Impact of the Norwegian Agreement for a More Inclusive Working Life on diagnosis-specific sickness absence in young adults: a difference-in-difference analysis

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

The Norwegian Agreement for a More Inclusive Working Life (the IA Agreement) aims to reduce sickness absence (SA) and increase work participation. Potential impacts of the IA Agreement have not been thoroughly evaluated. The study aimed to estimate the impact of the IA Agreement on musculoskeletal and psychological SA prevalence and duration among young adult men and women, and to identify whether the impact was modified by economic activity or SA grade.

Methods

Data from national registries were combined for 372,199 individuals born in Norway 1967–1976. ICPC-2 codes identified musculoskeletal (L) and psychological (P) diagnoses. A difference-in-difference method compared prevalence and mean duration of first SA > 16 days between 2000 and 2005 separately for men and women working in IA companies relative to non-IA companies. Analyses were adjusted for mean company size and stratified by economic activity and SA grade (full/graded). Average marginal change was calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results

The impacts of the IA Agreement on SA prevalence were mixed as the direction and size of marginal changes varied according to diagnosis, gender, and economic activity. However, there was a general tendency towards reduced mean SA duration for both diagnosis groups, and in particular men with musculoskeletal SA (− 16.6 days, 95% CI -25.3, − 7.9). Individuals with full SA in IA companies had greater reductions in mean SA duration. Only the wholesale and retail economic activity indicated a beneficial contribution of the IA Agreement for both SA prevalence and duration, in both diagnoses and genders.

Conclusions

Potential impacts of the IA Agreement on SA in young men and women varied according to diagnosis and economic activity. However, results indicated that the IA Agreement could reduce SA duration. Further research should identify reasons for gender and economic activity differences.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-12636-9.

Related collections

Most cited references 39

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Designing Difference in Difference Studies: Best Practices for Public Health Policy Research

Coady Wing, Kosali Simon, Ricardo A. Bello-Gomez (2018)

The difference in difference (DID) design is a quasi-experimental research design that researchers often use to study causal relationships in public health settings where randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are infeasible or unethical. However, causal inference poses many challenges in DID designs. In this article, we review key features of DID designs with an emphasis on public health policy research. Contemporary researchers should take an active approach to the design of DID studies, seeking to construct comparison groups, sensitivity analyses, and robustness checks that help validate the method's assumptions. We explain the key assumptions of the design and discuss analytic tactics, supplementary analysis, and approaches to statistical inference that are often important in applied research. The DID design is not a perfect substitute for randomized experiments, but it often represents a feasible way to learn about casual relationships. We conclude by noting that combining elements from multiple quasi-experimental techniques may be important in the next wave of innovations to the DID approach.

0 comments Cited 447 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Economic impact of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on work in Europe.

Stephen Bevan (2015)

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the leading cause of work disability, sickness absence from work, 'presenteeism' and loss of productivity across all the European Union (EU) member states. It is estimated that the total cost of lost productivity attributable to MSDs among people of working age in the EU could be as high as 2% of gross domestic product (GDP). This paper examines the available evidence on the economic burden of MSDs on work across Europe and highlights areas of policy, clinical and employment practice which might improve work outcomes for individuals and families and reduce the economic and social costs of MSDs.

0 comments Cited 141 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Workplace interventions to prevent work disability in workers on sick leave.

Myrthe van Vilsteren, Sandra van Oostrom, Henrica de Vet … (2015)

Work disability has serious consequences for individuals as well as society. It is possible to facilitate resumption of work by reducing barriers to return to work (RTW) and promoting collaboration with key stakeholders. This review was first published in 2009 and has now been updated to include studies published up to February 2015.

0 comments Cited 99 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Rachel L. Hasting: rachel.hasting@stami.no

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Public Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Public Health

Title: BMC Public Health

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2458

Publication date (Electronic): 4 February 2022

Publication date PMC-release: 4 February 2022

Publication date Collection: 2022

Volume: 22

Electronic Location Identifier: 235

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.416876.a, ISNI 0000 0004 0630 3985, Department of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology, , National Institute of Occupational Health, ; PB 5330 Majorstuen, 0304 Oslo, Norway

[2 ]GRID grid.416876.a, ISNI 0000 0004 0630 3985, Department of Occupational Health Surveillance, , National Institute of Occupational Health, ; Oslo, Norway

[3 ]GRID grid.5510.1, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 8921, Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics, , University of Oslo, ; Oslo, Norway

[4 ]GRID grid.55325.34, ISNI 0000 0004 0389 8485, Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, , Oslo University Hospital, ; Oslo, Norway

[5 ]GRID grid.5510.1, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 8921, Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, , Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, ; Oslo, Norway

Article

Publisher ID: 12636

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-12636-9

PMC ID: 8817547

PubMed ID: 35120464

SO-VID: a4a20e66-1518-4bfe-a13e-c6be5f4d9bb7

License:

Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

History

Date received : 28 September 2021

Date accepted : 21 January 2022

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

Keywords: cohort study,difference-in-difference,gender,mental health,musculoskeletal diagnosis,musculoskeletal disorder,policy interventions,psychological diagnosis,register-based study,sick leave

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

Keywords: cohort study, difference-in-difference, gender, mental health, musculoskeletal diagnosis, musculoskeletal disorder, policy interventions, psychological diagnosis, register-based study, sick leave

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

Impact of the Norwegian Agreement for a More Inclusive Working Life on diagnosis-specific sickness absence in young adults: a difference-in-difference analysis

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Emerald: Healthier Lives

Most cited references 39

Designing Difference in Difference Studies: Best Practices for Public Health Policy Research

Economic impact of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on work in Europe.

Workplace interventions to prevent work disability in workers on sick leave.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 22

Cited by 4

Most referenced authors 122