title: The psychosocial and health effects of workplace reorganisation. 1. A systematic review of organisational-level interventions that aim to increase employee control.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Systematic review of the health and psychosocial effects of increasing employee participation and control through workplace reorganisation, with reference to the "demand-control-support" model of workplace health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systematic review (QUORUM) of experimental and quasi-experimental studies (any language) reporting health and psychosocial effects of such interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic databases (medical, social science and economic), bibliographies and expert contacts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 18 studies, 12 with control/comparison groups (no randomised controlled trials). Eight controlled and three uncontrolled studies found some evidence of health benefits (especially beneficial effects on mental health, including reduction in anxiety and depression) when employee control improved or (less consistently) demands decreased or support increased. Some effects may have been short term or influenced by concurrent interventions. Two studies of participatory interventions occurring alongside redundancies reported worsening employee health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This systematic review identified evidence suggesting that some organisational-level participation interventions may benefit employee health, as predicted by the demand-control-support model, but may not protect employees from generally poor working conditions. More investigation of the relative impacts of different interventions, implementation and the distribution of effects across the socioeconomic spectrum is required.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, 4 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G128RZ, UK. matt@msoc.mrc.gla.ac.uk
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bambra
authors.forename: Sian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petticrew
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Whitehead
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thomson
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D016272:Occupational Health; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011584:Psychology; D012923:Social Class