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The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives

The workplace is an ideal environment for promoting workers’ health. Nevertheless, preventive health measures are insufficiently implemented, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with up to 250 employees. The aim of this study was to investigate determinants for the implementation...

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Autores principales: Benning, Friederike E., van Oostrom, Sandra H., van Nassau, Femke, Schaap, Rosanne, Anema, Johannes R., Proper, Karin I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8997761/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35409587
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073904
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author Benning, Friederike E.
van Oostrom, Sandra H.
van Nassau, Femke
Schaap, Rosanne
Anema, Johannes R.
Proper, Karin I.
author_facet Benning, Friederike E.
van Oostrom, Sandra H.
van Nassau, Femke
Schaap, Rosanne
Anema, Johannes R.
Proper, Karin I.
author_sort Benning, Friederike E.
collection PubMed
description The workplace is an ideal environment for promoting workers’ health. Nevertheless, preventive health measures are insufficiently implemented, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with up to 250 employees. The aim of this study was to investigate determinants for the implementation of measures to prevent musculoskeletal and mental health disorders from the perspective of enterprise representatives in Dutch SMEs. An online survey was completed by 79 SME representatives (e.g., owners, HR professionals and occupational health and safety officers) in the cleaning, care, construction and transport sectors. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 enterprise representatives. The interview transcripts were analyzed using an inductive approach. Survey data showed that the focus of prevention efforts by SMEs is on improving working conditions and complying with legally required occupational health requirements, while lifestyle measures are rarely implemented. The determinants of implementation according to enterprise representatives were associated with 10 distinct themes. These were (1) available resources (both finances and staff), (2) complexity of implementation of measures, (3) awareness, (4) knowledge and expertise, (5) availability of time, (6) employer and worker commitment, (7) workers’ openness for measures, (8) communication, (9) workers’ trust and autonomy and (10) integration in organizational policy. These findings can serve as a support for developing strategies for implementing preventive health measures in SMEs.
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spelling pubmed-89977612022-04-12 The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives Benning, Friederike E. van Oostrom, Sandra H. van Nassau, Femke Schaap, Rosanne Anema, Johannes R. Proper, Karin I. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The workplace is an ideal environment for promoting workers’ health. Nevertheless, preventive health measures are insufficiently implemented, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with up to 250 employees. The aim of this study was to investigate determinants for the implementation of measures to prevent musculoskeletal and mental health disorders from the perspective of enterprise representatives in Dutch SMEs. An online survey was completed by 79 SME representatives (e.g., owners, HR professionals and occupational health and safety officers) in the cleaning, care, construction and transport sectors. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 enterprise representatives. The interview transcripts were analyzed using an inductive approach. Survey data showed that the focus of prevention efforts by SMEs is on improving working conditions and complying with legally required occupational health requirements, while lifestyle measures are rarely implemented. The determinants of implementation according to enterprise representatives were associated with 10 distinct themes. These were (1) available resources (both finances and staff), (2) complexity of implementation of measures, (3) awareness, (4) knowledge and expertise, (5) availability of time, (6) employer and worker commitment, (7) workers’ openness for measures, (8) communication, (9) workers’ trust and autonomy and (10) integration in organizational policy. These findings can serve as a support for developing strategies for implementing preventive health measures in SMEs. MDPI 2022-03-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8997761/ /pubmed/35409587 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073904 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Benning, Friederike E.
van Oostrom, Sandra H.
van Nassau, Femke
Schaap, Rosanne
Anema, Johannes R.
Proper, Karin I.
The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives
title The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives
title_full The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives
title_fullStr The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives
title_full_unstemmed The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives
title_short The Implementation of Preventive Health Measures in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Study of Its Determinants from the Perspective of Enterprise Representatives
title_sort implementation of preventive health measures in small- and medium-sized enterprises—a combined quantitative/qualitative study of its determinants from the perspective of enterprise representatives
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8997761/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35409587
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073904
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