Objectives: This study evaluates whether initiation rates, completion rates, response patterns and prevalence of psychiatric conditions differ by level of personal integrity information given to prospective participants in an online mental health self-report survey.

Methods: A three-arm, parallel-group, single-blind experiment was conducted among students from two Swedish universities. Consenting participants following e-mail invitation answered the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health-International College Student (WMH-ICS) mental health self-report survey, screening for eight psychiatric conditions. Random allocation meant consenting to respond (1) anonymously; (2) confidentially, or (3) confidentially, where the respondent also gave consent for collection of register data.

Results: No evidence was found for overall between-group differences with respect to (1) pressing a hyperlink to the survey in the invitation email; and (2) abandoning the questionnaire before completion. However, participation consent and self-reported depression were in the direction of higher levels for the anonymous group compared to the two confidential groups.

Conclusions: Consent to participate is marginally affected by different levels of personal integrity information. Current standard participant information procedures may not engage participants to read the information thoroughly, and online self-report mental health surveys may reduce stigma and thus be less subject to social desirability bias.

Objective: During the COVID pandemic, government authorities worldwide have tried to limit the spread of the virus. Sweden's distinctive feature was the use of voluntary public health recommendations. Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of this strategy. Based on data collected in the spring of 2020, this study explored associations between compliance with recommendations and observed symptoms of contagion in others, using self-report data from university students.

Results: Compliance with recommendations ranged between 69.7 and 95.7 percent. Observations of moderate symptoms of contagion in Someone else I have had contact with and Another person were markedly associated with reported self-quarantine, which is the most restrictive recommendation, complied with by 81.2% of participants. Uncertainty regarding the incidence and severity of contagion in cohabitants was markedly associated with the recommendation to avoid public transportation, a recommendation being followed by 69.7%. It is concluded that students largely followed the voluntary recommendations implemented in Sweden, suggesting that coercive measures were not necessary. Compliance with recommendations were associated with the symptoms students saw in others, and with the perceived risk of contagion in the student's immediate vicinity. It is recommended that voluntary recommendations should stress personal relevance, and that close relatives are at risk.

Objective: The present study investigates if symptoms of COVID-19 contagion in different social contexts (cohabitants, family, acquaintances, and others) are associated with university students' own self-reported symptoms of COVID-19 contagion, mental health, and study capacity. This was investigated by a cross-sectional survey administrated in Sweden during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the time when universities were locked down to limit viral spread and contagion.

Results: Mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 in cohabitants and family members were associated with student’s self-reported symptoms of contagion, while no associations could be seen in relation to mental health and study capacity. Symptoms of COVID-19 contagion in acquaintances and others were not associated with students’ self-reported symptoms, nor with their mental health and study capacity.

To conclude, during the initial lockdown of universities students’ self-reported symptoms of contagion were mainly associated with cohabitants and family members, while symptoms of contagion in different social contexts were not associated with mental health and study capacity. Findings suggest that lockdown of universities may have contributed to limiting infection pathways, while still allowing students to focus on their studies despite significant contagion among others known to the student.

Objective: To investigate perceived changes in academic self-efficacy associated with self-reported symptoms of COVID-19, changes in mental health, and trust in universities’ management of the pandemic and transition to remote education during lockdown of Swedish universities in the spring of 2020. Methods: 4495 participated and 3638 responded to self-efficacy questions. Associations were investigated using multinomial regression. Results: Most students reported self-experienced effects on self-efficacy. Lowered self-efficacy was associated with symptoms of contagion, perceived worsening of mental health and low trust in universities’ capacity to successfully manage the lockdown and transition to emergency remote education. Increased self-efficacy was associated with better perceived mental health and high trust in universities. Conclusion: The initial phase of the pandemic was associated with a larger proportion of students reporting self-experienced negative effects on academic self-efficacy. Since self-efficacy is a predictor of academic performance, it is likely that students’ academic performance will be adversely affected.

Objective This study used causal inference to estimate the longitudinal effects of contagion in cohabitants and family members on university students’ mental health and academic self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design A prospective longitudinal study including a baseline online measurement in May 2020, and online follow-ups after 5 months and 10 months. Participants were recruited through open-access online advertising. Setting Public universities and university colleges in Sweden. Participants The analytical sample included 2796 students. Outcome measures Contagion in cohabitants and in family members was assessed at baseline and at the 5-month follow-up. Mental health and academic self-efficacy were assessed at the 5-month and 10-month follow-ups. Results Mild symptoms reported in cohabitants at baseline resulted in negative mental health effects at follow-up 5 months later, and mild baseline symptoms in family members resulted in negative effects on academic self-efficacy at follow-ups both 5 and 10 months later. Conclusions Notwithstanding the lack of precision in estimated effects, the findings emphasise the importance of social relationships and the challenges of providing students with sufficient support in times of crisis.

In higher education, students' trust in the university management may affect both mental health and academic self-efficacy. This longitudinal study, conducted during the most challenging course of the COVID-19 pandemic, uses multinomial regression and causal inference to estimate the effects of students' trust in their universities' strategies for managing the pandemic, on students' self-reported changes in mental health and academic self-efficacy. The analyzed sample (N = 2796) was recruited through online advertising and responded to a baseline online survey in the late spring of 2020, with two follow-up surveys five and ten months later. Results show that positive trust in university management of the pandemic protected against experiencing one's mental health and academic self-efficacy as worse rather than unchanged, both five and ten months after the baseline assessment. The findings emphasize the importance of developing and maintaining trust-building measures between academia and students to support students' mental health and academic self-efficacy in times of uncertainty.

Research on selection factors often focuses on how to identify suitable candidates, while fewer studies have investigated the long-term effects of such selection factors once the suitable candidates have started working and faced the work situation. The overall aim of the present study was to examine the relative importance of selection factors (general intelligence, personality, and physical fitness), measured during recruitment, and psychosocial working conditions (e.g., workload, job control, and job challenge)for four different outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, occupational retention, and health). Data came from a longitudinal study of newly hired police officers in Sweden (N = 508), including information from both the recruitment process and a three-and-a-half year follow-up. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that psychosocial working conditions were far more important than the selection factors in predicting the four outcomes. The strong effects of psychosocial working conditions for new officers’ work-related attitudes and health suggest that employers, to ensure sustainability, need to focus on activities facilitating the organizational and professional entrance of newcomers by providing a sound work climate.

Selection research has typically focused on how to identify suitable candidates, while less is known regarding the long-term effects of various selection factors once the suitable candidates have start-ed working. The overall aim of this study was to examine the relative importance of selection fac-tors (measured during recruitment), and psychosocial working conditions (once candidates started working) for four outcomes, namely (1) job satisfaction, (2) organizational citizenship behavior, (3) occupational retention, and (4) health. Data came from a longitudinal study of newly hired police officers in Sweden (N = 508), including recruitment data and a follow-up after 3.5 years. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that psychosocial working conditions were more important than selection factors in predicting the four outcomes. The findings suggest that employers, to ensure sustainability, need to focus on activities that facilitate newcomers’ enter-ing in the organization and their professions by providing a sound work climate.

Purpose – The cost of selecting and training new police officers is high. However, previous researchhas provided limited guidance on how to select the best applicants. The purpose of this paper is toenhance the understanding of the possibilities to select suitable applicants by using combinations offour common categories of selection methods, namely cognitive tests, personality inventories, physicaltests, and rater-based methods (i.e. interviews).

Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of Swedish police recruits (n¼750) the authorsperformed hierarchical multiple regression analyses, predicting four criteria – performance, satisfaction,retention, and health – at three consecutive time points (after two years of academy training, after sixmonths of field training, and after the first work year).

Findings – No group of selection methods consistently predicted all four criteria at the three timepoints. In most analyses more than one class of selection methods were statistically significant, but thefindings did not support the use of rater-based methods.

Practical implications – Instead of the common praxis of using interviews, the findings suggest analternative praxis. This involves using the remaining information from cognitive tests, personalityinventories, and general fitness tests that had been used in earlier hurdles to screen out unsuitable applicants.

Originality/value – The study extends previous research by including several follow-ups, showingthe value of combining different selection methods, and using alternative criteria of successful policerecruitment (i.e. satisfaction, retention, and health).

Denna studie undersöker vilka faktorer som bidrar till att yngre poliser i Sverige väljer att lämna yrket. Studien följer en kohort (N=717) av yngre poliser. Data från antagningen till polisutbildningen (T1-2008), efter ett års arbete (T2-2011) och efter sju års arbete (T3-2017) används för statistiska analyser baserade på en bred uppsättning variabler. Resultaten visar att förhållandevis få poliser lämnat yrket (7,4%) och att det finns få skillnader mellan de som stannat respektive lämnat yrket. Låg organisationssamhörighet efter ett års arbete var den enskilt starkaste prediktorn av frivillig uppsägning. Åtgärder som stärker organisationssamhörigheten tidigt i karriären bör därför prioriteras.

Background: Answering calls for an interactionist approach that would help clarify the complexity of organizational socialization, this study applied a person-centered analytic approach aiming to examine the role of proximal socialization outcome profiles for distal outcomes. Organizational socialization concerns the learning and adjustment process enabling newcomers to adapt to an organizational role. Proximal outcomes (or adjustment indicators) are assumed to reflect how well individuals adjust on their way to become organizational insiders, while distal outcomes reflect the ultimate organizational socialization outcomes. Thus, proximal outcomes precede distal outcomes, mediating effects of various organizational and individual socialization factors (known as antecedents) that foster the socialization process.

Method: In this study, a person-centered analytic approach was used to examine the role of proximal socialization outcome profiles for distal outcomes. Data from new police officers in Sweden (N = 430), from three time points (T0 = Application process [spring 2008], T1 = Near end of field training [end of 2010], and T2 = Near end of first work year [end of 2011]), were analyzed. First, latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed to identify proximal outcomes profiles. Then, the identified profiles were validated by a complementary analysis, which examined differences in antecedents and distal socialization outcomes among officers with different profiles.

Results: Among the new police officers, three proximal outcome profiles were identified – a vulnerable (35%), a troublesome (11%), and a successful (54%) – with profiles exhibiting distinct patterns in the proximal outcome indicators role conflict, task mastery, and social integration. Complementary analysis showed subgroup differences in some antecedents (e.g., personality and psychosocial working conditions) and distal outcomes (e.g., organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and work-related anxiety), thus emphasizing the role of personality and psychosocial working conditions in organizational socialization.

Implications: The study showed that proximal socialization outcome indicators may form profiles that characterize subgroups of newcomers following different socialization paths. Depicting how the socialization process may differ among subgroups is a significant theoretical contribution that adds nuance to traditional stage models. Findings also emphasize that both psychosocial working conditions and personality are important antecedents, which support viewing organizational socialization as an interactive process including both the individual and the environment. Accordingly, the study suggests the person-centered approach as promising for gaining new insights regarding organizational socialization processes. Further, this study indicates that the socialization process was successful for most new police officers. Still, for a fairly large proportion (i.e., the Vulnerable and Troublesome groups), the proximal outcome profiles indicated a less favourable adjustment. The differences in proximal outcome profiles suggest that the Troublesome and the Vulnerable groups struggled with somewhat different adjustment challenges, which may yield organizational challenges. From an applied perspective, the findings suggest that targeting the challenges and needs that characterize different groups of newcomers may help organizations to tailor actions facilitating learning and adjustment among newcomers. Moreover, to facilitate newcomers’ socialization, organizations may also benefit from monitoring newcomers’ experiences of their working climate as well as their personality.

Answering calls for an interactionist approach that would help clarify complex relationships among organizational socialization variables, this study applied a person-centered analytic approach aiming to examine the role of proximal socialization outcome profiles for distal outcomes. This approach is novel to organizational socialization research, contrasting the variable-centered approach dominating the field. Data from new police officers in Sweden (N = 430) were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA). Three proximal outcome profiles – a vulnerable (n = 151), a troublesome (n = 47), and a successful (n = 232) – were identified, with distinct patterns in the proximal outcome indicators role conflict, task mastery, and social integration. Complementary analysis showed subgroup differences in some antecedents and distal outcomes, which emphasized the role of personality and psychosocial working conditions. Thus, the findings show that proximal socialization outcome indicators may yield profiles characteristic of subgroups of newcomers who follow different socialization paths. Importantly, the findings show that a person-centered approach can add nuance to the understanding of how socialization processes differ among newcomers. While these results are promising, their generalizability to other professions and organizations remains to be investigated, which calls for continued person-centered research of organizational socialization processes. 

Purpose: Turnover increases among Police officers in Sweden. This is coupled with the Police force facing higher demands. The resulting recruitment of new officers is time-consuming and expensive, and also indicates the need to reduce turnover rates. Thus, increasing turnover rates are important, but knowledge regarding police turnover is limited. This study aims to understand voluntary police turnover among younger officers in a European setting.

Design/Methodology/Approach/Intervention: Using a sample of Swedish police officers (N = 720) and data from three time-points (application to the police education–2008, first work year–2011, and seven years of work–2017), we followed a two-step approach. First, we performed univariate comparisons between stayers and leavers. Then we predicted turnover-status by hierarchical logistic regression.

Results: Findings revealed low but increasing annual turnover rates. Some differences  emerged  between stayers and leavers. Regression analyses showed organizational commitment to be the most important long-term predictor of turnover, outperforming predictors such as educational level, job satisfaction, and turnover intention.

Limitations: Since data were not originally designed to examine turnover, not all potentially relevant variables were included.

Research/Practical Implications: This study emphasizes early career organizational commitment as an important predictor of long-term retention among police officers. Low associations between turnover intention and actual turnover suggest a need to address reluctant stayers. Further, findings suggest selection being of limited value in preventing police turnover.

Originality/Value: This is the first larger study that examines turnover among police officers in Sweden.

Artikeln beskriver ett uppdragsperspektiv på arbete, det vill säga en fokusering på hur ett arbetsuppdrag formas och är sammansatt med avseende på resurser och krav med betydelse för att kunna genomföra uppdraget på ett bra sätt. I studien undersöks hur förutsättningarna för att utföra arbetet, i termer av arbetskrav och resurser i arbetet, hänger samman med återhämtning inom välfärdstjänstearbete i två kommuner. Uppdragsförutsättningarna har ett relativt högt förklaringsvärde gentemot återhämtning men de ingående variablerna bidrar i olika grad.

Purpose Social welfare work contains elements that may be difficult for employees to put out of their minds when the working day ends, which may affect the recovery. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the length of recovery in relation to different work characteristics and to two types of welfare work. Design/methodology/approach All 1,365 employees, excluding managers, of two municipality administrations were invited to a survey study. Of these, 673 (49 percent) responded. After adjusting for partial missing, the effective sample included 580 employees (43 percent). Retrospective ratings of four recovery windows were analyzed: recovery after one night's sleep, weekends, shorter holidays and vacations. Findings Employees with a university education were less recovered than those with a shorter education. For those with a university education, the long arm of the job mainly involved failures regarding qualitative job demands (task difficulty). For those with a shorter education, quantitative job demands (too much to do) were most prominent for their prolonged recovery. Feedback from managers had consistent and positive associations with all four recovery windows among employees with a university education, but not among those with a shorter education for whom instead having too much to do and social support had significant spillover effects. Originality/value The identified differences may relate to employees with a university education having more problem-solving tasks, which may result in a higher need of work-related feedback but also in difficulties detaching from work. Thus, education and job characteristics have differential associations with self-rated recovery.

Background: The life transition between late adolescence and emerg- ing adulthood is often troubled, with one in three university students showing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Help-seeking behavior is low due to emotional and practical barriers, generating a treatment gap. The purpose of this project is to map Swedish university stu- dents’ mental health problems and deliver e-health interventions to those at risk, thus reducing the treatment gap. The project is the first in a Swedish partnership with the WHO WMH-ICS 20-country international consortium.

Methods: The project is organized in four work packages (WPs) over four years, beginning in 2020. An annual epidemiological survey targeting first-year students will map mental health problems and disor- ders, including suicidal thoughts and behaviors (WP1), and annual follow-up surveys will track participants’ developmental trajectories in terms of persisting problems and help-seeking behavior (WP2). Students identified as at-risk will be offered participation in a three-arm random- ized controlled trial (RCT), delivering guided or unguided transdiagnostic e-treatment, or treatment as usual in a control group (WP3). At 5-week follow-up, participants at higher risk of failing treatment according to a precision treatment algorithm will be randomized to personally adapted e- treatment or continued WP3 treatment in a secondary trial-within-trial (WP4). WP1 will begin in the spring of 2020 with a pilot survey at selected Swedish universities

Results: We anticipate being able to present preliminary pilot survey results.Conclusions and implications: We envisage high potential for reducing mental health problems among Swedish university students, improving academic performance and reducing dropout.

Aims: The COVID-19 containment strategy in Sweden uses public health recommendations relying on personal responsibility for compliance. Universities were one of few public institutions subject to strict closure, meaning that students had to adapt overnight to online teaching. This study investigates the prevalence of self-reported recommendation compliance and associations with self-reported symptoms of contagion, self-experienced effects on mental health and academic self-efficacy among university students in Sweden in May–June 2020.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional 23 question online survey in which data were analysed by multinomial regression, taking a Bayesian analysis approach complemented by null hypothesis testing.

Results: A total of 4495 students consented to respond. Recommendation compliance ranged between 70% and 96%. Women and older students reported higher compliance than did men and younger students. Mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms were reported by 30%, severe symptoms by fewer than 2%; 15% reported being uncertain and half of the participants reported no symptoms. Mental health effects were reported by over 80%, and changes in academic self-efficacy were reported by over 85%; in both these areas negative effects predominated. Self-reported symptoms and uncertainty about contagion were associated with non-compliance, negative mental health effects, and impaired academic self-efficacy.

Conclusions: Students generally followed public health recommendations during strict closure of universities, but many reported considerable negative consequences related to mental health and academic self-efficacy. Digital interventions should be developed and evaluated to boost coping skills, build resilience and alleviate student suffering during the pandemic and future similar crises.

Objective: The labor market for mental health professionals increasingly requires competency in digital mental health treatment (DMHT). This presentation targets DMHT practitioners as course developers and teachers, describing proof-of-concept findings based on a) development of a remotely delivered DMHT course; and b) results from a qualitative evaluation of students’ experiences from the first course round.

Methods: The course syllabus was developed through two structured workshops, attended by 11 stakeholders with DMHT experience. For the qualitative evaluation, interviews with seven women participants in the first course round were analyzed according to an inductive, phenomenographic approach.

Results: The course development process established a 12-week syllabus covering historical development and evidence for DMHT and an 8-week DMHT clinical practicum treating students with common mental health problems. Examination was formulated as individual case reports encompassing reflections on a) the therapist and client roles; b) ethical aspects of DMHT; and c) future innovations for DMHT. The course is offered via a standard learning management system, with the practicum completed on a separate DMHT platform. The qualitative analysis of the first pilot course round, where students role-played therapists and clients, yielded six themes: overall course experience, treatment program and platform, therapist role, client role, supervision and the alliance.

Conclusions: This proof-of-concept procedure led to course establishment in two formats: as an ordinary elective course for advanced clinical psychology students, and as a stand-alone national course for health professionals with basic psychotherapy training. Following local adaptation, the course could be replicated at additional universities globally.

Objective: The labor market for mental health professionals increasingly requires competency in digital mental health treatment (DMHT). This presentation targets DMHT practitioners as course developers and teachers, describing proof-of-concept findings based on a) development of a remotely delivered DMHT course; and b) results from a qualitative evaluation of students’ experiences from the first course round.

Methods: The course syllabus was developed through two structured workshops, attended by 11 stakeholders with DMHT experience. For the qualitative evaluation, interviews with seven women participants in the first course round were analyzed according to an inductive, phenomenographic approach.

Results: The course development process established a 12-week syllabus covering historical development and evidence for DMHT and an 8-week DMHT clinical practicum treating students with common mental health problems. Examination was formulated as individual case reports encompassing reflections on a) the therapist and client roles; b) ethical aspects of DMHT; and c) future innovations for DMHT. The course is offered via a standard learning management system, with the practicum completed on a separate DMHT platform. The qualitative analysis of the first pilot course round, where students role-played therapists and clients, yielded six themes: overall course experience, treatment program and platform, therapist role, client role, supervision and the alliance.

Conclusions: This proof-of-concept procedure led to course establishment in two formats: as an ordinary elective course for advanced clinical psychology students, and as a stand-alone national course for health professionals with basic psychotherapy training. Following local adaptation, the course could be replicated at additional universities globally.

Objective: Mental wellbeing is a fundamental aspect of the broader notion of quality of life. Little is known about the mental wellbeing of university students in general and Swedish university students in particular. As emerging adults, university students typically experience substantial changes to their living conditions, relationships, and academic stress, and depression and anxiety are prospectively associated with lower academic achievement at the end of the first year.

Methods: Data from five cross-sectional cohorts (n = 7423), collected between spring 2020 and spring 2022, were compared descriptively, regarding sociodemographic factors, lifetime and past 30-day symptoms of mental health problems, experiences of bullying, feeling loved and measures of well-being. Linear regression identified protective factors for wellbeing according to the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS), and risk factors for lower wellbeing.

Results: Participants were > 70% women, 24–27 years old, 75–83% born in Sweden. About one-third had experienced physical bullying at school and about 70% felt loved and cared for. About two-thirds had medium levels of wellbeing, with one-third having low levels and about 5% having high levels. Protective factors for wellbeing included older age, male gender, feeling loved most of the time, and the grit construct. Risk factors included being an international student, non-heterosexual sexual orientation, having symptoms of depression or anxiety most of the time, and experiencing effort/reward imbalance.

Conclusions: A large proportion of students experience less than optimal wellbeing. Interventions to enhance positive, nurturing relationships and reinforce grit-related factors could support students in this challenging period of life.

Background: Emerging adulthood is often associated with mental health problems. About one in three university students report symptoms of depression and anxiety that can negatively affect their developmental trajectory concerning work, intimate relationships, and health. This can interfere with academic performance, as mood and anxiety disorders are key predictors of dropout from higher education. A treatment gap exists, where a considerable proportion of students do not seek help for mood and anxiety symptoms. Offering internet interventions to students with mental health problems could reduce the treatment gap, increase mental health, and improve academic performance. A meta-analysis on internet interventions for university students showed small effects for depression and none for anxiety. Larger trials are recommended to further explore effects of guidance, transdiagnostic approaches, and individual treatment components.

Methods: This study will offer 1200 university students in Sweden participation in a three-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating a guided or unguided transdiagnostic internet intervention for mild to moderate depression and anxiety, where the waitlist control group accesses the intervention at 6-month follow-up. Students reporting suicidal ideation/behaviors will be excluded and referred to treatment within the existing healthcare system. An embedded study within the trial (SWAT) will assess at week 3 of 8 whether participants in the guided and unguided groups are at higher risk of failing to benefit from treatment. Those at risk will be randomized to an adaptive treatment strategy, or to continue the treatment as originally randomized. Primary outcomes are symptoms of depression and anxiety. Follow-ups will occur at post-treatment and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month post-randomization. Between-group outcome analyses will be reported, and qualitative interviews about treatment experiences are planned.

Discussion: This study investigates the effects of a transdiagnostic internet intervention among university students in Sweden, with an adaptive treatment strategy employed during the course of treatment to minimize the risk of treatment failure. The study will contribute knowledge about longitudinal trajectories of mental health and well-being following treatment, taking into account possible gender differences in responsiveness to treatment. With time, effective internet interventions could make treatment for mental health issues more widely accessible to the student group.

One in three university students present with mental health symptoms. Help-seeking behavior is low due to emotional and practical barriers. The objectives of this session are to introduce and report on initial findings of the Swedish part of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) project, which aims at mapping students’ mental health problems and proactively deliver internet interventions to those identified at risk.

1) Project introduction: The project conducts annual epidemiological surveys with 15 universities and colleges in Sweden. Students presenting with mental health problems in surveys are offered participation in a three-arm RCT, evaluating guided or unguided transdiagnostic ICBT against waiting list. In an embedded trial-within-trial, participants in treatment showing no improvement are randomized to personally adapted treatment (1:1) at mid-treatment.

2) Students' experiences of a campus-wide mental health surveyBetween 2020–2022, over 2000 college students completing the WMH-ICS survey commented on their experience with it. We report results from an analysis of the open-ended responses using Consensual Qualitative Research- Modified methodology.

3) Feasibility pilot resultsIn a single-group pilot study (n=28), students screening positive for depression (PHQ-9) and/or anxiety (GAD-7) received therapist-guided transdiagnostic ICBT over 8 weeks. We report on feasibility outcomes such as recruitment, uptake, measures of acceptability, and adaptive treatment procedures.

4) Implementing digital psychology in academic curriculumsThe project led to a proof-of-concept course establishment for advanced clinical psychology students and health professionals: “Digital Psychology in Theory and Practice”. We report on the course syllabus and experiences of pilot course participants.

Background: Childbirth has been suggested to increase sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP). This may vary by occupation; however, knowledge in this field remains limited. We explored SA and DP in the years before and after childbirth among women in four occupational groups and those without occupation.

Methods: We studied nulliparous women aged 18–39 years, living in Sweden on December 31, 2004 (n = 492,504). Women were categorized into five skill-level based occupational groups and three childbirth groups; no childbirths within 3 years (B0), first childbirth in 2005 with no childbirth within 3 years (B1), and first childbirth in 2005 with at least one more birth within 3 years (B1+). We compared crude and standardized annual mean SA (in spells> 14 days) and DP net days in the 3 years before and 3 years after first childbirth date.

Results: Women in the highest skill level occupations and managers, had less mean SA/DP days during most study years than women in the lowest skill level occupations group. In B1 and B1+, absolute differences in mean SA/DP, particularly in SA, among occupational groups were highest during the year before childbirth. DP was most common in B0, regardless of group and year.

Conclusions: We found that women’s mean SA/DP days before and after first childbirth was higher with decreasing skill-level of the occupational group and these differences were most pronounced in the year before childbirth. DP was most common among women not giving birth, regardless of occupational group.

Objective Childbirth is suggested to be associated with elevated levels of sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP). However, detailed knowledge about SA/DP patterns around childbirth is lacking. We aimed to compare SA/DP across different time periods among women according to their childbirth status.

Design Register-based longitudinal cohort study.

Setting Sweden.

Participants Three population-based cohorts of nulliparous women aged 18–39 years, living in Sweden 31 December 1994, 1999 or 2004 (nearly 500 000/cohort).

Primary and secondary outcome measures Sum of SA >14 and DP net days/year.

Methods We compared crude and standardised mean SA and DP days/year during the 3 years preceding and the 3 years after first childbirth date (Y−3 to Y+3), among women having (1) their first and only birth during the subsequent 3 years (B1), (2) their first birth and at least another delivery (B1+), and (3) no childbirths during follow-up (B0).

Results Despite an increase in SA in the year preceding the first childbirth, women in the B1 group, and especially in B1+, tended to have fewer SA/DP days throughout the years than women in the B0 group. For cohort 2005, the mean SA/DP days/year (95% CIs) in the B0, B1 and B1+ groups were for Y−3: 25.3 (24.9–25.7), 14.5 (13.6–15.5) and 8.5 (7.9–9.2); Y−2: 27.5 (27.1–27.9), 16.6 (15.5–17.6) and 9.6 (8.9–10.4); Y−1: 29.2 (28.8–29.6), 31.4 (30.2–32.6) and 22.0 (21.2–22.9); Y+1: 30.2 (29.8–30.7), 11.2 (10.4–12.1) and 5.5 (5.0–6.1); Y+2: 31.7 (31.3–32.1), 15.3 (14.2–16.3) and 10.9 (10.3–11.6); Y+3: 32.3 (31.9–32.7), 18.1 (17.0–19.3) and 12.4 (11.7–13.0), respectively. These patterns were the same in all three cohorts.

Conclusions Women with more than one childbirth had fewer SA/DP days/year compared with women with one childbirth or with no births. Women who did not give birth had markedly more DP days than those giving birth, suggesting a health selection into childbirth.

Purpose: Focusing on 420 women employed within the woman-dominated health care sector, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how any variation in their total workload (TWL) in terms of paid and unpaid work relate to various subjective health complaints (SHC) (n=420) and the neuroendocrine stress marker cortisol (n=68).

Design/methodology/approach: The authors explored how any variation in their TWL in terms of paid and unpaid work related cross-sectionally to SHC (n=420), and the neuroendocrine stress marker cortisol (n=68).

Findings: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that stress of unpaid work was most strongly related to diurnal variations in cortisol. Both stress of paid and unpaid work as well as TWL stress, but not hours spent on TWL, were related to SHC.

Practical implications: Taken together, objective measures of hours spent on various TWL domains were unrelated to outcome measures while perceptions of having too much TWL and TWL stress were linked to both cortisol and SHC, i.e. how individuals perceive a situation seem to be more important for health than the actual situation, which has implications for research and efforts to reduce individual TWL.

Originality/value: This study is unique in showing that unpaid work and perceptions having too much TWL relate to stress markers in women working in the public health care sector.

Objective: This study sets out to investigate the impact of work-home interference on burnout in women and men, while taking genetic and family environmental factors into account. Methods: A total of 4446 Swedish twins were included in the study. The effects of work-home conflict (WHC) and home-work conflict (HWC) on burnout between and within pairs were analyzed with co-twin control analyses. Results: Both WHC and HWC were significantly associated with burnout. Genetic factors may be involved in the association between HWC and burnout in women. Familial factors were not involved for WHC and burnout, neither for women nor for men. Conclusions: This study shows the importance to encounter WHC per se to prevent burnout. Because of genetic confounding in HWC and burnout in women, preventive efforts may also take into account individual characteristics.

Genetic influences on perceived demands and burnout are shown in previous studies, suggesting genetic and shared environmental influences may underlie the associations between work–home interference and burnout. The present study sets out to increase the currently limited understanding of the biological and social correlates of work–home interference (WHI) by investigating whether WHI is related to burnout while taking sex, age, children, and genetic and shared environmental factors into account. A total of 13 730 individuals, including 2223 complete twin pairs, from the Swedish Twin Registry were included in the study. The effects of work–home conflict (WHC) and home–work conflict (HWC) on burnout between- and within-pairs were analyzed with Linear Mixed Models with and without stratification by sex. The results showed significant main effects of WHC and HWC on burnout and co-twin control analyses suggested that shared environmental factors may be involved in the association between HWC and burnout in women. As regards WHC and burnout, genetic or shared environmental factors did not seem to be involved. Adjustment for age and children did not change the results. The present study contributes with new knowledge of the mechanisms involved in the associations between work–home interference and burnout.

Purpose - Self-employed workers typically report higher well-being levels than employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanisms that lead to differences in work engagement between self-employed and organizationally employed high-skilled workers. Design/methodology/approach - Self-employed and organizationally employed high-skilled workers (N = 167) were compared using a multigroup multilevel analysis. Participants assessed their job control (general level) and reported their work engagement during work tasks (task level) by means of the Day Reconstruction Method. Aspects of job control (autonomy, creativity, and learning opportunities) and task characteristics (social tasks and core work tasks) were contrasted for the two groups as predictors of work engagement. Findings - Self-employed workers reported higher levels of job control and work engagement than organizationally employed workers. In both groups, job control predicted work engagement. Employees with more opportunities to be creative and autonomous were more engaged at work. Self-employed workers were more engaged when they had more learning opportunities. On the task level, the self-employed were more engaged during core work tasks and social tasks. Practical implications - The findings suggest that self-employment is an effective way for high-skilled workers to increase the amount of job control available to them, and to improve their work engagement. From an intervention perspective, self-employed workers may benefit most from more learning opportunities, more social tasks, and more core work tasks. Organizationally employed workers may appreciate more autonomy and opportunities for creativity. Originality/value - This study contributes to a better understanding of the role that job control and task characteristics play in predicting the work engagement of high-skilled self-employed and organizationally employed workers.

Theories of psychosocial working conditions assume an interaction of different work environment characteristics. Most studies detail various aspects of such interactions, while fewer investigate the comprehensive patterns of interrelated variables. This exploratory study distinguishes patterns of psychosocial working conditions, describes their characteristics, and investigates their change over 6 years. The working conditions of 1,744 high-skilled workers in Sweden, of a representative sample of the working population, were empirically classified into 4 distinct patterns: (a) the Supporting pattern with a very low workload, very low time pressure, medium learning opportunities, high creativity requirements, and very high autonomy; (b) the Constraining pattern with a very low workload, very low time pressure, low learning opportunities, medium creativity requirements, and very low autonomy; (c) the Demanding pattern with a high workload, high time pressure, medium learning opportunities, high creativity requirements, and very low autonomy; and (d) the Challenging pattern with a high workload, high time pressure, very high learning opportunities, very high creativity requirements, and very high autonomy. Importantly, these patterns were associated with significant differences in worker well-being. From an individual perspective, working conditions most often changed from patterns with a high workload and time pressure to patterns with lower levels of these demands. Over time, the prevalence of the Constraining pattern increased while that of the Challenging pattern decreased. To conclude, a person-centered approach broadens the understanding of the complex interplay between psychosocial working conditions and their longitudinal change, which can improve the tailoring of occupational health interventions.

Work and family are sources of both satisfaction and conflicting demands. A challenge is to identify individuals at risk for conflict and factors that potentially reduce conflict. This study investigated how gender and socioeconomic status (SES) were associated with work-family interference (WFI) and family-work interference (FWI) and how control at work and at home related to WFI and FWI. Data from 1991-1993 and 1997-1999 of the Whitehall II study of British civil servants, including 3484 (827 women and 2657 men) employees in three SES-levels, were analysed. Women reported a higher risk for WFI and FWI. High SES employees reported higher WFI. Less control at home increased risks for WFI and FWI as did low control at work but only for WFI. This suggests that high SES women are especially at risk for conflict and that aspects from the spheres of both work and home should be considered in further research and practice.

Work and family are two domains that are of major importance for many individuals. These domains could put high demands on the individual and when these demands are in conflict there is a risk for negative health consequences (Amstad et al., 2011). However, research has also shown that the multiple roles of work and family could be a source of satisfaction and well-being (McNall, Nicklin, & Masuda, 2010). A major challenge is thus to identify factors that contribute to lessen the potential conflicts between work and family. Control at work has been shown to enable employees to combine work and family (DiRenzo et al., 2011; Grzywacz & Butler, 2005), but it is not clear if control at work relates to the possibility to combine work and family in the same way for women and men on different levels of the occupational hierarchy. In a similar vein, control at home could be beneficial for the work-family balance (Lapierre & Allen, 2012). However, studies about control at home are few and it is not known if control at home relates to the possibility to combine work and family differently depending on such as gender and socioeconomic status.

The objectives of this study thus are:

• to investigate how gender and socioeconomic status are associated with work-family interference (WFI) and family-work interference (FWI)
• to investigate how control at work and control at home relate to WFI and FWI for women and men with different socioeconomic status.

Data from the Whitehall II study of British civil servants 1991-1993 (phase 3) and 1997-1999 (phase 5)  were analyzed (Marmot & Brunner, 2005). This included 3484 (827 women and 2657 men) in three non-industrial employment grades (senior administrative, executive/professional and clerical/support) with mean age 46.65 (SD: 4.79; range 39-62) who had complete data for all variables in the present study.

Results: Women reported more WFI and more FWI than men. There was a gradient in WFI (employees with higher SES reported more WFI). The two-way interactions between gender and SES were significant for both WFI and FWI (see Figures).

Low control at work was associated with more WFI. Lower levels of control at home was associated with more WFI and more FWI. Non of the three-way interaction effects between gender, SES and control at work or control at home were significant.

Conclusions: Women, at least in the British Civil service, experienced more interference between work and family (in both directions) than men. Employees in high positions seem to have more difficulty combining work and family. This is especially true for women which might influence their career choices and health. The importance of control at home indicates that the home sphere has to be considered in further research and in the development of policies on work-family balance. Control at work and at home seem to relate to WFI or FWI in similar ways independently of gender and SES.

Purpose: This study investigated how gender and social position were associated with work-family interference (WFI) and family-work interference (FWI) and how control at work and at home related to WFI and FWI for women and men with different social positions. Method: Data from the Whitehall II study collected 1991-1993 and 1997-1999 among 3484 (827 women and 2657 men) British Civil servants in three employment grades were analyzed. Results: Women reported a higher risk of WFI and FWI. There was a gradient in WFI, showing that employees with higher grades reported more WFI. Interactions indicated a stronger gradient in WFI and FWI among women. Low control at work related to more WFI and low control at home related to more WFI and FWI among all groups of employees. Limitations: The data were collected some years ago among British Civil servants, which limit generalizability. There were few women in the high and middle grades and few men in the low grade which reduced the power to analyze gender and grade differences. Implications: Employees in high positions, especially women, could have more difficulties in combining work and family, which might influence their career choices and health. The importance of control at home indicates that the home sphere has to be considered in further research and practical work. Originality: Only few studies investigate gender and status differences in relation to WFI and FWI. Studies that include both control at work and at home in relation to WFI and FWI are scarce.

Arbetsmarknaden i Sverige är könssegregerad. Det innebär att kvinnor och män i hög grad arbetar i olika sektorer och har olika yrken. Det gör att sektor och yrke behöver tas med när hälsoskillnader mellan kvinnor och män ska undersökas. Den här studien undersöker likheter och skillnader i arbetsklimat och hälsobesvär bland kvinnor och män som arbetar i samma sektor, i samma organisation och har samma yrke. Först jämförs arbetsklimat och hälsobesvär mellan kvinnor och män. Sedan undersöks sambanden mellan arbetsklimatet och hälsobesvär för kvinnor och män. Resultaten baseras på självrapporter i enkäter från 95 kvinnor och 105 män som arbetade som läkare på ett och samma akutsjukhus i Stockholm. Resultaten visade inga statistiskt säkerställda skillnader mellan kvinnor och män när det gällde upplevelser av arbetet, arbetsrollen, ledarskapet eller organisationen. Dock rapporterade kvinnorna att de upplevde sammanhållningen och samarbetet i arbetsgruppen som lägre än männen. Kvinnorna rapporterade också mer av både psykiska och fysiska hälsobesvär jämfört med männen. Både sammanhållning och samarbete i arbetsgruppen var relaterade till färre hälsobesvär, men bara för männen. Den här explorativa studien visar att det kan finnas likheter i arbetsklimatet bland kvinnor och män när arbetssituationen är likartad, men tyder också på att en del av de skillnader som finns i den segregerade arbetsmarknaden också tycks vara närvarande för kvinnor och män som arbetar i samma sektor, organisation och yrke.

Due to the segregated labor market, gender differences in health are often confounded by factors such as sector or occupation.This study explored similarities and differences in work climate and health complaints among women and men working in the same sector, in the same organization, and in the same occupation. First, work climate and health complaints were compared between women and men. Second, relations between the work climate and health complaints were investigated in both genders. Questionnaire data were collected from 95 women and 105 men physicians who worked in the same acute care hospital in Sweden.The results showed no gender differences in the job, role, leadership, or organizational characteristics. However, women physicians reported less workgroup cohesiveness and cooperation and more mental and physical health complaints than men physicians.Workgroup cohesiveness and cooperation were related to less health complaints only for men physicians.This explorative study indicates similarities between women and men when the work situation is similar, but suggests that some of the differences that appear in the large structures of the gender-segregated labor market also seem to be present for women and men who work in the same sector, in the same organization, and in the same occupation.

Purpose: This study explores similarities and differences between women and men with similar working conditions (working within the same sector, in the same organization, and in the same occupation). Women and men were compared regarding 1) levels of psychological work climate and health complaints and 2) how the work climate related to health complaints.

Design/Methodology: Questionnaire data were collected from 95 women and 105 men physicians who worked in the same acute care hospital in Sweden in 2001.

Results: Results showed no gender differences in the job, role, leadership, or organizational characteristics. Women reported less workgroup cohesiveness and cooperation and more mental and physical health complaints than men. Role characteristics (overload/conflict/ambiguity) were related to more health complaints for both women and men. Workgroup cohesiveness and cooperation were related to less health complaints only for men.

Limitations: The study did not account for women and men often working as physicians in different specialties and/or may perform different work tasks. The non-work domain was not investigated.

Research/practical implications: This study indicates similarities between women and men when the work situation is similar, but suggests that some of the differences that appear in the larger structures of the gender-segregated labor market also seem to be present for women and men who work in the same sector, the same organization, and in the same occupation.

Originality: Previous research has underscored the problem of finding samples that are large enough to allow comparing women and men working under similar working conditions.

The Swedish labor market is gender segregated. This means that gender differences in health can be confounded by factors associated with sector and occupation. Thus, sector and occupation need to be considered when comparing work environment and health between women and men. This study uses the theoretical model of psychological work climate that specifies the work environment in terms of five dimensions. These five dimensions are characteristics of the job, role, workgroup, leadership and organization. The aim of the present study was to explore similarities and differences between women and men who have similar working conditions (working in the same sector, in the same organization, and in the same occupation). Women and men were compared regarding 1) levels of work climate and health complaints and 2) how the work climate related to health complaints.

Background: Sweden is in transition when it comes to the immigrant experience. More research is needed to document the life circumstances and adjustment of those with foreign background living in Sweden.

Objective: This study investigated the lived experiences of parents of youths and young people themselves who have an Iraqi or Syrian background and are living in Sweden.

Method: This cross-sectional qualitative interview study focused on a sample of parents of youth and youth (N = 26) with a foreign background. Participants were either born in Syria or Iraq or had one or both parents born in these countries and had migrated to Sweden. Participant interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results: In relation to the study aim, the analysis indicated three main themes in participants’ responses which concerned life in Sweden, feeling at home, and coping.

Conclusions: Overall, these themes reflected how the perception of everyday experiences relates to adjustment within a multi-cultural urban Swedish context. This study showed how participants with a foreign background are rich in their own diversity of experiences and viewpoints. Results also pointed towards the promise of social policy and services aimed at benefiting those with a foreign background if such efforts are situated in the microsystems that provide life daily structure, as well as in contexts that offer socialization and networking opportunities (e.g., training, education, work, and school). Further, such action should consider the importance of the extended family as part of family-focused initiatives.

Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA), that reflect hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) activity and sympathetic activity within the autonomic nervous system (ANS) respectively, are biomarkers with pronounced diurnal rhythms. While research on salivary cortisol is increasing, less is known about the diurnal rhythm of sAA, particularly in adolescents. Also, the linkages between individual factors, such as self-esteem, stress and the biomarkers cortisol and sAA and their combinations remain to be investigated. Besides detailing the diurnal rhythms of salivary cortisol and sAA in 14-16 year-old girls and boys, this study investigated how self-reported stress and self-esteem relate to aggregate measures of salivary cortisol and sAA and their combinations. In addition to self-reports in questionnaires, self-administered salivary samples were collected from 47 girls and 23 boys during a school day. Results showed that girls had higher levels of morning cortisol than did boys, while there were no differences in sAA. Moreover, self-esteem and stress were associated with cortisol and sAA measures, but for girls only. Taken together, the findings suggest that both stress and self-esteem are linked to both separate and combined measures of ANS and HPA-axis activity, particularly among mid-adolescent girls.

Background: While adult health is known to vary by socioeconomic status (SES) and gender, less is known about the linkages between socioeconomic circumstances and various aspects of health in adolescents.

Aim: This study set out to investigate how household financial insecurity relates to different aspects of health in adolescent girls and boys aged 10-18.

Method: Data came from the Swedish Child LNU and Child-Ulf studies of 2000-2003 that include approximately 5400 children aged 10-18 who answered questions relating to health. Parents were also asked to report "cash-margin" a frequently used single-item measure asking whether parents can access 12,000 SEK in a week's time if they have to.

Results: A majority, 85% of the parents were able to access 12,000 SEK in a week if necessary while 15% were unable to do so. Analyses performed separately for girls and boys showed significant main effects of cash margin on somatic health, negative functioning and positive functioning for both groups. There was no significant age x cash margin interactions. Cash margin was significantly related to stomach ache, insomnia, difficulties concentrating, irritability, short temperedness, sadness, tension/nervousness, belief in the future, endurance and happy mood in both girls and boys. Girls with no cash margin reported more headache while boys with no cash margin reported higher levels of self-assurance. No other significant relationships emerged.

Discussion: While most previous studies use symptom and problem indices, this study covers multiple aspects of health functioning. To conclude, fragile family finances during adolescence as reflected in poor positive functioning and high levels of negative functioning suggest stressful living conditions that may influence academic achievement, life-choices and future health.

Abstract: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, including its regulation of cortisol, is central to bodily functioning and salivary cortisol is a commonly used biomarker that reflects the functioning of the HPA axis. However, knowledge of diurnal cortisol rhythms in healthy adolescents is limited and few studies have examined patterns in midadolescent girls and boys across single and aggregate cortisol measures. To fill this gap, the present study investigated single and aggregate cortisol measures reflecting diurnal rhythms in 14 to 16-year-old girls and boys. Self-administered salivary samples from 79 girls and 42 boys were collected during two schooldays at four timepoints: (a) immediately at awakening, (b) 30 min after waking up, (c) 60 min after waking up, and (d) at 8:00 p.m. Additionally, diary data including time of awakening, sampling times, and other potential confounders were analyzed. As for single measures, both girls and boys exhibited a typical diurnal cortisol profile with high levels in the morning that decreased throughout the day. However, girls had higher morning cortisol than did boys with significant differences at time of awakening, and at 30 and 60 min postawakening. For the aggregate measures, girls had a larger total level of cortisol in terms of cortisol awakening response (CARG), area under the curve (AUCG), and rise over run (slopeawake to last), while no differences emerged for reactivity measures. Taken together, these findings suggest differences in single and aggregate cortisol measures between midadolescent girls and boys. Such differences in diurnal cortisol between pubertal girls and boys may play a role for the differential health trajectories typically found among adult women and men.

Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA) that reflect hypothalamopituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) activity and sympathetic activity within the autonomic nervous system (ANS) respectively, are biomarkers with pronounced diurnal rhythms. While research on salivary cortisol is increasing, little is known about the diurnal rhythm of salivary alphaamylase, particularly in adolescents. Also, the linkages between individual factors and self-reports of stress as related to HPA-axis activity and autonomic/sympathetic functioning remain to be investigated. This study set out to investigate diurnal rhythms of salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase in 14-16 year-old girls and boys. Moreover, the study investigated whether stress and self-esteem are related to aggregate salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase measures. Besides self-reports in questionnaires, self-administered salivary samples were collected from 47 girls and 23 boys during a school day. Results showed girls had higher levels of morning cortisol than did boys, while there were no differences in morning or diurnal sAA. Additionally, self-esteem and self-reported stress were associated with different measures of cortisol and sAA but for girls only. Taken together, the findings suggest that both self-reported stress and self-esteem are linked to various aspects of sympathetic ANS activity and HPA-axis activity, particularly among mid-adolescent girls.

Introduction: Every year, around 50.000 children in Sweden experience a separation between their parents. Joint physical custody (JPC), where the child alternates homes between the parents for about equal amount of time, has become a common living arrangement after parental separation. Children living in two homes can benefit from everyday contact with both parents and access to both parents’ financial resources. However, children can also experience stress from constantly moving and from exposure to any parental conflict. Yet, research on JPC and stress-related biological functioning is limited. The aimof this study was to investigate how living arrangements (intact family/JPC) relate toHPA-axis activity and recurrent pain in mid-adolescents. Methods: Mid-adolescents (106 girls and 51 boys) provided demographic details, self-reports of recurrent pain (headache, stomachache, neck/shoulder and back pain) and salivary samples. Salivary cortisol samples were collected: 1) immediately at awakening, 2) +30 minutes, 3) +60 minutes, and 4) at 8 p.m. Results: Hierarchical regressions showed that living arrangements did not predict morning cortisol levels, the diurnal cortisol rhythm nor recurrent pain. However, sex was significantly associated with both morning cortisol and recurrent pain. Conclusion: Living arrangements were not linked to HPA-axis activity or recurrent pain in this group of well-functioning mid-adolescents. Although this is the first study investigating how living arrangements relate to HPA-axis functioning, which means that additional research is needed, the findings suggest that these mid-adolescents have adapted to their living arrangements and that other factors seem more pertinent for HPA-functioning and subjective health complaints.

BACKGROUND: Each year, around 50.000 children in Sweden experience a separation between their parents. Joint physical custody (JPC), where the child alternates homes between the parents for about equal amount of time, has become a common living arrangement after parental separation. Children in two homes could benefit from everyday contact with both parents and access to both parents' financial resources. However, children could experience stress from being constantly moving and potentially exposed to parental conflicts. Still, studies on JPC and biological functioning related to stress, are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate how living arrangements (intact family/JPC) relate to HPA-axis activity and recurrent pain in mid-adolescents.

METHODS: Mid-adolescents (106 girls and 51 boys) provided demographic details, self-reports of recurrent pain (headache, stomachache, neck/shoulder and back pain) and salivary samples. Salivary cortisol samples were collected: 1) immediately at awakening, 2) +30 minutes, 3) +60 minutes, and 4) at 8 p.m. The cortisol awakening response (CAR) was computed using an established formula. Additionally, the diurnal decline between the waking and 8 p.m. samples was computed.

RESULTS: Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that living arrangements (intact family/JPC) was not associated with morning cortisol (CAR), the diurnal cortisol decline or with recurrent pain. However, sex was a significant predictor of both cortisol measures and recurrent pain with girls exhibiting a higher cortisol awakening response and a greater diurnal decline value as well as reporting more recurrent pain than did boys.

CONCLUSIONS: Living arrangements were not associated with HPA-axis activity or recurrent pain in this group of well-functioning mid-adolescents. Although this study is the first to investigate how living arrangements relate to HPA-axis functioning and additional studies are needed, the tentative findings suggest that these mid-adolescents have adapted to their living arrangements and that other factors play a more pertinent role for HPA-functioning and subjective health.

Background/Aim: Current crisis of Western economies (e.g., growth, acceleration, work intensification) is reflected at an individual level in increasing health problems of work-forces (e.g., musculoskeletal problems, depression). In order to protect and improve work ability and health in organizations intervention strategies should reach beyond individual improvement of health behaviors and resilience and need to take into account more sustainable approaches of work design. We aim to advance knowledge and good practice of healthoriented work design interventions in different organizational contexts. All presented intervention studies are grounded in work psychological theories and concepts. Moreover, the evaluation designs are longitudinal and include intervention as well as control groups. All evaluations are based on well-established measures to assess psychosocial work characteristics as well as employee health.

Content/Context: This symposium brings together applied interdisciplinary research of five institutions concerned with occupational health issues (I/O psychology, occupational and psychosomatic medicine) from three countries (Austria, Germany, Sweden). The research groups each have a long tradition in intervention research in different occupational settings. Six papers are proposed for presentations. Implications for research and practice: All presentations in this symposium will

- provide evidence for changes in psychosocial work characteristics and employee health due to work design interventions

- offer insights into intervention topics and processes in practice

- discuss challenges, benefits and obstacles of health-oriented work design interventions.

Objective Ambient particle matter is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, little is known about associations between particles in occupational settings and risk of CVD. We investigated associations between occupational dust exposure and biomarkers of CVD, and potential recovery effects after vacation.

Methods Personal dust exposure measurements (respirable silica, respirable dust < 4 mu m, and particles of 0.1-10 mu m (PM 0.1-10) were conducted once, and biological sampling were performed twice on non-smoking, male construction workers in Stockholm county, Sweden; during work and immediately after summer vacation. Linear regressions with adjustments for confounders and covariates were performed evaluating associations between occupational dust exposure and biomarkers. Paired t tests were performed evaluating changes before and after vacation.

Results Sixty-five workers participated. Homocysteine concentrations were significantly higher with increasing concentrations (mg/m(3)) of respirable silica, respirable dust, and PM 0.1-10, and pulse rate with higher levels of respirable dust and dust of PM 0.1-10. Homocysteine levels were also positively correlated to number of years of dust exposure, as were low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. A clear recovery effect was present for LDL after vacation, but not for homocysteine.

Conclusions Occupational dust exposure was associated with some CVD risk markers, even at mean exposure concentrations below the Swedish occupational exposure limits for respirable silica and respirable dust, respectively. Vacation resulted in recovery for some risk markers. However, the change of the homocysteine and LDL levels suggest a long-term effect. Reduction of occupational exposure to dust may decrease the risk of CVD among exposed workers.

To describe the associations between physiology and recovery, reliable methods to measure rest and recovery are needed. One of the most common methods to gain information on rest and recovery is to ask people to provide self-ratings in questionnaires. To determine whether the answers to such questions are associated with health, self-ratings can be evaluated with respect to established biomarkers of physiological functioning, such as cortisol. The findings show that self-ratings of rest and recovery are related to cortisol, particularly to morning cortisol, and that self-ratings provide important information on physiological recovery in terms of cortisol output.

The understanding of how self-ratings of work-related rest and recovery relate to cortisol output is poor. This study aimed to investigate the associations between self-ratings of 15 items of rest and recovery and salivary cortisol measured every second hour during two work days. Data came from 12 female and 13male white-collar workers and were analyzed by linear regression analyses and repeated measures ANOVA. The results showed that poor rest and recovery was associated with high levels of morning cortisol. The strongest relationships between single items and salivary cortisol emerged for ”rested in the morning”,

”rested after a weekend”, ”feel energetic during the working day”, ”tired during the working day”, ”sufficient sleep” and ”worry about something”. Furthermore, significant interaction effects were found between sex and “rested after a weekend” and “worry about something”. To conclude, the findings show linkages between self-ratings of rest and recovery and cortisol levels, particularly morning cortisol. This suggests that self-ratings of rest and recovery provide important information on physiological recovery in terms of cortisol output.

To date, the understanding of how recovery from work relates to cortisol output is poor. Considering this, the present study set out to investigate the associations between self-ratings of 15 items of rest and recovery and salivary cortisol sampled every second hour across two working days. Data came from 12 female and 13 male white-collar workers and were analyzed by linear regression analyses and repeated measures ANOVA. Poor rest and recovery was associated with high levels of morning cortisol, with the strongest relationships emerging for "rested in the morning", "rested after a weekend", "feel energetic during the working day", "tired during the working day", "sufficient sleep" and "worry about something". Moreover, significant interaction effects emerged between sex and "rested after a weekend" and "worry about something". To conclude, the findings show that self-ratings of rest and recovery are related to cortisol, particularly to morning cortisol, and that self-ratings provide important information on physiological recovery in terms of cortisol output.

Positive psychology investigates the positive aspects of human life. Positive psychologists contend that it is difficult to understand the factors that create health, balance and meaningful lives through studying sickness, dissatisfaction and suffering. Accordingly, positive psychology represents a turn for a more positive approach to psychology.

The ideas of positive psychology are also applicable within the sphere of work and organisational psychology. It is a central contention of this report that positive psychology may provide interesting answers to some of the challenges that are confronting the Nordic welfare states in the years ahead.

The aim of this report is to give a theoretical and methodological overview of existing Nordic research about positive factors at work. The report contains a series of operationalised concepts that measure positive factors at work. These measures of positive factors at work are brought together in a theoretical model that the authors of this report will use as a starting point for further research into positive psychology at work in a Nordic context.

The aim of this study was to validate subjective ratings of questions on unwinding and recuperation and to investigate the relationships with cortisol output. Participants were 25 white-collar workers employed at a Swedish government authority. Linear regressions and repeated measures of ANOVA were used to calculate mean levels of salivary cortisol as related to recovery/recuperation. The results show significant main effects of cortisol as related to subjective ratings (p < 0.01) and a significant interaction effect (p < 0.05) between cortisol and sex. The study indicates that high levels of morning cortisol are significantly related to failure to recuperate. Results are discussed in terms of validity, prediction, sex differences, selection and generalization.