Affiliations: Department of Management and Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Sherbrooke University, QC, Canada
Note: [] Corresponding author: Nathalie Cadieux, Department of Management and Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Sherbrooke University, 2500 Boulevard de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, J1K 2R1. Tel.: +1 819 821 8000; Fax: +1 819 821 7312; E-mail: nathalie.cadieux@usherbrooke.ca
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Although several studies are concerned by the
phenomenon of psychological distress at work, few studies have looked at the
prevalence of psychological distress among professional workers in the
regulated occupations and compare this prevalence with other occupations. OBJECTIVES: This study propose to define regulated occupations by laying out
the theoretical boundaries that apply to the practice of these occupations and
try to understand how regulated occupations contributed to the experience of
psychological distress in the Canadian workforce over time. METHOD: Multilevel logistical regression analyses on longitudinal data were performed
to compare the odds of experiencing psychological distress over time among
professional workers in regulated occupations (n=276) and among other
professional workers, classified into 6 categories (n=6731), over a 12-year
period. RESULTS: The results show that proportion of distress in the
workforce decreases for all occupations between Cycle 1 and Cycle 7 of the
NPHS, but this decrease is not linear over time. The results show also that
regulated occupations present a lower probability of psychological distress
only when compared with white-collar workers. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that occupation contributes little toward understanding the prevalence
of psychological distress in the Canadian workforce. Further research needs are also discussed.
Keywords: Work stress, multilevel analysis, mental health
