Frans Nijhuis

• Chair at Maastricht University

Background: Assessing the cost effectiveness of training aimed at increasing general practitioners' (GP) work awareness and patients' work-related self-efficacy and quality of life. Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial in twenty-six GP practices in the southeast of the Netherlands with 32 participating GPs. GPs working in an interventi...

With dual-income families on the increase, combining work and family obligations is a daily reality for many individuals. Unsatisfactory combinations of work and home duties can result in various unfavourable individual and organisational outcomes. Therefore, its proper understanding is essential in order to create adequate recommendations for inte...

Onregelmatige werktijden vormen een extra belasting voor verplegend en verzorgend personeel en zijn onder meer gerelateerd aan burn-out, afnemende motivatie, vermoeidheid, verloop en ziekteverzuim. Eerder onderzoek toonde aan dat vooral het rooster met drieroterende diensten gerelateerd is aan een slechtere gezondheid. De literatuur vermeldt ook vo...

Background: Worldwide, the employment rate of people with visual impairments (PVIs) is lower than that of the general working-age population. To improve the employment rate of this group, there is a need for knowledge about differences in modifiable factors between working and non-working PVIs. Objective: To identify modifiable factors associate...

Objectives: Evaluating the cost effectiveness and cost utility of an integrated care intervention and participatory workplace intervention for workers with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to improve their work productivity. Methods: Twelve month follow-up economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial (RCT) within specialized rheumatology...

Background: This is a process evaluation of an intervention to improve Cooperation regarding return-to-work (RTW) between sick-listed employees and their supervisors (COSS, which consists of a conversation roadmap, monitoring of cooperation using questionnaires and, if necessary, extra support by an occupational physician (OP). Objective: Object...

Introduction Early return-to-work (RTW) after sick leave is considered to support employees' quality of life. Successful RTW requires adequate cooperation between absent employees and their supervisors. This study assesses the effectiveness of an intervention for COoperation regarding RTW between Sick-listed employees and their Supervisors (COSS; i...

Objective: To assess the exchangeability of self-reported and administrative healthcare resource use measurements for cost estimation. Study design and setting: In a systematic review (NHS EED & MEDLINE) reviewers evaluate, in duplicate, the methodological reporting quality of studies comparing the validation evidence of instruments measuring he...

Background: Shiftwork is a major job demand for nurses and has been related to various negative consequences. Research suggests that personal and job resources moderate the impact of work schedules on stress, health and well-being. Objectives: This longitudinal study examined whether the interactions of personal and job resources with work sched...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to improve web-based employability interventions for employees with work-related health problems for both intervention content and study design by means of a pilot economic evaluation. Methods Uptake rate analysis for the intervention elements, cost effectiveness, cost utility and subgroup analyses were conducte...

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the cost-effectiveness, -utility, and -benefit of a new organizational return-to-work intervention to improve COoperation between Sick-listed employees and their Supervisors (COSS). Methods: A field study with 6 months follow-up comparing COSS with common practice randomized participants aged 18...

Objectives: To perform a pilot cost effectiveness study for a web-based employability inter�vention aiming at improving intervention content and study design. Methods: Uptake rate analysis for the intervention elements, cost effectiveness, cost utility and subgroup analyses were conducted to identify potential content-related intervention improv...

There is scarce research on age and sustainable employability of nurses working in various types of work schedules. Earlier research showed that nurses working in work schedules differ regarding age. Different operationalisations of age might explain variations in sustainable employability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate how nu...

Background When developing return-to-work (RTW) policies, taking the employer and worker perspectives into account is firmly believed to increase effectiveness. In the healthcare sector in British Columbia (BC), Canada, such a bipartite policymaking approach is used by involving employer and worker (trade union) representatives. The aim of our stu...

Background In disability management, workers are encouraged to take responsibility in early return-to-work (RTW) and get involved in RTW planning. It is assumed that this helps to realize pointed support in RTW. In the healthcare sector in British Columbia (BC), Canada, the work re-integration professional is given the responsibility to prepare a...

In Canada and other countries, sickness absence among workers is a significant concern. Local return-to-work policies developed by both management and workers' representatives are preferred to tackle the problem. This article examines how managers perceive this local bipartite agreed upon return-to-work policy, wherein a social constructivist view...

BACKGROUND: In Canada and other countries, sickness-based absences among workers is an economic and sociological problem. . Return-to-work (RTW) policy developed by both employer and worker’ representatives (that is, bipartite policy) is preferred to tackle this problem. OBJECTIVE: The intent was to examine how this bipartite agreed-upon RTW policy...

Health impairments can result in disability and changed work productivity imposing considerable costs for the employee, employer and society as a whole. A large number of instruments exist to measure health-related productivity changes; however their methodological quality remains unclear. This systematic review critically appraised the measurement...

In 'active welfare states', labour participation is regarded essential for being part of and contributing to society. In the striving for an increase in labour participation of people who were considered (partly) disabled for work, not 'disabilities', but 'abilities' are put centre stage in vocational rehabilitation programmes. In this article we e...

Background: Occupational health professionals such as occupational physicians (OPs) increasingly understand that in addition to health improvement, environmental factors (such as work adaptations) and personal factors (such as an employee's attitude towards return-to-work (RTW)) may stimulate employees on sick leave to return to work early. To tar...

Purpose: A lack of social acceptance by non-disabled co-workers is often the reason why employees with disabilities fail to stay in regular organizations for sustained periods. The aim of the study is to present a coherent review of the extant literature on factors affecting the acceptance of people with disabilities in regular employment. Method...

Purpose: This study aims at a sociological understanding of the concept of (un)motivation in order to provide clues for improving vocational rehabilitation (VR) support. Method: (Un)motivation is understood as the product of the interaction between clients and professionals in an institutional context. To gain better understanding of this constr...

Purpose: Canada has a long tradition of involving employee representatives in developing work reintegration policies and expects this to positively affect employee involvement to improve work reintegration success. The purpose of this study was to examine employee involvement in reintegration in a Canadian province as experienced by employees. Me...

Introduction: In many Western countries, a vast amount of interventions exist that aim to facilitate return to work (RTW) after sickness absence. These interventions are usually focused on specific target populations such as employees with low back pain, stress-related complaints or adjustment disorders. The aim of the present study is to detect a...

Organisaties dienen zich voor te bereiden op andere omstandigheden. Demografen verwachten tekorten op de arbeidsmarkt. De generatie geboren in de periode 1945-1955 bereikt vanaf 2011 de pensioengerechtigde leeftijd. Vanaf nu verlaten meer mensen de arbeidsmarkt dan er toetreden. De tekorten kunnen flink oplopen, tot ruim 200.000 in 2020 (bij gunsti...

In western welfare states, labour participation is increasingly considered a vital aspect of taking part in society. Vocational rehabilitation programmes are intended to support people in the process of returning to work. These programmes pay much attention to the skills that clients need to develop in order to return to work. We argue, however, th...

In the Netherlands, absenteeism and reduced productivity due to work disability lead to high yearly costs reaching almost 5% of the gross national product. To reduce the economic burden of sick leave and reduced productivity, different employability interventions for work-disabled employees or employees at risk of work disability have been develope...

In vocational rehabilitation, empowerment is understood as the notion that people should make an active, autonomous choice to find their way back to the labour process. Following this line of reasoning, the concept of empowerment implicitly points to a specific kind of activation strategy, namely labour participation. This activation approach has r...

To develop an instrument that measures empowerment among people with a long-term work disability. A six-dimension empowerment model was chosen as a theoretical framework. These dimensions are as follows: competence, self-determination, meaning, impact, positive identity and group orientation. A literature search was conducted to find instruments th...

To perform a cost-consequence analysis of the substitution of specialized rheumatology nurses (SRN) for rheumatologists (RMT) in the diagnostic process of fibromyalgia (FM), using both a healthcare and societal perspective and a 9-month period. Alongside a randomized controlled trial, we measured costs and consequences of a nurse-led diagnostic con...

Regional differences in sick leave duration determinants were studied between in age and profession homogeneous groups in different regions in The Netherlands, i.e. Utrecht and Southern Limburg, in order to find any effects of socio-cultural factors. 137 participants in Utrecht and Southern Limburg were interviewed. Data of sick leave duration were...

To explore regional differences in the effects of the sick leave frequency determinants between two homogeneous groups of workers from two comparable socio-economic regions in the Netherlands, namely Utrecht and South Limburg. Data on sick leave frequency for 137 cleaning workers in the regions of Utrecht (mean sick leave frequency: 0.89 spells) an...

Deze bijdrage is bedoeld om een aanzet te geven tot een discussie. De discussie richt zich op de vraag of er speciale maatregelen genomen moeten worden om oudere werknemers aan het werk te houden/helpen, en zo ja, welke? Ten aanzien van oudere werknemers bestaan er vele opvattingen en misverstanden. oudere werknemer-arbeidspsychologie-taakaanpassi...

The objective of this study is to examine the feasibility and long-term results of a 12-week multidisciplinary part-time daycare intervention with five aftercare meetings in fibromyalgia (FM) patients. One hundred and five patients diagnosed with FM started with a multidisciplinary intervention and were assessed for feasibility, functional status (...

This study reports an investigation of the conditions for a successful introduction of a resident-oriented care model on six somatic and psychogeriatric intervention wards in three Dutch nursing homes. This study aims to answer the following research question: 'What are the conditions for successfully implementing resident-oriented care?' To answer...

To describe gender differences in work modifications and changed job characteristics during return-to-work after sickness absence. A 13 month prospective cohort study was performed among 119 employees (54 women and 65 men) who had reported sick for more than 1 month due to mental or musculoskeletal disorders. Men and women were of comparable ages a...

A literature review for the years 1984-2004 was performed to identify the determinants of the sick leave frequency and duration over that period and to establish the continuity in the character of those determinants. The review referred to national and international studies on the determinants of the frequency and duration of sick leave. The review...

This article describes (i) gender differences in initial return to work (RTW) and lasting return to work (LRTW); (ii) health characteristics that predicted the observed gender differences in LRTW; and (iii) associations between health characteristics and (L)RTW in men and women separately. A 13-month prospective cohort study was performed with 119...

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of sick leave frequency determinants on in terms of age and profession homogeneous groups in two socio-economically comparable, but socio-culturally different regions in The Netherlands, i.e., Utrecht (mean frequency 1.10 spells) and South Limburg (mean frequency 1.92 spells). In addition, to get a...

On the basis of a motivational framework for return to work (RTW) after sickness absence, scales were developed to measure absentee attitudes towards RTW, perceived social norm with respect to RTW, RTW self-efficacy, RTW motivation, and the RTW attitudes of six types of key actors. Both theory and 33 in-depth interviews with sickness absentees and...

To evaluate the substitution of specialized rheumatology nurses for rheumatologists in diagnosing fibromyalgia (FM). Referred patients with FM symptoms (n = 193) were randomized to a study group diagnosed by a specialized rheumatology nurse (SRN group, n = 97) or to a control group diagnosed by a rheumatologist (RMT group, n = 96). SRN patients wer...

Regional differences in sick leave frequency and duration determinants were studied between different professions (sale and cleaning) in different regions in the Netherlands (Utrecht and South Limburg) and the influence of socio-cultural factors on those determinants was explored. Employees in Utrecht and South Limburg were interviewed on work, ind...

The aim of this review is to increase understanding of the factors that affect the regular employment positions of people with epilepsy by means of the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) model. Thirty-four primary research articles describing factors associated with employment for peo...

Arbeidsintegratie en arbeidsreïntegratie lijken nieuwe begrippen in Nederland. Nationale commissies, staatssecretarissen en beleidsmakers beschouwen reïntegratie als hét moderne middel om het aantal arbeidsongeschikten te beperken. Alleen al tussen 1995 en 2006 zijn er in Nederland ten minste tweeduizend bedrijven opgericht die als doel hebben de a...

(1) To study both cross-sectional and prospective relationships between work-family conflict and sickness absence from work; (2) to explore the direction of the relationships between the different types of conflict (work-home interference and home-work interference) and sickness absence; and (3) to explore gender differences in the above relationsh...

Early work-related interventions are extremely difficult when an employee is on long-term absence and in medical rehabilitation because of a severe illness or injury. The role of the medical rehabilitation setting is often focused on care and cure; there is little focus on work and work resumption. In this respect health care can hinder employees i...

In 1998, the Royal Netherlands Army introduced a new examination system (abbreviated as BMEKL), which was based on the "workload-capability" model, to replace the old system (abbreviated as PULHEEMS), which focused on diagnosis and was based solely on the detection of diseases and infirmities. To discern differences under operational conditions bet...

This article reports a prospective study that focused on the influence of organizational structure and organizational culture on the outcome of sickness absence, return to work or work disability. Former studies of determinants of work disability hardly have given attention to organizational characteristics and, if so, not following a appropriate p...

Little is known about the natural course of fatigue among employees. An adequate understanding of its development and risk factors is important to prevent chronic health complaints and absenteeism. This longitudinal study investigated associations between positive changes in perceived work characteristics (ie, a decrease in job demands, an increase...

This study examined the effects of different worktime arrangements on work-home interference while taking into account other work-related factors, private situation and health status, explored gender differences in this relation, and examined reciprocal effects between workhours and work-home interference. Data from the Maastricht cohort study on f...

In a resident-oriented care model the assignment of patients to primary nurses takes place. These primary nurses are responsible for the total nursing care of their patients and make use of the nursing process. According to job demand-control models, these enlarged and enriched jobs can be described in terms of autonomy, job demands and social supp...

This study evaluates the effects of the implementation of resident-oriented care on the job characteristics (job autonomy, job demands and social support) of nursing caregivers in three Dutch nursing homes. In a quasi-experimental design, experimental and control groups in both general and psychogeriatric wards were followed for up to 22 months, us...

In this paper working hours, patterns and work schedules of employees were evaluated in terms of need for recovery from work. Self-administered questionnaire data from employees of the Maastricht Cohort Study on Fatigue at Work (n = 12,095) were used. Poisson regression analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that higher wor...

This study examined both risk factors for the onset of work-family conflict and consequences in terms of need for recovery and prolonged fatigue for men and women separately. Two-year follow-up data from the Maastricht Cohort Study on "Fatigue at Work" (n = 12,095) were used. At baseline, the prevalence of work-family conflict was 10.8% (9.0% in wo...

The present study investigated work-related determinants of return to work. Our hypothesis was based on the strain hypothesis of the Demand-Control-Support model, which postulates a relation between job demands, job control and support at work on the one hand, and the aetiology of health complaints on the other hand. High demands were hypothesized...

The provision of vision care services by ophthalmologists, general practitioners, orthoptists, optometrists and opticians in the Netherlands was investigated. We assessed their division of labour, task boundary conflicts, and consensus on professional domains. Analysis of six patient cases indicated considerable overlap in the services provided by...

This study tested the influence of personal characteristics on a pattern of specific relationships between work characteristics and psychological outcomes. The study hypotheses were: (1) Growth Need Strength has a direct effect on intrinsic work motivation and moderates the relationship between task characteristics and intrinsic work motivation; (2...

This study of two different samples (245 bank employees and 362 teachers) tested a theoretically derived pattern of specific relationships between work stressors and outcome variables. The research model proposes four central domains of the work situation: work content, working conditions, social and labour relations, and conditions of employment....

This article describes a two-wave panel study which was carried out to examine reciprocal relationships between job characteristics and work-related psychological well-being. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 261 health care professionals using structural equation modelling (LISREL 8). Controlling for gender, age, and negative affectivity, the...

Taking into account that a great number of people in the Netherlands are considered incapacitated for work, reintegration activities are becoming increasingly important. Thus far, no studies have been conducted in the Netherlands to investigate the long-term effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation programmes. This study assessed the long-term ef...

The purpose of this Dutch prospective population-based study was to identify prognostic factors for return-to-work of employees with 3-4 months sick leave due to low back pain (LBP). A cohort of 328 employees was formed and baseline data were collected. One year after the first day of the sick leave, 91% of the original cohort participated in a sec...

The factors that influence the employment careers of diabetic patients aged 20 to 34 years were studied using a mail questionnaire. The study included all members of the Dutch diabetics association (Diabetes Vereniging Nederland) in that age group. A total of 5987 questionnaires were mailed; 4300 completed questionnaires were returned, giving a res...

This paper reports a study of 212 health care professionals that focuses on job characteristics as predictors of employee health. By means of covariance structure modelling (LISREL 8) we tested the interactive assumptions of the Karasek (1979) Job Demand-Control (JD-C) Model [Karasek, R.A., Jr., 1979. Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental...

Empirical results of earlier studies only marginally supported the relevance of Karasek's Job Demands-Job Control Model for absence behaviour. Since longitudinal studies with respect to these relations were largely lacking, a four-wave panel study was carried out using data from 1755 male employees of a technical maintenance firm in the public sect...

The relationship between health complaints and flexible work schedules was studied in a patient population selected by general practitioners. Four hundred and eighty patients between 20 and 60 years, currently employed or on sick leave, completed questionnaires which compiled data on their work situation, subjective physical health, psychological w...

This article describes a test of Karasek's JobDemand-Control (JD-C) Model using both group andindividual level assessments of job characteristics. Bygroup assessments, we mean aggregated individual data. A random sample from general hospitals andnursing homes included 16 institutions, 64 units, and1489 health care workers (82% response). Because of...

To test an interactional model on the associations between work stressors, perceived stress, alcohol consumption and sickness absence. Cross-sectional survey. The study was part of a Worksite Health Project including an Employee Assistance Programme and a Health Promotion Programme in the Netherlands. Participants were blue-collar workers from two...

This article describes a study on the effectiveness of a Health Profile that was offered to blue-collar workers. The major goal of the Health Profile was to improve workers' awareness of own health behaviors and their intentions to change unhealthy behaviors. The Health Profile consisted of a booklet in A4-format in which tailored information was g...

This study examined whether multiple social roles are associated with an increased risk for a first myocardial infarction in a sample of Dutch women and whether there is evidence in favour of either the scarcity or the enhancement hypothesis about multiple roles. Subjects were 79 patients with a first myocardial infarction (MI), and they were compa...

Burnout is an increasingly important problem in modern work organizations. Few studies, however, have explicitly applied an adequate theoretical understanding of the performance of modern organizations. This article aims to initiate both a discussion of this phenomenon and higher-quality research into the emergence of burnout based on an understand...

Lack of social support is becoming increasingly important as a psychosocial risk factor in the study of coronary heart disease (CHD). There may also be an association between vital exhaustion and lack of social support. Because most research has focused on men, we decided to explore the associations between structural and functional social support...

As yet, the relationship between unemployment and physical health has not sufficiently been clarified. With a longitudinal approach a representative Dutch panel study and a study on a health center population were carried out. They involved work-incapacitated and unemployed men between 21 and 65 years of age. Men incapacitated for work were in poor...

In a study of the content of occupational health care for hospital workers we carried out a separate study to measure the professional protection used to prevent contamination with HIV or hepatitis B virus. Therefore we carried out a study among Dutch general and orthopaedic surgeons. A questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of this popu...

Human information processing in science is explored by observation of success and failure attributions of scientists in a Dutch university sample. Scientific performance is measured by various bibliometric indicators, while attribution theory has been used for the classification of perceived causes of performance. Low performes appear to attribute...

This article presents the results of a national survey among intensive-care nurses, establishing whether male nurses and female nurses can be distinguished with respect to issues such as professionalizahon, career orientation and their preference for technical departments The study showed that there is an over-representation of men in technical war...

Spangenberg, et al. have tested hypotheses concerning' facilitators and inhibitors of scientific performance in Dutch economics. In order to examine the external validity of the findings, a comparison is made with large scale empirical studies conducted in two other countries. In order to examine the convergent validity of the overall performance m...

In line with a renewed interest in the role of individual characteristics in accidents, construction workers' risk taking tendency (N = 284) has been related to their accident involvement and safety behaviour. It has also been compared with the scores of a group of male alpine skiers (N = 150) and a group of male general practitioners' clients (N =...

The Netherlands Ministry of Education and Sciences commissioned a study of organizational factors influencing the research performance of clinical units in university hospitals.Hypotheses derived from the international literature and from expert reviews were tested by examining differences between high- and low-performing units. The distinction bet...