The effect of improving psychosocial stressors on psychological distress: a quasi-experiment of Finnish health and social care workers

Abstract

Aims: To examine how a positive change in one to three psychosocial stressors (job demands, job rewards, and workplace social capital) influenced psychological distress. Methods: The analysis included 3605 Finnish health and social services workers who completed surveys in 2019, 2020 and 2021. A logistic regression model was used to estimate the propensity score of experiencing a positive change in one to three psychosocial stressors between 2019 and 2020. We balanced the baseline characteristics with propensity scoring. A generalised linear model with a binomial distribution and a log link function was used to compare the quasi-intervention and quasi-control groups for the risk of psychological distress in 2021. Results: Among the total sample, neither improving a single stressor nor two or three stressors affected psychological distress. However, among employees younger than 50 years, improving two or three psychosocial stressors in 2019–2020 decreased the risk of moderate to severe psychological distress in 2021 by 41% (risk ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.36–0.96). Among employees aged 50 years or older, improving job rewards lowered the risk of mild to severe psychological distress by 23% (risk ratio 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.62–0.96). Conclusions: The results of this quasi-experiment suggest that the positive effect of improving psychosocial stressors is stronger among younger than older workers. Future interventions should be customised for different ages and aim to improve accumulated work stressors and individual stress-coping skills.