TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors influencing the need for recovery in employees with hearing loss: a cross-sectional study of health administrative data
AU - van der Hoek-Snieders, Hanneke E. M.
AU - Boymans, Monique
AU - Sorgdrager, Bas
AU - Dreschler, Wouter A.
N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr. R. Holman for the support with statistical analysis, Dr. I. Jacobi for providing feedback on the manuscript, and J. Lebouille, B.A. for her assistance in the data entry. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Objective: Need for recovery is a predictor of work stress and health problems, but its underlying factors are not yet well understood. We aimed to identify hearing-related, work-related, and personal factors influencing need for recovery in hearing-impaired employees. Methods: We retrospectively identified hearing-impaired employees (N = 294) that were referred to the Amsterdam University Medical Center between 2004 and 2019. Routinely obtained healthcare data were used, including a survey and hearing assessments. A directed acyclic graph was constructed, revealing the hypothesized structure of factors influencing need for recovery as well as the minimal set of factors needed for multiple regression analysis. Results: Four variables were included in the regression analysis. In total, 46.1% of the variance in need for recovery was explained by the factors feeling that something should change at work (B = 19.01, p < 0.001), self-perceived listening effort (B = 1.84, p < 0.001), personal adaptations scale score (B = − 0.34, p <.001), and having a moderate/poor general health condition (B = 20.06, p < 0.001). Although degree of hearing loss was associated with self-perceived listening effort, the direct association between degree of hearing loss and need for recovery was not significant. Conclusions: The results suggest that the way employees perceive their hearing loss and how they cope with it directly influence need for recovery, rather than their measured degree of hearing loss. Additionally, general health condition was found to be an independent factor for need for recovery. The results should be confirmed by future, longitudinal research.
AB - Objective: Need for recovery is a predictor of work stress and health problems, but its underlying factors are not yet well understood. We aimed to identify hearing-related, work-related, and personal factors influencing need for recovery in hearing-impaired employees. Methods: We retrospectively identified hearing-impaired employees (N = 294) that were referred to the Amsterdam University Medical Center between 2004 and 2019. Routinely obtained healthcare data were used, including a survey and hearing assessments. A directed acyclic graph was constructed, revealing the hypothesized structure of factors influencing need for recovery as well as the minimal set of factors needed for multiple regression analysis. Results: Four variables were included in the regression analysis. In total, 46.1% of the variance in need for recovery was explained by the factors feeling that something should change at work (B = 19.01, p < 0.001), self-perceived listening effort (B = 1.84, p < 0.001), personal adaptations scale score (B = − 0.34, p <.001), and having a moderate/poor general health condition (B = 20.06, p < 0.001). Although degree of hearing loss was associated with self-perceived listening effort, the direct association between degree of hearing loss and need for recovery was not significant. Conclusions: The results suggest that the way employees perceive their hearing loss and how they cope with it directly influence need for recovery, rather than their measured degree of hearing loss. Additionally, general health condition was found to be an independent factor for need for recovery. The results should be confirmed by future, longitudinal research.
KW - Communication strategies
KW - Fatigue
KW - Hearing loss
KW - Listening effort
KW - Work participation
KW - Workers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086108505&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01556-z
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01556-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 32507999
SN - 0340-0131
VL - 93
SP - 1023
EP - 1035
JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
IS - 8
ER -