title: Organizational change and employees' mental health: the protective role of sense of coherence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the impact of sense of coherence (SOC) on psychiatric events in the context of organizational merger.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were derived from a prospective "Still Working" study using questionnaire and health register data. The study population (n = 4279) consisted of employees with no psychiatric events prior to the 5-year mental health follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Employees with a weaker premerger SOC were at a higher risk of perceiving the organizational change negatively (odds ratio = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.57 to 2.14) and had an elevated risk of postmerger psychiatric events (hazard ratio = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.94). A stronger SOC decreased the adverse effect of negative appraisal of change on psychiatric events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A strong premerger SOC seems to be a protective factor for mental health when the employee experiences negative changes during an organizational merger.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland. krista.pahkin@ttl.fi
authors.forename: Krista
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pahkin
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Väänänen
authors.forename: Aki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koskinen
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bergbom
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kouvonen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires