Is work beneficial to good health?

Young Finnish Unemployed Men's Experiences of Having Participated in a Specific Active Labor Market Program

The purpose of the present study was to describe young Finnish unemployed men's experiences of having participated in a specific active labor market program, intended to fight unemployment and offered at a resource center. Fifteen young unemployed Finnish men in the age range 18 to 27 years were interviewed face-to-face. Purposive sampling was used to increase the variation among informants. The interview texts were analyzed using both manifest and latent qualitative content analysis. The present results reported that the young men felt that they, thanks to the program at the resource center, had acquired daily routines and could ultimately believe in the future. The young men described how they now had a structure, economic support, and that they could return to their daily life. The informants also described how they could see new possibilities and believe in oneself. There is a lack of empirical studies assessing the possible impact of active labor market programs on the unemployed based on participants' own experiences. Further research is needed to describe and elucidate in more detail the effects of targeted support measures and the needs of unemployed men of different ages and living in different contexts.

Prevalence of perceived stress and associations to symptoms of exhaustion, depression and anxiety in a working age population seeking primary care--an observational study

Background

Prolonged stress may lead to mental illness, but the prevalence of stress in a working age population seeking primary health care for whatever reason, is unknown. This paper seeks to examine to what extent this group perceives stress, as well as symptoms of burnout/exhaustion, depression and anxiety.

Methods

In 2009, 587 primary health care patients aged 18–65 years (377 women, 210 men), with an appointment with a primary health care physician, participated in the study.

A screening questionnaire with questions about age, gender, marital status, employment, reason for medical consultation, and the QPS Nordic screening question about stress was distributed:” Stress is defined as a condition where you feel tense, restless, anxious or worried or cannot sleep at night because you think of problems all the time. Do you feel that kind of stress these days? There were five possible answers; “not at all” and ”only a little” (level 1),“to some extent” (level 2),“rather much” and “very much” (level 3). In a second step, symptoms of burnout/exhaustion (Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire and the Self-rated Exhaustion Disorder instrument) and anxiety/depression (Hospital Depression and Anxiety scale) were assessed among those with higher levels of perceived stress.

Results

345 (59%) of the study patients indicated stress levels 2 or 3 (237 women and 108 men). Women more often indicated increased levels of stress than men. Two thirds of the participants expressing stress levels 2–3 indicated a high degree of burnout, and approximately half of them indicated Exhaustion Disorder (ED). Among highly stressed patients (level 3), 33% reported symptoms indicating possible depression and 64% possible anxiety.

Conclusion

More than half of this working age population perceived more than a little stress, as defined, women to a greater extent than men. Symptoms of burnout and exhaustion were common. A high level of perceived stress was often accompanied by symptoms of depression and/or anxiety.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12875-015-0252-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Unemployment and health: experiences narrated by young Finnish men

Studies have shown that the experiences and consequences of unemployment can affect people differently depending on, for example, age and gender. The purpose of the present study was to describe young Finnish men's experiences of being unemployed as well as how their experiences of health emerged. Fifteen young unemployed Finnish men in the age range 18 to 27 years were interviewed face to face. Purposive sampling was used to increase the variation among informants. The interview texts were analyzed using both manifest and latent qualitative content analysis. The present results showed that the young men were strongly negatively affected by being unemployed. They described how they had slowly lost their foothold. They also described feelings of shame and guilt as well as a flight from reality. The present results show that even young men who have only experienced shorter periods of unemployment, in this study periods between 2 and 6 months, are negatively affected, for example, with regard to their identity and emotional life. Further research is needed to describe and elucidate in more detail the effects of unemployment on men of different ages and living in different contexts.