Effort-Reward Imbalance and Job Strain: A Composite Indicator Approach

The Job Demand-Control-Support (JDC-S) and Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) models dominate psychosocial work environment research and practice, with their independent and collective contributions to employee health having been extensively demonstrated. Psychosocial risk assessment in the humanitarian aid sector is in its infancy, and there is a need to identify appropriate psychosocial work environment models to inform approaches to assessment. The aim of this study is to examine the efficacy of these models separately and in combination to identify psychological distress in humanitarian aid workers. Cross-sectional survey data were obtained from 283 humanitarian aid workers. Logistic regression analyses investigated the separate and combined ability of the models to identify psychological distress. More than half of the participant sample reported psychological distress, and one third reported high ERI and high job strain. When tested separately, each model was associated with a significantly elevated likelihood of psychological distress. When tested in combination, the two models offered a superior estimation of the likelihood of psychological distress than achieved by one model in isolation. Psychosocial risk assessment in the humanitarian aid sector encompassing the characteristics of both these leading psychosocial work environment models captures the breadth of relevant generic psychosocial work characteristics. These initial findings require corroboration through longitudinal research involving sector-representative samples.