Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Occupational Health Science, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany.
Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2021 Apr;94(3):377-390. doi: 10.1007/s00420-020-01588-5. Epub 2020 Oct 21.
Older employees are often thought to be vulnerable to negative effects of information and communication technology (ICT). Our study aims to examine associations between work-related ICT exposure (i.e. ICT use or digital work intensification), physical health, mental health and work ability (WA). We examine whether these associations are modified by socio-economic position (SEP).
We analysed cross-sectional data from 3180 participants (born in 1959 and 1965) in wave 3 of the representative German lidA cohort study. We performed hierarchical multiple regression to assess the distinct associations of ICT use and digital work intensification with mental and physical health and WA. We stratified analyses by SEP and controlled for age, sex, and digital affinity.
92% of participants reported ICT use at work. Almost 20% reported high levels of digital work intensification, while a similar proportion did not experience digital work intensification. In bivariate analyses, ICT use by itself was not significantly associated with mental health or WA in the total sample or when stratified. Digital work intensification displayed negative associations with mental health and WA. In hierarchical multiple regressions, digital work intensification showed consistently negative associations with mental health and work ability of similar strength across SEP.
Our results suggest that ICT use, per se, does not negatively impact older workers. Digital work intensification may be associated with worse mental health and work ability. Research on health and social implications of work-related ICT should differentiate patterns of ICT exposure and assess modifications by SEP to better gauge the ambiguous effects of ICT.
人们通常认为年长的员工容易受到信息和通信技术（ICT）的负面影响。我们的研究旨在检验与工作相关的 ICT 暴露（即 ICT 使用或数字化工作强化）、身体健康、心理健康和工作能力（WA）之间的关联。我们研究了这些关联是否因社会经济地位（SEP）而改变。
我们分析了来自德国 lidA 代表性队列研究第 3 波的 3180 名参与者（出生于 1959 年和 1965 年）的横断面数据。我们进行了分层多元回归分析，以评估 ICT 使用和数字化工作强化与心理健康和身体健康以及 WA 的不同关联。我们按 SEP 进行分层分析，并控制了年龄、性别和数字亲和力。
92%的参与者报告在工作中使用 ICT。近 20%的人报告高水平的数字化工作强化，而类似比例的人没有经历数字化工作强化。在双变量分析中，ICT 使用本身与总样本或分层时的心理健康或 WA 没有显著关联。数字化工作强化与心理健康和 WA 呈负相关。在分层多元回归中，数字化工作强化与心理健康和工作能力的负相关具有相似的强度，且在 SEP 中一致。
我们的结果表明，ICT 使用本身不会对年长的员工产生负面影响。数字化工作强化可能与更差的心理健康和工作能力有关。关于与工作相关的 ICT 的健康和社会影响的研究应区分 ICT 暴露的模式，并评估 SEP 的修改，以更好地评估 ICT 的模糊影响。
