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Favorable changes in health- and work-related factors and subsequent work ability in midlife and older social and health care employees

Joonas Poutanen et al.

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health2026https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-025-02200-4article
AJG 2
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine whether favorable changes in health- and work-related factors improve work ability of midlife and older workers. The study included 2,312 Finnish social and health care employees (89.4% women, mean age 51.5 ± 5.8 years) who participated in repeated surveys between 2017 and 2022. Propensity score weighting and generalized linear models were applied to estimate the associations of a one standard deviation favorable change in health and lifestyle factors, psychosocial work environment and working hour characteristics with perceived work ability. Favorable changes in health-related factors including improvement in sleep quality (RR 2.03, 95% CI 1.47–2.82), reduction in psychological distress (RR 1.68, 95% CI 1.24–2.30), increase in leisure-time physical activity (1.53, 95% CI 1.13–2.08), quitting smoking (RR 1.58, 95% CI 1.01–2.48), decrease in alcohol intake (RR 2.21, 95% CI 1.54–3.17) were associated with improved work ability. Of work-related factors, reduction in job demands (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.12–2.03) and job demand-control ratio (RR 1.55, 95% CI 1.11–2.16), and increase in job control (RR 1.49, 95% CI 1.05–2.13) and job rewards (RR 1.60, 95% CI 1.20–2.13) were associated with improved work ability. Positive changes in modifiable health- and work-related risk factors can improve work ability of midlife and older social and health care employees. These identified risk factors are essential in design and implementation of multidimensional interventions aimed at supporting extended workforce participation among older workers.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-025-02200-4

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{joonas2026,
  title        = {{Favorable changes in health- and work-related factors and subsequent work ability in midlife and older social and health care employees}},
  author       = {Joonas Poutanen et al.},
  journal      = {International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-025-02200-4},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.