Effects of a participatory organisational, core work task focused workplace intervention on employees' primary healthcare consultations: secondary analysis of a cluster RCT

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelfagfællebedømt

Objectives We aimed to examine whether a participatory organisational workplace intervention focusing on core tasks at work resulted in lower primary healthcare utilisation of employees.

Methods The cluster randomised controlled trial included 78 preschools, 44 allocated to the intervention group (1745 employees) and 34 allocated to the control group (1267 employees). The intervention aimed to involve employees in improving the psychosocial work environment while focusing on core tasks at work. Using Poisson regression, we tested the rate ratios (RRs) of consultations in the intervention compared with the control group in terms of all consultations in primary healthcare and general practitioner (GP) consultations, respectively, per person-year during 31 months of follow-up. The fully adjusted model included adjustment for sex, age, job group, workplace type and size, and previous primary healthcare utilisation.

Results During the follow-up, intervention group employees had 11.0 consultations/person-year, while control group employees had 11.6 consultations/person-year (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.01). Employees in the intervention group had 7.5 GP consultations/person-year, while control group employees had 8.2 GP consultations/person-year (RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.90 to 0.99). Post hoc analyses indicated that the effect of the intervention was particularly strong in employees in preschools with a moderate or high level of implementation.

Conclusions The participatory organisational workplace intervention focusing on core tasks at work among preschool employees had a small, statistically non-significant effect on overall primary healthcare utilisation and a small, statistically significant effect on GP consultations. These results suggest a beneficial effect of the participatory organisational intervention on employees' health.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftOccupational and Environmental Medicine
Vol/bind78
Udgave nummer5
Sider (fra-til)330-335
Antal sider6
ISSN1351-0711
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

ID: 262891472