Self-employment, illness, and the social security system: a qualitative study of the experiences of solo self-employed workers in Ontario, Canada

Mental Health Problems of Self-Employed Workers: A Systematic Review of Potential Moderators

PURPOSE

This systematic review aims to summarize the mental health outcomes of self-employment and identify potential moderators between self-employment and mental health issues, ultimately guiding future research and informing targeted suggestions for future practice.

METHOD

The initial search identified 3412 publications, including 43 that met the inclusion criteria. We identified 20 potential moderators in total.

RESULTS

According to the summary results based on the diathesis-stress model, gender, financial precarity, and social security were identified as the most frequent potential moderators in each domain.

DISCUSSION

The systematic review highlights the complex relationship between self-employment and mental health, revealing that self-employment often correlates with negative mental health outcomes such as stress and depression. Future practice should prioritize financial stability strategies, gender-specific support initiatives, work-life balance improvements, and expanded social security protections for self-employed workers.

Working Conditions in Complementary and Integrative Healthcare Professions

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to describe working conditions among complementary and integrative healthcare (CIH) providers, specifically acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, midwives, and naturopathic doctors.

METHODS

We used cross-sectional Occupational Information Network data (2013-2021) for five CIH occupations. We examined means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for 10 variables that represented positive conditions, ergonomic demands, psychosocial demands, and schedule demands. We compared CIH to conventional healthcare and non-healthcare occupations.

RESULTS

CIH occupations had relatively high degrees of positive conditions, moderate degrees of psychosocial demands, and moderate hours/scheduling. Massage therapists, chiropractors, and acupuncturists reported more ergonomic hazards (eg, 1-5 scale where 5 is the highest, mean bending/twisting frequency for chiropractors is 3.43 [95% CI, 3.80-4.05] compared to 2.17 for midwives [95% CI, 1.97-2.36] and 1.96 for managers [95% CI, 1.42-2.51]).

CONCLUSIONS

CIH occupations generally had healthy working conditions, although ergonomic hazards were prominent.

Flourish, fight or flight: health in self-employment over time-associations with individual and business resources

PURPOSE

Using COR theory to study developments of health and other key resources in self-employed workers in Sweden over 6 years, this study: (1) explored whether the heterogenous group of self-employed workers contained subgroups with different health trajectories, (2) investigated whether these were more typical for certain individuals (with respect to age, gender, sector, education, employment status), and (3) compared the different health trajectories regarding resource development in mental well-being, business resources, employment status, work ability.

METHOD

The study used data from the Swedish longitudinal occupational survey of health (SLOSH) and included participants working as self-employed or combiner (N = 2642).

RESULT

Five trajectories were identified with latent class growth curve model analysis (LCGM). Two health trajectories with (1) very good, respective (2) good stable health (together comprising 78.5% of the participants), (3) one with moderate stable health (14.8%), (4) one with a U-shaped form (1.9%), and (5) one with low, slightly increasing health (4.7%). The first two trajectories flourish: they maintained or increased in all key resources and were more likely to remain self-employed. Trajectories three and five consist of those who fight to maintain or increase their resources. Workers in the U-shaped health trajectory show signs of fight and flight after loss in health and other key resources.

CONCLUSIONS

Studying subgroups with different resource developments over time was suitable to understand heterogeneity in self-employed workers. It also helped to identify vulnerable groups that may benefit from interventions to preserve their resources.