While work-related fatigue has become an issue of concern among European employees, the relationship between fatigue, depression and work-related stressors is far from clear. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the associations of fatigue with work-related stressors, severe medical disease, health behavior and depression in the working population and (2) to determine the unique impact of work-related stressors on fatigue. We used cross-sectional data of N = 7,930 working participants enrolled in the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) from 2007 to 2012 filled out the Personal Burnout Scale (PBS) of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), the PHQ-9, and a list of work-related stressors. A total of 27.5% reported increased fatigue, esp. women, younger persons with a lower social status and income, smokers, severely medically ill, previously and currently depressed participants. Fatigue was consistently associated with severe medical disease, health behavior and depression, which need to be taken into account as potential confounders when analyzing its relationship to work-related strains. Depression was consistently associated with work-related stressors. However, after statistically partialling out depression, fatigue was still significantly associated with work-related stress. Fatigue as an indicator of allostatic load is consistently associated with work-related stressors such as work overload after controlling for depression. The brief Personal Burn-out Scale is suitable for assessing work-related fatigue in the general population.

Work-privacy conflict (WPC) is no longer a rarity but constitutes a societal problem. The objectives of the present study were (1) to investigate the distribution and prevalence of WPC among the employed participants in the Gutenberg Health Study at baseline and (2) to study the dependence of WPC on a broad range of private life and occupational characteristics as well as on psychosocial working conditions. This analysis is based on a representative, population-based sample of 3,709 employees participating in the Gutenberg Health Study. Descriptive and bivariable analyses were carried out separately for women and men. Distribution and prevalence of WPC were examined according to socio-demographic and occupational characteristics as well as psychosocial working conditions. Further, stepwise selection of Poisson log-linear regression models were performed to determine which socio-demographic and occupational characteristics were most associated with the outcome variable WPC and to obtain adjusted prevalence ratios from the final model. The multivariable analyses were conducted both separately for women and men and with all subjects together in one analysis. There was a high prevalence of WPC in the present study (27.4 % of the men and 23.0 % of the women reported a high or very high WPC). A variety of factors was associated with WPC, e.g. full-time employment, depression and many of the psychosocial risk factors at work. Also, the multivariable results showed that women were of higher risk for a WPC. By affecting the individual work life, home life, and the general well-being and health, WPC may lead to detrimental effects in employees, their families, employers, and society as a whole. Therefore, the high prevalence of WPC in our sample should be of concern. Among women, the risk for suffering from WPC was even higher, most likely due to multiple burdens.

Background: In 2015, the WorkSafeMed study assessed, amongst others, perceived psychosocial working conditions in nurses (n = 567) and physicians (n = 381) from two German university hospitals using scales from the German standard version of the COPSOQ (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire). This standard version is based on the international COPSOQ I and II. Since 2017, a further developed version of the German COPSOQ (G-COPSOQ III) has been available and data from this version are stored in the German COPSOQ database. The aim of the present study was to compare scales depicting perceived psychosocial workloads and strain in hospital staff from the WorkSafeMed study with reference data (hospital care nurses, general hospital physicians, reference values across all occupations) from the German COPSOQ database (2012–2017). As preliminary work, we explored whether a conversion of COPSOQ scales based on data from the WorkSafeMed study to the G-COPSOQ III scales was possible. Methods: We applied a multistep approach for conversion. First, we compared 17 COPSOQ scales used in the WorkSafeMed study with the corresponding scales from the G-COPSOQ III according to content and then decided if a conversion was appropriate. If possible, we converted WorkSafeMed scales - the converted scales comprised the same content and number of items as in G-COPSOQ III. An explorative statistical analysis for each original and converted WorkSafeMed scale followed detecting possible statistical and relevant differences between the scales. We then compared converted WorkSafeMed scales with reference data from the German COPSOQ database. Results: Based on the comparison undertaken according to content, a conversion was possible for 16 scales. Using the data from the WorkSafeMed study, the statistical analysis showed only differences between original and converted COPSOQ scales “control over working time” (mean 40.2 vs. 51.8, d_Cohen = 0.56) and “social relations” (mean 55.6 vs. 41.8, d_Cohen = − 0.55). Comparing converted WorkSafeMed scales with reference data revealed higher values for “quantitative demands”, “work-privacy-conflict”, and “job satisfaction” in the WorkSafeMed sample. Conclusions: The conversion of WorkSafeMed scales was appropriate, allowed a comparison with three reference values in the German COPSOQ database and revealed some implications for improving psychosocial working conditions of nurses and physicians in university hospitals in Germany.

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die Beurteilung von Belastungen („exposures“) anhand von Berufen oder Tätigkeiten in einer Job-Expositions-Matrix (JEM) ist in vielen Bereichen der Arbeitsepidemiologie ein bewährtes Verfahren. Ziel der Arbeit Die vorliegende Untersuchung prüft, ob und inwieweit eine solche Zuordnung auch bei psychosozialen Belastungen und Gefährdungen gelingen kann. Material und Methoden Mit 10.000 berufsrepräsentativen Fällen aus der COPSOQ-Datenbank wurde geprüft, inwieweit die Varianz in den 25 Konstrukten zu den Themen Anforderungen, Einfluss und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten, soziale Beziehungen und Führung, Unsicherheit des Arbeitsplatzes und Belastungsfolgen durch die Berufsgruppe (KldB92) erklärt werden kann. Ergebnisse Psychosoziale Arbeitsplatzfaktoren sind je nach Themenfeld unterschiedlich stark berufsassoziiert, die Zusammenhänge liegen im moderaten bis schwachen Bereich (eta = 0,11–0,43). Im Bereich Einfluss und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten werden die höchsten eta‑Werte bis zu 0,43 erreicht; bei den Skalen zu Anforderungen und zur Unsicherheit des Arbeitsplatzes Werte von etwa 0,3. Am schwächsten hängen die Aspekte aus dem Bereich soziale Beziehungen und Führung (eta in der Regel etwa 0,2) und die Belastungsfolgen (0,14–0,19) mit der Berufsgruppe zusammen. Diskussion Während die JEM bei Gefahrstoffen oder auch bei einigen psychosozialen Themen wie Einfluss oder emotionale Anforderungen eine gute oder vertretbare Abschätzung der Belastungen auf Basis des Berufs oder der Tätigkeit liefert, ist dies insbesondere für relevante Parameter im Bereich soziale Beziehungen und Führung nicht der Fall. Hier kann eine tragfähige Belastungsabschätzung nur durch die Analyse der betrieblichen Organisationseinheiten gelingen.

Background: Psychosocial working conditions were previously analyzed using the first recruitment wave of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) cohort (n = 5000). We aimed to confirm the initial analysis using the entire GHS population at baseline (N = 15,010) and at the five-year follow-up. We also aimed to determine the effects of psychosocial working conditions at baseline on self-rated outcomes measured at follow-up. Methods: At baseline, working GHS participants were assessed with either the Effort-Reward-Imbalance questionnaire (ERI) (n = 4358) or with the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) (n = 4322); participants still working after five years received the same questionnaire again (ERI n = 3142; COPSOQ n = 3091). We analyzed the association between working conditions and the outcomes job satisfaction, general health, burnout, and satisfaction with life at baseline, at follow-up and also prospectively from baseline to follow-up using linear regression models. We examined the outcome variance explained by the models (R²) to estimate the predictive performance of the questionnaires. Results: The models’ R² was comparable to the original baseline analyses at both t0 and t1 (R² range: ERI 0.10–0.43; COPSOQ 0.10–0.56). However, selected scales of the regression models sometimes changed between assessment times. The prospective analysis showed weaker associations between baseline working conditions and outcomes after five years (R² range: ERI 0.07–0.19; COPSOQ 0.07–0.24). This was particularly true for job satisfaction. After adjusting for the baseline levels of the outcomes, fewer scales still explained some of the variance in the distribution of the outcome variables at follow-up. The models using only data from t₀ or t₁ confirmed the previous baseline analysis. We observed a loss of explained variance in the prospective analysis models. This loss was greatest for job satisfaction, suggesting that this outcome is most influenced by short-term working conditions. Conclusions: Both the COPSOQ and ERI instruments show good criterion validity and adequately predict contemporaneously measured self-reported measurements of health and (occupational) well-being. However, the COPSOQ provides a more detailed picture of working conditions and might be preferable for improvment strategies in workplaces. Additional prospective research with shorter follow-up times would be beneficial for estimating dose-response relationships.

Background and Objectives: Tinnitus is a common symptom in otolaryngologic practice. Although its pathophysiology is multifactorial and remains mostly unclear, it can be correlated to stress and psychological comorbidities. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between the occurrence of tinnitus and psychosocial work stress (measured using the German COPSOQ-III, a validated instrument) in a large working population. Materials and Methods: The Gutenberg Health Study is a single-center, prospective, observational cohort study. Participants of working age were included and surveyed using the German COPSOQ-III; they were interviewed regarding the occurrence of tinnitus (yes/no) and stratified according to their resilience (measured using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale). Results: A total of 4933 participants of working age were included in the study cohort, in which tinnitus was reported with a prevalence of 26.3%. Participants with tinnitus answered more negatively in all COPSOQ scales, although not all differences were statistically significant. The scales Emotional Demands, Work Privacy Conflicts, Work Environment/Physical Demands and Insecurity over Working Conditions showed especially high differences in means. In addition, all effect scales showed significant differences between participants with and without tinnitus. The prevalence of tinnitus decreased with increasing resilience. Conclusions: Tinnitus is a symptom highly correlated with psychosocial work stress. As such, it represents a significant health burden within the working community.