Department of Primary and Long-term Care, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, 9700 AD, The Netherlands.
Department of Health Sciences, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, 9700 AD, The Netherlands.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Sep 4;24(1):1024. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11429-7.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed an enormous challenge on the public health workforce, leading to the hiring of much temporary staff. Temporary staff may experience poorer working conditions compared to permanent staff. From a public health perspective, we need to know how working conditions are experienced when there is an acute pressure on recruiting sufficient public health care staff. This study aimed to investigate differences in job demands and work functioning between temporary and permanent public health care staff, during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands and compare it with available pre-pandemic data from the general working population.
This cross-sectional study included temporary (n = 193) and permanent (n = 98) public health care staff from a municipal health care service in the north of the Netherlands. The participants completed a questionnaire with items about quantitative, cognitive, emotional demands (Copenhagen PsychoSOcial Questionnaire, COPSOQ, range 1-100) and work functioning (Work Role Functioning Questionnaire, WRFQ, range 1-100). The participants' scores were compared to the general working population and differences between temporary and permanent staff were investigated using linear regression analysis. In addition, explorative analyses were conducted with temporary staff stratified by task and permanent staff by department.
Permanent staff had relatively high scores on job demands compared to the general working population, whereas temporary staff had relatively low scores. On work functioning, permanent staff had similar scores as the general working population and temporary staff had better scores. Compared to permanent staff, temporary staff had lower, i.e. better, scores on quantitative (regression coefficient (B)=-26.7; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) -30.8 to -22.5), cognitive (B=-24.4; 95% CI -29.0 to -19.9), and emotional demands (B=-11.8; 95% CI -16.0 to -7.7), and better scores on work functioning (B = 7.8; 95% CI 4.5 to 11.3).
Temporary staff experienced lower job demands and reported better work functioning than permanent staff. The acute expansion of the public health workforce did not seem to negatively impact the job demands and work functioning of temporary public health care staff.
新冠疫情给公共卫生劳动力带来了巨大挑战，导致大量临时工的雇用。与长期员工相比，临时工可能面临较差的工作条件。从公共卫生的角度来看，我们需要了解在急需招聘足够的公共卫生保健人员时，工作条件是如何被体验的。本研究旨在调查新冠疫情第四波期间荷兰临时和长期公共卫生保健人员之间的工作需求和工作功能差异，并将其与疫情前一般工作人群的可用数据进行比较。
本横断面研究包括来自荷兰北部一个市立医疗保健服务机构的临时（n=193）和长期（n=98）公共卫生保健人员。参与者完成了一份包含项目的问卷，内容涉及定量、认知、情感需求（哥本哈根心理社会问卷，COPSOQ，范围 1-100）和工作功能（工作角色功能问卷，WRFQ，范围 1-100）。将参与者的得分与一般工作人群进行比较，并使用线性回归分析调查临时和长期员工之间的差异。此外，还对临时员工按任务和长期员工按部门进行了探索性分析。
与一般工作人群相比，长期员工的工作需求得分相对较高，而临时员工的得分相对较低。在工作功能方面，长期员工的得分与一般工作人群相似，而临时员工的得分更好。与长期员工相比，临时员工的定量（回归系数（B）=-26.7；95%置信区间（CI）-30.8 至-22.5）、认知（B=-24.4；95% CI -29.0 至-19.9）和情感需求（B=-11.8；95% CI -16.0 至-7.7）得分较低，即较好，工作功能得分较高（B=7.8；95% CI 4.5 至 11.3）。
临时员工的工作需求较低，工作功能报告较好，与长期员工相比。公共卫生劳动力的急性扩张似乎没有对临时公共卫生保健人员的工作需求和工作功能产生负面影响。
