Biomedical subjects

A S Ostry

Publications and source records attributed to A S Ostry.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Effect of de-industrialisation on working conditions and self reported health in a sample of manufacturing workers.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of de-industrialisation over a 20 year period on working conditions and health among sawmill workers, in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. DESIGN AND SETTING: This investigation is based on a sample of 3000 sawmill workers employed in 1979 (a year before the beginning de-industrialisation) and interviewed in 1998. The sample was obtained by random selection from an already gathered cohort of approximately 28 000 BC sawmill workers. Change in working conditions from 1979 to 1998 are described. Self reported health status, in 1998, was used as a dependent variable in logistic regression after controlling for confounders. MAIN RESULTS: Downsizing in BC sawmills eliminated 60% of workers between 1979 and 1998. Working conditions in 1998 were better for those who left the sawmill industry and obtained re-employment elsewhere. Workers who remained employed in restructuring sawmills were approximately 50% more likely to report poor health than those re-employed elsewhere. CONCLUSIONS: Working conditions and health status were better for workers who, under pressure of de-industrialisation, left the sawmill industry and obtained re-employment outside this sector.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

A collaborative evidence-based approach to making healthcare a healthier place to work.

It is increasingly well documented that a collaborative problem-solving approach is more effective in addressing workplace health concerns than an adversarial approach. Combining this with strategies based on good evidence is key to success. On this premise, a trial was conducted in British Columbia, beginning in July 1999, based on a collaborative approach in which healthcare workers and managers work together to identify and implement evidence-based initiatives to improve the health and working conditions of healthcare workers.

Benchmarking↗

PubMed2001

Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a 20-year process of de-industrialization in the British Columbia (BC) sawmill industry on labour force trajectories, unemployment history, and physical and psychosocial work conditions as these are important determinants of health in workforces. METHODS: The study is based on a sample of 1,885 respondents all of whom were sawmill workers in 1979, a year prior to commencement of de-industrialization and who were followed up and interviewed approximately 20 years later. RESULTS: Forty percent of workers, 64 years and under, were employed outside the sawmill sector at time of interview. Approximately one third of workers, aged 64 and under, experienced 25 months of more of unemployment during the study period. Only, 1.5% of workers were identified as a "hard core" group of long-term unemployed. Workers re-employed outside the sawmill sector experienced improved physical and psychosocial work conditions relative to those employed in sawmills during the study period. This benefit was greatest for workers originally in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in sawmills. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that future health studies should pay particular attention to long-term employees in manufacturing who may have gone through de-industrialization resulting in exposures to a combination of sustained job insecurity, cyclical unemployment, and adverse physical and psychosocial work conditions.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Measuring psychosocial job strain with the job content questionnaire using experienced job evaluators.

BACKGROUND: A union/management system of job evaluation has been in place in the British Columbia (BC) sawmill industry since the late 1960s. This system uses an instrument, very similar to the job content questionnaire (JCQ) to evaluate psychosocial work conditions for sawmill jobs. METHODS: Four experienced evaluators, one from the union and three from industry, independently estimated psychosocial work conditions for 54 current job titles in a "typical" coastal sawmill using a shortened, 18-question version of the JCQ questionnaire. RESULTS: Inter-rater reliability was acceptable for control but not for co-worker social support, physical demand, or psychological demand. Reliability was least for psychological demand. CONCLUSIONS: Experienced job evaluators in the sawmill industry were able to reliably estimate only the control dimension of the JCQ. The observed lowest reliability for psychological job demand may be due to the imprecise construct definition in the domain of the JCQ instrument.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

PubMed2001

International trade regulation and publicly funded health care in Canada.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) creates new challenges for the Canadian health care system, arguably one of the most "socialized" systems in the world today. In particular, the WTO's enhanced trade dispute resolution powers, enforceable with sanctions, may make Canadian health care vulnerable to corporate penetration, particularly in the pharmaceutical and private health services delivery sectors. The Free Trade Agreement and its extension, the North American Free Trade Agreement, gave multinational pharmaceutical companies greater freedom in Canada at the expense of the Canadian generic drug industry. Recent challenges by the WTO have continued this process, which will limit the health care system's ability to control drug costs. And pressure is growing, through WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services and moves by the Alberta provincial government to privatize health care delivery, to open up the Canadian system to corporate penetration. New WTO agreements will bring increasing pressure to privatize Canada's public health care system and limit government's ability to control pharmaceutical costs.

Canada↗

PubMed2001

Comparison of expert-rater methods for assessing psychosocial job strain.

OBJECTIVES: This study tested the reliability and validity of industry- and mill-level expert methods for measuring psychosocial work conditions in British Columbia sawmills using the demand-control model. METHODS: In the industry-level method 4 sawmill job evaluators estimated psychosocial work conditions at a generic sawmill. In the mill-level method panels of experienced sawmill workers estimated psychosocial work conditions at 3 sawmills. Scores for psychosocial work conditions were developed using both expert methods and applied to job titles in a sawmill worker database containing self-reported health status and heart disease. The interrater reliability and the concurrent and predictive validity of the expert rater methods were assessed. RESULTS: The interrater reliability and concurrent reliability were higher for the mill-level method than for the industry-level method. For all the psychosocial variables the reliability for the mill-level method was greater than 0.90. The predictive validity results were inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS: The greater reliability and concurrent validity of the mill-level method indicates that panels of experienced workers should be considered as potential experts in future studies measuring psychosocial work conditions.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Community risk perception and waste management: a comparison of three communities.

Three cross-sectional surveys were conducted in different regions of British Columbia, using a model of risk perception that divides the community into attitudinal and behavioral subgroups based on awareness and concern about waste management facilities. The three communities differed with respect to their levels of both awareness and concern about facilities, either planned for or situated in their region. Surprisingly, the most polarized community, which had nevertheless accepted a facility, rated this facility as more desirable than the other two communities. The unconcerned group in this community felt well informed, was more trusting of siting and operating agencies, and believed that the facility would generate benefits. The concerned group in this community also felt better informed, was more trusting of siting and operating agencies, and believed that its facility would generate benefits, compared with concerned groups in the other two communities. Longitudinal studies of the attitudes driving the siting process are needed to understand how these relationships evolve over time.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Community risk perception: a case study in a rural community hosting a waste site used by a large municipality.

Using a model of risk perception which divides the community into attitudinal and behavioural subgroups based on awareness, concern and action in relation to a waste management facility, we conducted a survey in a community with an operating landfill and a ten-year history of controversy over the unsuccessful siting of a hazardous waste facility (HWF). The purpose of the survey was to study community attitudes to waste management in general, attitudes specific to landfills and HWFs, and to identify factors which shape community attitudes in both cases. Levels of concern and activism were lower for the landfill; activism and concern were more likely among younger subjects and those with children. In the case of the HWF, greater concern and activism were more likely among married people and those without a university education. Gender differences in relation to environmental "concern" were not found for either the landfill or the HWF siting attempts.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Risk perception differences in a community with a municipal solid waste incinerator.

Using a community model of risk perception, we conducted an environmental risk perception survey in a community with an operating municipal solid waste incinerator to further understanding of community responses to technology perceived as "hazardous". The specific aims of the survey were to study attitudes to waste management (incineration in particular) and to identify sociological attributes which help shape community attitudes to the facility. Approximately one third of the community were unaware of the incinerator. Those unaware gave lower desirability ratings to incinerator technology than the aware group. About half of the aware group were concerned about the facility and rated the incinerator in the same way as those who were unaware; however, the remainder (the unconcerned) appear to have accepted the incinerator. The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that informing the public about technology perceived as hazardous may not lead to alarm, but may in fact increase acceptance.

Attitude to Health↗