PSYCHOSOMATIC SYMPTOMS IN HUMAN-SERVICE WORK

This study reports on subjective health of personnel in human services and other occupations. A mail questionnaire was sent to 8296 employee s in the Social Insurance Organization (SIG) and the Individual and Fa mily Care (IFC) in social welfare agencies. The response rate was 69.1 % or 5730 persons. Perceived health was measured by a standard form wi dely used in occupational health services, FHV004D, here split into fo ur principal components, indicating psyche-vegetative, musculo-sceleta l, immunological, and gastro-intestinal health. In relation to referen ce data on other human service personnel (nurses, teachers) and white collar workers (bank and insurance personnel), the studied groups scor ed much higher on psyche-vegetative symptoms (OR:s about 3), higher on musculo-sceletal symptoms (OR:s about 1.7), but had equal scores on t he other symptom types. It is concluded that self-reported psychoveget ative and musculosceletal health is especially problematic in SIO and IFC, indicating stress in human service work. It is hypothesized that an adversary relation to clients can be an aggravating factor in that context.