title: Mental and physical health-related functioning mediates between psychological job demands and sickness absence among nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether health-related functioning mediates the effect of psychological job demands on sickness absence in nurses.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Nurses face high job demands that can have adverse health effects resulting in sickness absence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study with 1-year follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for 2964 Norwegian nurses were collected in the period 2008-2010. At baseline, psychological job demands were measured with the Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire. Health-related functioning was assessed by the Mental Composite Score and the Physical Composite Score of the SF-12 Health Survey (2nd version). Sickness absence (no = 0, yes = 1) was self-reported at 1-year follow-up. Interaction and mediation analyses were conducted stratified by tenure (<1-year, 1-2 years, 3-6 years, >6 years) as a registered nurse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2180 nurses (74%) with complete data were eligible for analysis. A significant three-way interaction between job demands, control and support was found in newly licensed nurses (tenure <1-year). Baseline psychological job demands were positively associated with sickness absence at 1-year follow-up. This association was substantially weakened when Mental Composite Score and Physical Composite Score were introduced as mediator variables, indicating a partial mediation effect that was particularly pronounced in newly licensed nurses. Psychological job demands did not modify the effect of health-related functioning on sickness absence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both mental and physical health-related functioning mediated between psychological job demands and sickness absence. Nurse managers should pay attention to health-related functioning, because poor health-related functioning may predict sickness absence, especially in newly licensed nurses.
authors.affiliation: ArboNed, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Corné
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roelen
authors.forename: Willem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van Rhenen
authors.forename: Wilmar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schaufeli
authors.forename: Jac
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Klink
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Magerøy
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moen
authors.forename: Bjørn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bjorvatn
authors.forename: Ståle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pallesen
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D018582:Sick Leave; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: SF-12; absenteeism; mediation analysis; mental health; nurses; nursing; physical health; sickness absence