Affiliations: Section for Personal Injury Prevention, Department of
Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden | Section of Psychology, Department of Social Sciences,
MidSweden University, östersund, Sweden | Section for Alcohol and Drug Dependence Research,
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm,
Sweden | Department of Statistics, Örebro University and
Clinical Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro,
Sweden
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Gunnar Bergström, Ph.D, Section
for Personal Injury Prevention, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska
Institute, SE–171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: +46 8 524 832 01; Fax: +46 8 524
832 05; E-mail: gunnar.bergstrom@ki.se
Abstract: This study is a prospective multicentre cohort study entitled Work
and Health in the Processing and Engineering Industries, the AHA Study (AHA is
the Swedish abbreviation for the study). Four large workplaces in Sweden
participated during the years from 2000 to 2003. The present report has two
objectives: (1) to present a comprehensive occupational health intervention
programme and (2) to evaluate this programme with a focus on lifestyle (smoking
and exercise), health related quality of life (HRQoL) and sick leave.
Interventions were provided on an individual and group level, including
evidence-based methods for four health/focus areas (individual level) and a
group intervention based on a survey-feedback methodology. The analyses in this
report were exclusively employed at an organizational level. The proportion of
smokers decreased at three companies and the course of the HRQoL was
advantageous at two of the companies as compared to a gainfully employed
reference group. A significant decrease in sick leave was revealed at one
company, whereas a break in an ascending sick-leave trend appeared at a second
company as compared to their respective corporate groups. This comprehensive
workplace intervention programme appears to have had positive effects on
smoking habits, HRQoL and sick leave.
Keywords: Workplace, intervention studies, evidence-based medicine, health promotion, mass screening
