mosquito Larvae Monitoring Program was r=0.648;p=0.352, with Larvae Absence Rate from One House One Larvae Observer Movement was r=0.804;p=0.196, with Larvae Absence Rate from Students Search For Mosquito Larvae Movement was r=0.961;p=0.039. Correlation between rainfall and Larvae Absence Rate from Students Search For Mosquito Larvae Movement with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever case were significant and had positive strong correlation,correlation test results of Larvae Absence Rate from Routine Mosquito Larvae Program and One House One Larvae Observer Movement had strong correlation but were not significant.

A Comparative Trend Analysis of Changes in Teacher Rate of Absenteeism in South Africa

The aim of this research was to analyze the changes in the rate of teacher absenteeism among South African provinces as a major in-class factor contributing to student performance and effective learning. Time series analysis of exponential smoothing, moving average, and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model (SARIMA) were applied to model and assess the designed hypothesis as a major factor for educational advancement using different provincial data input from the Department of Basic Education in South Africa. The performances of all the models were analyzed using statistical indexes: Mean Square Error (MSE) and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The overall performance showed that the absence rate increased statistically significantly from 2011 to 2017. Thus, this opinion was held by more than half of the general populace depending on the province type. The findings of this research could assist the management of the basic education department in general, and in schools in particular, to understand the problem of absenteeism and thereby enabling the implementation of effective strategies that can be used to curb the practice.

Reasons for absenteeism in rural primary schools in two Colombian municipalities

Background: School absenteeism is a considerable problem generally related to higher dropout rates, poor academic achievement and school lag. This study determined the frequency and causes of overall and illness-related absenteeism of students in rural schools from two Colombian municipalities. Methods: A prospective and descriptive study was conducted in a population of 948 school children from 34 rural schools. Absenteeism data were collected for 2013 academic year consisted of the number of students registered and absent by grade, school, day and reason for absence. Absence rates (overall and illness-related absenteeism) were recorded, based on full or partial days absence, measured both as episodes, and accumulating the number of days. Results: From the students included in the study, 55.1% were male and 71.6% were between 5 and 9 years old. The overall absence rate was 5.7 episodes per child-year (95% confidence interval 5.5 to 5.8) and 8.6 days per child-year (8.4 to 8.9). The main reasons for non-attendance were illness (24.4%), medical or dental check-up (12.9%), travel (12.3%), lack of motivation to attend school (10.0%) and bad weather (9.3%). The illness-related absence rate was 1.4 episodes per child-year (95% confidence interval 1.3 to 1.5) and 2.5 days per child-year (2.4 to 2.6). The main reasons for illness-related absence were cold (37.0%), nonspecific fever (10.9%) and stomach pain or vomiting (8.4%). Conclusions: In this study, the most common reasons for non-attendance were illness-related. The importance of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in absenteeism was evident, showing rates similar to other urban school studies. Then, the results of this study provide knowledge on the magnitude and reasons for absenteeism in rural schoolchildren.

The Wellbeing of UK Police: A Study of Recorded Absences from Work of UK Police Employees Due to Psychological Illness and Stress Using Freedom of Information Act Data

Policing is undoubtedly a dangerous occupation whereby officers are routinely exposed to dangerous and potentially traumatic events, such as attending road traffic collisions, informing people of the death of a loved one, and ensuring public safety at football matches. Frontline policing is of course not the only place whereby constant exposure to dangerous and distressing incidents can increase the risk of police employees developing emotional and psychological complaints that have serious effects on their ‘wellbeing’, with previous research identifying specific policing areas such as homicide investigation as likely to have negative effects on those doing the investigating. Although to date, research has focused on the wellbeing effects of ‘routine policing’, criminal investigation, and specific events, as yet little is known about the effect on UK police employees wellbeing of ‘doing the job’ in terms of the number of days recorded as absent due to psychological illness, trauma, and stress. This study seeks to redress this gap by analysing sickness absence data recorded for 20 UK Police services for the past 10 years, obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. The data set represents some 57% of UK police personnel, and findings suggest that police employee absence due to psychological ill health, trauma, and stress had nearly doubled in the past 10 years to an absence rate of 8.82%. Furthermore, this study found that 39% of those who take a first leave of absence due to mental ill health go on to take further absences from work.

Sick Leaves Pattern in A Tertiary Healthcare Facility in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND : Frequent sick leaves in any healthcare organization is a critical problem that can undermine the patients' care. METHODS : This is a quantitative cross-sectional study looking at the frequency of sick leaves among employees of a large, tertiary healthcare facility in Riyadh. We randomly selected 474 employees, who were seen in family medicine clinics during one-year period. We collected all the data retrospectively from their electronic medical records. Then we reviewed and analyzed all the data using SPSS software. RESULTS : There was no difference in the sick leaves rate between males and females (P-value 0.8618), but we saw a higher rate among younger employees (40 years old or less) compared to those 41 years or older (p-value <0.0001). We also investigated those who took four sick leaves or more during the period of the study, and we found that most of them were mainly nursing staff (31.71%), hospital assistances (24.39%) and housekeepers (14.63%). The commonest cause for taking sick leave in our study was viral upper respiratory tract infection. Therefore, we studied the effect of influenza vaccine on the frequency of sick leaves and we found that those who took the vaccine were less likely to take a leave because of flu (P-value <0.0001, Odd ratio 0.4067 with 95% CI 0.2739-0.608). CONCLUSION : younger employees, nurses, hospital assistants and housekeepers are more likely to take sick leaves. These findings need to be studied further in the future to help us dealing with the problem of absenteeism. Flu is the leading cause for sick leaves and influenza vaccine seemed to reduce its rate. In this study, we also discussed different methods that can be used by any healthcare organization to reduce absence rate.

Gender Differences in Academic Grades versus Absenteeism for Medical Sciences Students

Background: Learning environment and academic performance can be investigated from various aspects. Numerous interfering factors make this issue a complex one. The aim of this study is to understand the role of absenteeism on the overall score of medical sciences students and to consider the difference between male and female students.Methods: Academic performance was evaluated using the overall grades. Assessments of students and absence rate were tracked in two consecutive semesters (January–April 2019 and September–December of the same year), followed by sequential alignment to evaluate and correlate males (n=43) and females (n=72) results. During the semester, all teaching and assessment methods were unified to both sections to mitigate any confounding results from the teaching method to either section. Academic activities were assessed automatically and subjectively. SEKONIC SR-3500 HYBRID Machine was used to correct and analyze the answers of multiple-choice questions of the Midterm and final examination. Objective marks were compiled with the scores of the subjective answers to generate the final academic degree. These overall marks were correlated and statistically analyzed with the absence rates.Results: Preliminary data of the mean scores between male and female students during three semesters were statistically significant (**** p<0.0001). To correlate marks with absenteeism, the correlation coefficient (r) was in a negative value which indicates an inverse correlation between X (absence rate) and Y data (scores). But, a statistically significant correlation was found in the male section (**p= 0.0011 for the first semester; *p= 0.0255 for the second semester) but no significance was observed with the female scores (p= 0.2041; p=0.1537).Conclusions: The results show that female marks are not solely dependent on class attendance but probably other factors were involved such as self-learning, motivation and group discussion. The female mean scores were significantly higher in five semesters in a row compared to male students. Male overall scores prove to be conditioned with the instructor explanation. The finding indicates a gender variation in the academic performance measured by overall grades taking absenteeism rate into account.