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Wels J, Wielgoszewska B, Moltrecht B, Booth C, Green MJ, Hamilton OKL, Demou E, Di Gessa G, Huggins C, Zhu J, Santorelli G, Silverwood RJ, Kopasker D, Shaw RJ, Hughes A, Patalay P, Steves C, Chaturvedi N, Porteous DJ, Rhead R, Katikireddi SV, Ploubidis GB. Home working and social and mental wellbeing at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: Evidence from 7 longitudinal population surveys. PLoS Med 2023; 20:e1004214. [PMID: 37104282 PMCID: PMC10138202 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Home working has increased since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic's onset with concerns that it may have adverse health implications. We assessed the association between home working and social and mental wellbeing among the employed population aged 16 to 66 through harmonised analyses of 7 UK longitudinal studies. METHODS AND FINDINGS We estimated associations between home working and measures of psychological distress, low life satisfaction, poor self-rated health, low social contact, and loneliness across 3 different stages of the pandemic (T1 = April to June 2020 -first lockdown, T2 = July to October 2020 -eased restrictions, T3 = November 2020 to March 2021 -second lockdown) using modified Poisson regression and meta-analyses to pool results across studies. We successively adjusted the model for sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex), job characteristics (e.g., sector of activity, pre-pandemic home working propensities), and pre-pandemic health. Among respectively 10,367, 11,585, and 12,179 participants at T1, T2, and T3, we found higher rates of home working at T1 and T3 compared with T2, reflecting lockdown periods. Home working was not associated with psychological distress at T1 (RR = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.79 to 1.08) or T2 (RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.88 to 1.11), but a detrimental association was found with psychological distress at T3 (RR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05 to 1.30). Study limitations include the fact that pre-pandemic home working propensities were derived from external sources, no information was collected on home working dosage and possible reverse association between change in wellbeing and home working likelihood. CONCLUSIONS No clear evidence of an association between home working and mental wellbeing was found, apart from greater risk of psychological distress during the second lockdown, but differences across subgroups (e.g., by sex or level of education) may exist. Longer term shifts to home working might not have adverse impacts on population wellbeing in the absence of pandemic restrictions but further monitoring of health inequalities is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacques Wels
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre Metices, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Bożena Wielgoszewska
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Bettina Moltrecht
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charlotte Booth
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Michael J. Green
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Clarice Pears Building, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Olivia KL Hamilton
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Clarice Pears Building, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Evangelia Demou
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Clarice Pears Building, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Giorgio Di Gessa
- Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charlotte Huggins
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, The University of Edinburgh Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Jingmin Zhu
- Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gillian Santorelli
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, United Kingdom
| | - Richard J. Silverwood
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Kopasker
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Clarice Pears Building, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Richard J. Shaw
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Clarice Pears Building, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Alun Hughes
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Praveetha Patalay
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Claire Steves
- Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital London, United Kingdom
| | - Nishi Chaturvedi
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - David J. Porteous
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, The University of Edinburgh Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca Rhead
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Clarice Pears Building, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - George B. Ploubidis
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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