Objective: To examine the associations between sickness presenteeism (SP) reported as number of days with SP reported as number of times and to evaluate their responsiveness.

Methods: The study population (n = 454) consisted of employed individuals, at risk of long-term sickness absence. Correlation analyses were performed to examine associations between the two SP measures and external constructs such as work performance, general health, and registered sick leave. Both SP constructs were measured several times to examine responsiveness.

Results: The SP measures are moderately correlated. They moderately correlated with work performance and health status measures. SP reported as number of times seems to be more sensitive than number of days in detecting changes after rehabilitation.

Conclusions: Numerical or categorical constructs are valid sources of data on SP. However, categorized SP seems to be more responsive.

Stress and mental ill-health carry considerable costs for both individuals and organizations. Although interventions targeting compassion and self-compassion have been shown to reduce stress and benefit mental health, related research in organizational settings is limited. We investigated the effects of a 6-week psychological intervention utilizing compassion training on stress, mental health, and self-compassion. Forty-nine employees of two organizations were randomly assigned to either the intervention (n = 25) or a physical exercise control condition (n = 24). Multilevel growth models showed that stress (p = 0.04) and mental ill-health (p = 0.02) decreased over 3 months in both groups (pre-intervention to follow-up: Cohen’s d = −0.46 and d = 0.33, respectively), while self-compassion only increased in the intervention group (p = 0.03, between group d = 0.53). There were no significant effects on life satisfaction in any of the groups (p > 0.53). The findings show promising results regarding the ability of compassion training within organizations to decrease stress and mental ill-health and increase self-compassion. 

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.

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. 

I beskrivningar av arbetslivet talas det ofta om det nya men inte sällan är det nygamla frågor som uppenbarar sig i en ny kontext. Det finns en kontinuitet till tidigare förhållanden som är värd att uppmärksamma inte minst i fråga om makt, sociala relationer och mänskliga behov. Digitala infrastrukturer genomsyrar nu arbetslivet och dessa kan ses som en ny produktionsform i relation till tidigare agrara och industriella former. I kapitlet undersöks och jämförs anställningsvillkor och anställningssystem i dessa tre produktionsformer. Gemensamt är grundkonflikten mellan den enskilda individens behov av kontroll, trygghet, mening och förutsägbarheti livet och företags och organisationers intresse av snabbar anpassningar till omvärldsförändringar. Konflikten formar konstruktionenav anställnings- och anknytningsformer både i kvalitativ och i kvantitativ mening. Kapitlet har i grunden ett psykologiskt perspektiv med fokus på arbetsvillkor och hälsa i två grupper av anställda -inlåsta och utlåsta - med stor diskrepans mellan sin aktuella och sin önskvärda arbets- och livssitutation

Samtidigt som det pågår en inre specialisering i de ”gamla” disciplinerna fysiologi, psykologi och sociologi uppstår nya vetenskaper som syftar till att integrera och tillämpa de gamla disciplinernas fynd och kunskapsmassa. Arbetsvetenskapen etablerar sig på 1970-talet när det inom andra envetenskapliga discipliner utvecklats kunskapsmassor som kan sammanföras och få synergieffekter av både praktisk och teoretisk art. Jag ser Arbetsvetenskap som en sådan nödvändig skapelse som tillvaratar enskilda discipliners forskningsrön och för samman dem till praktikrelevant kunskap för tillämpning i ett mångfacetterat arbetsliv med mycket olika verksamheter, organisationsmodeller och arbetsvillkor. Det är med sådana glasögon jag börjar läsa boken Arbetsvetenskap – en introduktion.

Inom arbetslivsforskningen har tillitsforskning inte haft samma expansiva utveckling som inom samhällsvetenskap. Kapitlet riktar fokus på tillitsbegreppet, konsekvenser av tillit och förhållanden som skapar eller raserar tillit.  

Den psykologiska kärnan i tillit är att människor och ting är pålitliga. Därigenom blir socialt liv mera förutsägbart, osäkerhet och komplexitet reduceras, upplevelsen av risker, stress och kaos minskar. Tillit stabiliserar människors identitetsupplevelse och tillit styrker människors förmåga att vara aktörer i sina egna liv – den som känner tillit vågar göra det han eller hon vill, önskar och drömmer om. Genom tillit skapas och bibehålls sociala relationer och handlingar kan genomföras som annars skulle vara omöjliga utan stora transaktionskostnader. Om tilliten minskar eller försvinner minskar också människors vilja att ta risker. I forskning med inriktning mot arbete och hälsa finns ett fokus på kontroll i meningen anställdas inflytande i sitt arbete. Balans mellan kontroll och krav dämpar stress och förebygger ohälsa. Kontroll är begreppsligt en nära släkting till tillit. Gemensamt är att osäkerhet reduceras, vilket minskar stress och gör det lättare att fatta beslut och handla. 

Tillit till andra människor spelar en avgörande roll för samarbete. Den som litar på att de andra – arbetskamrater och ledning – kommer att försöka uppfylla viktiga förpliktelser kommer också att öka sin egen uppslutning kring dessa förpliktelser. Ökade kunskaper om sambandet mellan tillit och kollektivt handlande skulle kunna förebygga ofruktbara konflikter och främja effektivt handlande och hälsa.

Hur kommer det sig att arbetet medför status, goda arbetsvillkor och hälsa för vissa, medan det innebär vanmakt, underordning och sjukdom för andra? Denna uråldriga och till synes naiva fråga pockar allt ihärdigare på ett svar i en tid där den sociala ojämlikheten ökar. Den som är det minsta intresserad av arbetsliv och hälsa och som läser de kapitel som nu följer kommer att bli inspirerad, kanske provocerad och troligen väldigt imponerad av svensk arbetslivsforskning. Flera av Sveriges mest framträdande arbetslivsforskare medverkar i boken.

Purpose: The first objective was to contribute to a better understanding of the contrasting and paradoxical results in studies of work environment factors and sickness presence and sickness absence. A second objective was to examine if, and under what conditions, employees choose to replace sickness absence with sickness presence, i.e., so-called substitution.

Methods: The study utilizes a large body of cross-sectional questionnaire data (n = 130,161) gathered in Sweden from 2002 to 2007 in connection with a comprehensive health promotion initiative. Health and motivation were analyzed as mediators of the effects of five job factors, job control, job support, job demand, role conflict and “work to family conflict” on sickness presence and absence.

Results: The results concerning job demands indicate substitution in that increased job demands are associated with increased presenteeism and reduced absenteeism. The direct effect of higher job support was increased absenteeism, but via the health and motivation paths, the total effect of more social support was health-promoting and associated with a reduction in sickness absence and sickness presence. High job control emerged as the most pronounced health-promoting factor, reducing sickness presenteeism as well as absenteeism. More role conflicts and work-to-family conflicts were directly and indirectly associated with decreased health and increased absenteeism as well as presenteeism. earlier research.

Conclusion: The mediation analyzes shed light on some of the paradoxes in research on sickness presenteeism and sickness absenteeism, especially regarding job demands and job support. The substitution effect is important for workplace policy and occupational health practice.

Under covid-19-pandemins första våg, tidigt våren 2020, valde de flesta länder, inklusive Sverige, att rekommendera eller kräva att de anställda som kunde skulle arbeta på distans från bostaden för att minska smittspridningen på arbetsplatser och under resor till och från dessa arbetsplatser. Att arbeta på distans skiljer sig i många avseenden från att arbeta i arbetsgivarens lokaler.

Det övergripande syftet med denna översikt, som består av tre delar, har varit att sammanställa och öka den forskningsbaserade kunskapen om distansarbete i hemmet.

Översikten omfattar forskningslitteratur inom tre områden:

• arbetsmiljö och hälsa
• balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv
• produktivitet.

I analyserna har vi därtill särskilt fokuserat på likheter och skillnader i mäns och kvinnors villkor vid lönearbete i hemmet. Ytterligare syften har varit att undersöka och dra slutsatser om distansarbete i hemmet under tiden före respektive under pandemin.

This study examined exposure changes in three psychosocial dimensions - job demands, job control, and social support - and the associations between these dimensions and sickness absence throughout the period 1991-2013. The analyses covered periods of economic ups and downs in Sweden and periods involving major fluctuations in sickness absence. Data on care workers (n = 16,179) and a comparison group of employees in other occupations (n = 82,070) were derived from the biennial Swedish Work Environment Survey and linked to register data on sickness absence. Eight exposure profiles, based on combinations of demands, control, and support, were formed. The proportion of individuals with work profiles involving high demands doubled among care workers (14%-29%) while increasing modestly in the comparison group (17%-21%) 1991-2013. The work profile that isolated high-strain (iso-strain), i.e., high demands, low control, and low social support, was more prevalent among care workers, from 4% in 1991 to 11% in 2013. Individuals with work profiles involving highdemand jobs had the highest number of days on sickness absence during the study period and those with the isostrain work profile had the highest increase in sickness absence, from 15 days per year during 1993-1994, to 42 days during 2000-2002. Employees with a passive work profile (low job demands and low job control) had the lowest rate and the lowest increase in sickness absence. Individuals with active work profiles, where high demands are supposed to be balanced by high job control, had a rather high increase in sickness days around 2000. A conclusion is that there is a long-term trend towards jobs with high demands. This trend is stronger among care workers than among other occupations. These levels of job demands seem to be at such a level that it is difficult to compensate for with higher job control and social support.

This study sets out to investigate the potential differences between social workers using voice- or silence strategies in their experience of organisational resources, attitudes and health, and whether social workers moving between strategies (voice or silence) over time have a different experience of the same outcomes than those who stay with the same strategy group. The participating social workers (n = 1356) responded to two web-based questionnaires over a one-year period. Findings The results show that voice strategies are related to the experience of more positive organisational resources, more positive attitudes (greater job satisfaction and organisational commitment, but lower intention to exit) and more positive health (greater recovery, but less emotional exhaustion and stress symptoms) than those using silence strategies. The results also show that moving from silence to voice is related to the experience of increased organisational resources, more positive attitudes and more positive health at T2, while those moving from voice to silence reported the opposite. Applications The longitudinal approach applied in this study adds empirical evidence of the relationship between voice/silence and work-related attitudes, as well as health and well-being. The close relationship between organisational resources, employee voice behaviour and related individual outcomes regarding attitudes and health imply that Human Resources (HR) management has a lot to gain by developing and securing a voice-friendly and considerate climate in their organisations.

Extensive staff turnover within the statutory social services is a serious problem in Sweden and in other European countries. This study examines which work conditions predict social workers’ willingness to stay in their organisation. A web-based questionnaire was used to gather data. The participating social workers responded to two questionnaires over a one-year period. To identify the social workers who wanted to stay and also remained in the organisation, the group ‘Stayers’ (n = 1,368) consisted of social workers who reported low intentions to quit at T1. The group ‘Leavers’ (n = 1,182) were social workers who had actually resigned at T2. The data were analysed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. The multivariate analysis shows that the work conditions that predicted staying in the organisation were low degrees of conflicting demands and quantitative demands, high degrees of openness and human resource orientation in the organisation and a high degree of perceived service quality. The results are discussed in relation to public management and managerial responsibility to create sustainable work conditions that facilitate the provision of good social services for citizens.

This study examines consumers' liquid volume size perceptions based on standardized product pictures in online stores. Four empirical studies compare liquid volume size perceptions for the same products when displayed online and offline. The findings indicate that size perceptions require more effort online than they do offline and that the online display decreases the accuracy of the size perceptions. Online size perceptions require more effort in terms of time and visual attention, as consumers need to study product labels to determine product sizes. The study also introduces a new visual bias to consumer research: the familiar size bias. A consideration of this bias reveals that consumer size perceptions are less accurate online, where consumers tend to overestimate the sizes of small products and underestimate the sizes of large products.

Internet-delivered interventions are generally effective for psychological problems. While the presence of a clinician guiding the client via text messages typically leads to better outcomes, the characteristics of what constitutes high-quality communication are less well investigated. This study aimed to identify how an internet therapist most effectively communicates with clients in internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT). Using data from a treatment study of depressed adolescents with a focus on participants who had a positive outcome, messages from therapists were analyzed using thematic analysis. The study focused on the therapist's 1) encouragement and 2) affirmation, and how the therapists used 3) personal address. The analysis resulted in a total of twelve themes (Persistence Wins, You Are a Superhero, You Make Your Luck, You Understand, Hard Times, You Are Like Others, My View on the Matter, Time for a Change, Welcome In, Let Me Help You, You Affect Me, and I Am Human). Overall, the themes form patterns where treatment is described as hard work that requires a motivated client who is encouraged by the therapist. The findings are discussed based on the cognitive behavioral theoretical foundation of the treatment, prior research on therapist behaviors, and the fact that the treatment is provided over the internet.

Training military officers to lead in combat has always presented a training paradox: it is impossible to expose individuals to the inherent strains and dangers of real combat, but combat is where they are supposed to lead, making those demands normative for training. To overcome this paradox, the military uses training courses where stress is as realistic as possible within ethical limits. One frequent example of such a course is parachute training. Completing one demanding task (parachuting) can also increase the individual’s belief that other tasks with equal or even greater difficulty (leading in combat) can be overcome similarly. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate whether and how military parachute training can function as a method for leadership development. The purpose of Study I was to investigate whether military parachute training was associated with an increase in leadership self-efficacy. The results show that parachute training increased leader self-control efficacy when compared to the different training of a group of cadets. In addition, the training given contributed to increased leader assertiveness efficacy for both groups. The purpose of Study II was to investigate whether the inability to complete training was associated with any direct and sustained effects. The results show that there were no differences between those who completed training and those who did not. Regarding outcome, leader self-control efficacy decreased significantly for those who were unable to complete training when compared to those who did. The purpose of Study III was to examine how the two sub-domains of leadership self-efficacy examined in the first two studies were associated with leadership behaviors, specifically those described in the developmental leadership model. The results show that leader assertiveness efficacy was the best predictor to the dimensions of developmental leadership. Leader self-control efficacy seems to be more related to functioning within an extreme context. Overall, the thesis indicates that parachute training can help to prepare future military leaders to lead in combat. The results imply that the effects of parachute training are indirect rather than directly associated to leadership and that ability to remain composure in extreme situations in turn enables individual behaviors, including leadership. The thesis also contributes insight into the process of how personal beliefs can be transferred or generalized across different areas or domains in a person’s life. The results are also relevant for other professions that routinely work in extreme contexts.