Psychosocial work environment among Swedish audiologists

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Occupational Health
• Psychosocial Work Environment

Background:

• The psychosocial work environment significantly impacts healthcare professionals' well-being and job satisfaction.
• Understanding these factors is crucial for improving working conditions in audiology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the self-reported psychosocial work environment of audiologists across different practice types in Sweden.
• To assess the prevalence of high-stress work situations and effort-reward imbalance among audiologists.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional email survey was administered to 500 Swedish licensed audiologists.
• The study utilized the demand-control-support questionnaire and a short version of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) questionnaire.

Main Results:

• Small differences in the psychosocial work environment were observed across public, private, and publicly funded private practice types.
• 29% of audiologists reported high-stress environments using the demand-control model.
• 86% of participants experienced an unfavorable effort-reward imbalance, indicating rewards did not match efforts.

Conclusions:

• Organizational framework has a minimal impact on the self-reported psychosocial work environment for Swedish audiologists.
• The high prevalence of unfavorable ERI ratios among Swedish audiologists is notable compared to other populations and health workers.