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Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: The consequences of restrictive measures during the COVID-19 outbreak have potentially been enormous, especially for those in a vulnerable position in the labour market. This study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work status, working conditions and health among peop...

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Autores principales: de Visser, Mara, de Graaf-Zijl, Marloes, Anema, Johannes R., Huysmans, Maaike A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10214321/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37237345
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15720-w
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author de Visser, Mara
de Graaf-Zijl, Marloes
Anema, Johannes R.
Huysmans, Maaike A.
author_facet de Visser, Mara
de Graaf-Zijl, Marloes
Anema, Johannes R.
Huysmans, Maaike A.
author_sort de Visser, Mara
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The consequences of restrictive measures during the COVID-19 outbreak have potentially been enormous, especially for those in a vulnerable position in the labour market. This study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work status, working conditions and health among people with (partial) work disabilities—with and in search of work—during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. METHODS: A mixed methods design was used, combining a cross-sectional online survey and ten semi-structured interviews with people with a (partial) work disability. The quantitative data included responses to job-related questions, self-reported health, and demographics. The qualitative data consisted of participants’ perceptions about work, vocational rehabilitation, and health. We used descriptive statistics to summarize the responses, conducted logistic and linear regression and integrated our qualitative findings with the quantitative findings, aiming at complementarity. RESULTS: Five hundred and eighty-four participants (response rate 30.2%) completed the online survey. The majority of participants experienced no change in work status: 39 percent remained employed, 45 percent remained unemployed, six percent of respondents lost their job, and ten percent became employed during the COVID-19 crisis. In general, the results showed a deterioration in self-rated health during the COVID-19 outbreak, both for participants at work and in search of work. Participants who lost their job during the COVID-19 crisis reported the highest deterioration in self-rated health. Interview findings revealed that loneliness and social isolation were persistent during the COVID-19 crisis, especially among those in search of work. Additionally, employed participants identified a safe work environment and the possibility to work at the office as important factors for overall health. CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of study participants (84.2%) experienced no change in work status during the COVID-19 crisis. Nonetheless, people at work and in search of work encountered barriers to maintaining or (re)gaining employment. People with a (partial) work disability who lost their job during the crisis appeared to be most affected in terms of health. Employment and health protections could be strengthened for persons with (partial) work disabilities in order to build resilience in times of crisis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-15720-w.
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spelling pubmed-102143212023-05-27 Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study de Visser, Mara de Graaf-Zijl, Marloes Anema, Johannes R. Huysmans, Maaike A. BMC Public Health Research BACKGROUND: The consequences of restrictive measures during the COVID-19 outbreak have potentially been enormous, especially for those in a vulnerable position in the labour market. This study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work status, working conditions and health among people with (partial) work disabilities—with and in search of work—during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. METHODS: A mixed methods design was used, combining a cross-sectional online survey and ten semi-structured interviews with people with a (partial) work disability. The quantitative data included responses to job-related questions, self-reported health, and demographics. The qualitative data consisted of participants’ perceptions about work, vocational rehabilitation, and health. We used descriptive statistics to summarize the responses, conducted logistic and linear regression and integrated our qualitative findings with the quantitative findings, aiming at complementarity. RESULTS: Five hundred and eighty-four participants (response rate 30.2%) completed the online survey. The majority of participants experienced no change in work status: 39 percent remained employed, 45 percent remained unemployed, six percent of respondents lost their job, and ten percent became employed during the COVID-19 crisis. In general, the results showed a deterioration in self-rated health during the COVID-19 outbreak, both for participants at work and in search of work. Participants who lost their job during the COVID-19 crisis reported the highest deterioration in self-rated health. Interview findings revealed that loneliness and social isolation were persistent during the COVID-19 crisis, especially among those in search of work. Additionally, employed participants identified a safe work environment and the possibility to work at the office as important factors for overall health. CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of study participants (84.2%) experienced no change in work status during the COVID-19 crisis. Nonetheless, people at work and in search of work encountered barriers to maintaining or (re)gaining employment. People with a (partial) work disability who lost their job during the crisis appeared to be most affected in terms of health. Employment and health protections could be strengthened for persons with (partial) work disabilities in order to build resilience in times of crisis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-15720-w. BioMed Central 2023-05-26 /pmc/articles/PMC10214321/ /pubmed/37237345 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15720-w Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research
de Visser, Mara
de Graaf-Zijl, Marloes
Anema, Johannes R.
Huysmans, Maaike A.
Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
title Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
title_full Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
title_fullStr Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
title_full_unstemmed Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
title_short Work and health during the COVID-19 crisis among Dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
title_sort work and health during the covid-19 crisis among dutch workers and jobseekers with (partial) work disabilities: a mixed methods study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10214321/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37237345
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15720-w
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