The effect of re-employment on perceived health
Résumé
ABSTRACT Background: The relationship between unemployment and poor health has been well established. Unemployment causes poor health and poor health increases the probability of unemployment. Methods: A prospective study with 6 months follow-up was conducted among unemployed subjects receiving social security benefits, who were capable of full time employment and were referred to a re-employment training centre. Re-employment was defined as ending social security benefits for at least three months because of starting with paid employment. Health related quality of life was measured by the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). A Cox Proportional Hazards analysis was used to determine the factors that predicted re-employment during follow-up. The influence of re-employment on changes in perceived health was investigated with linear regression analysis. Results: Unemployed subjects with a poor health at baseline were less likely to return to paid employment during follow-up. Almost all dimensions of health at baseline had an influence on the likelihood of becoming employed. Among the re-employed subjects, general health, physical functioning, social functioning, vitality, mental health, bodily pain, and role-limitations due to emotional or physical problems improved, with an effect size varying from 0.11 to 0.66. The largest improvements were observed for mental health, social functioning, and role-limitations due to emotional or physical problems. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that re-employment leads to improvement of self-perceived health within a short time window. This suggests that labour force participation should be considered as therapeutic intervention within health promotion programmes among unemployed persons.
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