... L'une se situe au plan de l'autorité (avoir la liberté de décider comment faire son... more ... L'une se situe au plan de l'autorité (avoir la liberté de décider comment faire son ... de l'absentéisme et des symptômes dépressifs ou encore d'augmentation de bien-être et de ... limiter les coûts pour ses salariés malades, mais peut aussi maintenir positivement et améliorer la santé ...
Health problems of women whose jobs involved intense time pressure were evaluated in a study of 8... more Health problems of women whose jobs involved intense time pressure were evaluated in a study of 800 sewing-machine operators employed in Québec between 1976 and 1985. Information on workers' occupational characteristics were obtained from public records. Symptoms of anxiety and depression, use of medication and disability status were determined by interview. Garment workers had an increased prevalence of slight, moderate and severe disability and higher levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression when compared to workers in other occupations. Garment workers paid piecework rates took medication for stomach problems in greater proportion than workers paid an hourly wage. Furthermore, workers who spend 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 20 or more years in piecework had an increased prevalence of severe disability compared to the baseline category 0-4 years, with adjusted risk ratios of 2.2 (95% CI = 1.14-4.6), 3.3 (95% CI = 1.5-6.9), 3.6 (95% CI = 1.5-8.4 and 2.3 (95% CI = 0.8-6.6) respectively, independent of age, smoking habits, education, type of task and total length of employment. These findings suggest that short-term, non-disabling conditions associated with time pressure by previous authors may have more important long-term sequelae then had been previously documented.
This study was designed to examine the potential effects of severe time constraints on workers&am... more This study was designed to examine the potential effects of severe time constraints on workers' health. Medicine use is considered to be an indicator of non-specific morbidity that is worthy of interest in industrial health research when it is possible to compare workers who share the same culture and socio-economic characteristics, but are submitted to different work conditions. In the clothing industry, our hypotheses were that (1) piecework paid operators would have a higher percentage of medicine users than the hourly paid and (2) operators who did repetitive work would have a higher percentage of medicine users than those who did non-repetitive work. Women selected into the study were between the ages of 45 and 70, natives of Canada, spoke French and lived in the metropolitan region of Montreal. The occupational data came from the files of The Ladies' Clothing Joint Commission. They encompass the 30-year period 1956-85. Data on socio-economic characteristics, smoking status and medicine use of the 800 respondents were obtained by questionnaires administered by specially trained nurses. Among currently employed women, the probability of using stomach medication was higher for pieceworkers than among women who received an hourly wage: OR = 2.57 (1.19-3.96). The probability was also higher for women who did repetitive work than for women who did non-repetitive work: OR = 2.43 (1.26-3.60).
The Laval University has been involved in many French-speaking African countries for teaching and... more The Laval University has been involved in many French-speaking African countries for teaching and intervention programs in occupational health and safety. In Algeria and Zaire, seminars for public and occupational health physicians have been aimed at allowing participants to gain the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to implement medico-environmental surveillance programs in industry. These teaching programs were presented in a wider perspective of occupational health services. As defined by the International Labor Organisation (ILO), these services should identify occupational risk factors, conceive and implement occupational prevention programs, realize health surveillance activities, monitor health statistics, promote adaptation of work to workers and rehabilitation of disabled workers, realize information and formation programs and, finally, organize first-aid activities. In Zaire, the program was aimed at integrating the occupational health approach in a more global pers...
Les facteurs psychosociaux de l'environnement de travail designent l'ensemble des facteur... more Les facteurs psychosociaux de l'environnement de travail designent l'ensemble des facteurs organisationnels et les relations inter-individuelles sur le lieu de travail qui peuvent avoir un impact sur la sante. Il existe actuellement deux modeles de risques psychosociaux reconnus internationalement en raison de leur apport considerable a la production de connaissances scientifiques consistantes sur l'importance des liens entre des phenomenes sociaux et psychologiques au travail et le developpement de plusieurs maladies. Il s'agit du modele « demande-autonomie au travail » de Karasek auquel a ete ajoute le concept de soutien social et celui du «desequilibre: effort/recompense » de Siegrist. Au cours des deux dernieres decennies, ces deux modeles ont fait l'objet de tres nombreuses recherches a travers le monde dont les resultats ont bien montre les effets pathogenes qu'ont ces situations de travail principalement sur la sante cardiovasculaire et sur la sante mentale. Les strategies d'intervention mises en place actuellement par les entreprises dans le domaine des risques psychosociaux visent principalement a reduire les effets des situations de travail stressantes en ameliorant les capacites des personnes a mieux s'adapter a la situation et a mieux gerer leur stress. Ces mesures sont insuffisantes car elles ne visent qu'a reduire les symptomes et non les causes des problemes. Il est necessaire que tout programme d'intervention visant les risques psychosociaux comporte un volet de prevention primaire ayant pour but d'eliminer ou de reduire la presence d'agents psychosociaux pathogenes en milieu de travail. Plusieurs auteurs ont souligne que les approches organisationnelles bien structurees etaient plus efficaces et s'accompagneraient d'effets plus importants et plus durables que les approches individuelles.
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 1989
An indicator of permanent disability was used to measure the chronic health problems associated w... more An indicator of permanent disability was used to measure the chronic health problems associated with garment work. The study population comprised 800 female sewing-machine operators employed in the Quebec garment industry between 1976 and 1985. The workers were identified from public agency records. Their disability status was obtained in a personal interview. The disability prevalence of these workers was compared to national disability data of women employed in clerical work, services, and manufacturing industries. The garment workers who had left employment had an increased prevalence of severe disability (in comparison with that of workers who had left other types of employment) and an increased prevalence of moderate and slight disability. Currently employed garment workers had an increased prevalence of moderate and slight disability when compared with workers currently employed in other occupations. The risk ratios remained similarly elevated when the data were adjusted for a...
Over the last years, the Quebec health system has gone through a period of transformation aimed a... more Over the last years, the Quebec health system has gone through a period of transformation aimed at cost reduction and better efficiency. The present study describes the effects of the transformation on the professional life and on the health of nurses in the Quebec City urban area. Despite a cross-sectional study not allowing links from cause to effect and despite the fact that the study only includes nurses who were still employed by institutions, the research shows an increase of the prevalence of a higher level of psychological distress in nurses since the beginning of the transformation. Interventions in the work place should be geared to professional factors that nurses identify as problematical.
The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major cause... more The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major causes of morbidity of the population with an annual prevalence varying from 15 to 25%. Consequences of this morbidity are more importantly felt on the working capacity of individuals. Several elements linked particularly to the evolution of the organization and working conditions in the course of the last years incriminate the workplace in explaining the origin of this new "epidemic". If there is a relative unanimity on the importance of mental health problems at work, it is not the case with the understanding of the origin of these problems and, consequently, of the strategies to put in place to counter them. Of the entire studies that have attempted to explain this phenomenon, three approaches are considered: the causalist approach, the cognitivist approach and finally, the psychodynamic approach. Even if the cognitivist approach allows the understand why some stress factors iden...
Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality worldwide accounting ... more Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality worldwide accounting for 17.7 million deaths per year. Mental health problems (MHP) are the first cause of disability worldwide. Their prevalence, long duration and high risk of recurrence place a considerable burden on health and social care systems and important productivity losses for employers. The PROspective Quebec (PROQ) Study on Work and Health is a prospective cohort initiated in 1991-93 to further extend our comprehension of the effect of work stressors on cardiovascular and mental health outcomes. Design and method: At baseline (1991–1993), the study population involved 9,189 white-collar workers aged 18 to 65 years-old employed by 19 specific public organizations in Quebec City. At the first follow-up, 8 years later (1999–2001), 8,121 workers agreed to participate again corresponding to 89% of the initial sample. The 22-year follow-up (2015–18) is currently ongoing. This second follow-up includes measurements at later life of a large number of cardiovascular and mental health outcomes as well as their major risk factors, including blood pressure. Results: Data collection procedures are a self-reported questionnaire, an interview, biological variables and medico-administrative databases extractions. This prospective cohort will fill important research gaps related to: 1) the pathways by which adverse psychosocial work stressors cumulated over the working life could lead to higher risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and mental health problems (MHP) at older ages, 2) the effects of psychosocial work stressors on novel subclinical markers of disease risk (aortic stiffness, inflammatory markers, telomere length, cognitive function) and 3) the costs of CVD and mental health problems attributable to work stressors. Conclusions: This cohort is one of the most rigorous and extensive occupational cohorts in the world. The results will contribute substantially to the primary prevention of CVD and MHP.
... mentale au Québec : une analyse différenciée selon le sexe Michel Vézina, MD, MPH, Renée Bour... more ... mentale au Québec : une analyse différenciée selon le sexe Michel Vézina, MD, MPH, Renée Bourbonnais, PhD, Alain Marchand, PhD, Robert Arcand, MSc ... De plus, 45 % d'entre eux rapportent avoir un faible soutien social et 40 % une forte demande psychologique au travail. ...
The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major cause... more The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major causes of morbidity of the population with an annual prevalence varying from 15 to 25%. Consequences of this morbidity are more importantly felt on the working capacity of individuals. Several elements linked particularly to the evolution of the organization and working conditions in the course of the last years incriminate the workplace in explaining the origin of this new "epidemic". If there is a relative unanimity on the importance of mental health problems at work, it is not the case with the understanding of the origin of these problems and, consequently, of the strategies to put in place to counter them. Of the entire studies that have attempted to explain this phenomenon, three approaches are considered: the causalist approach, the cognitivist approach and finally, the psychodynamic approach. Even if the cognitivist approach allows the understand why some stress factors iden...
... L'une se situe au plan de l'autorité (avoir la liberté de décider comment faire son... more ... L'une se situe au plan de l'autorité (avoir la liberté de décider comment faire son ... de l'absentéisme et des symptômes dépressifs ou encore d'augmentation de bien-être et de ... limiter les coûts pour ses salariés malades, mais peut aussi maintenir positivement et améliorer la santé ...
Health problems of women whose jobs involved intense time pressure were evaluated in a study of 8... more Health problems of women whose jobs involved intense time pressure were evaluated in a study of 800 sewing-machine operators employed in Québec between 1976 and 1985. Information on workers' occupational characteristics were obtained from public records. Symptoms of anxiety and depression, use of medication and disability status were determined by interview. Garment workers had an increased prevalence of slight, moderate and severe disability and higher levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression when compared to workers in other occupations. Garment workers paid piecework rates took medication for stomach problems in greater proportion than workers paid an hourly wage. Furthermore, workers who spend 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 20 or more years in piecework had an increased prevalence of severe disability compared to the baseline category 0-4 years, with adjusted risk ratios of 2.2 (95% CI = 1.14-4.6), 3.3 (95% CI = 1.5-6.9), 3.6 (95% CI = 1.5-8.4 and 2.3 (95% CI = 0.8-6.6) respectively, independent of age, smoking habits, education, type of task and total length of employment. These findings suggest that short-term, non-disabling conditions associated with time pressure by previous authors may have more important long-term sequelae then had been previously documented.
This study was designed to examine the potential effects of severe time constraints on workers&am... more This study was designed to examine the potential effects of severe time constraints on workers' health. Medicine use is considered to be an indicator of non-specific morbidity that is worthy of interest in industrial health research when it is possible to compare workers who share the same culture and socio-economic characteristics, but are submitted to different work conditions. In the clothing industry, our hypotheses were that (1) piecework paid operators would have a higher percentage of medicine users than the hourly paid and (2) operators who did repetitive work would have a higher percentage of medicine users than those who did non-repetitive work. Women selected into the study were between the ages of 45 and 70, natives of Canada, spoke French and lived in the metropolitan region of Montreal. The occupational data came from the files of The Ladies' Clothing Joint Commission. They encompass the 30-year period 1956-85. Data on socio-economic characteristics, smoking status and medicine use of the 800 respondents were obtained by questionnaires administered by specially trained nurses. Among currently employed women, the probability of using stomach medication was higher for pieceworkers than among women who received an hourly wage: OR = 2.57 (1.19-3.96). The probability was also higher for women who did repetitive work than for women who did non-repetitive work: OR = 2.43 (1.26-3.60).
The Laval University has been involved in many French-speaking African countries for teaching and... more The Laval University has been involved in many French-speaking African countries for teaching and intervention programs in occupational health and safety. In Algeria and Zaire, seminars for public and occupational health physicians have been aimed at allowing participants to gain the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to implement medico-environmental surveillance programs in industry. These teaching programs were presented in a wider perspective of occupational health services. As defined by the International Labor Organisation (ILO), these services should identify occupational risk factors, conceive and implement occupational prevention programs, realize health surveillance activities, monitor health statistics, promote adaptation of work to workers and rehabilitation of disabled workers, realize information and formation programs and, finally, organize first-aid activities. In Zaire, the program was aimed at integrating the occupational health approach in a more global pers...
Les facteurs psychosociaux de l'environnement de travail designent l'ensemble des facteur... more Les facteurs psychosociaux de l'environnement de travail designent l'ensemble des facteurs organisationnels et les relations inter-individuelles sur le lieu de travail qui peuvent avoir un impact sur la sante. Il existe actuellement deux modeles de risques psychosociaux reconnus internationalement en raison de leur apport considerable a la production de connaissances scientifiques consistantes sur l'importance des liens entre des phenomenes sociaux et psychologiques au travail et le developpement de plusieurs maladies. Il s'agit du modele « demande-autonomie au travail » de Karasek auquel a ete ajoute le concept de soutien social et celui du «desequilibre: effort/recompense » de Siegrist. Au cours des deux dernieres decennies, ces deux modeles ont fait l'objet de tres nombreuses recherches a travers le monde dont les resultats ont bien montre les effets pathogenes qu'ont ces situations de travail principalement sur la sante cardiovasculaire et sur la sante mentale. Les strategies d'intervention mises en place actuellement par les entreprises dans le domaine des risques psychosociaux visent principalement a reduire les effets des situations de travail stressantes en ameliorant les capacites des personnes a mieux s'adapter a la situation et a mieux gerer leur stress. Ces mesures sont insuffisantes car elles ne visent qu'a reduire les symptomes et non les causes des problemes. Il est necessaire que tout programme d'intervention visant les risques psychosociaux comporte un volet de prevention primaire ayant pour but d'eliminer ou de reduire la presence d'agents psychosociaux pathogenes en milieu de travail. Plusieurs auteurs ont souligne que les approches organisationnelles bien structurees etaient plus efficaces et s'accompagneraient d'effets plus importants et plus durables que les approches individuelles.
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 1989
An indicator of permanent disability was used to measure the chronic health problems associated w... more An indicator of permanent disability was used to measure the chronic health problems associated with garment work. The study population comprised 800 female sewing-machine operators employed in the Quebec garment industry between 1976 and 1985. The workers were identified from public agency records. Their disability status was obtained in a personal interview. The disability prevalence of these workers was compared to national disability data of women employed in clerical work, services, and manufacturing industries. The garment workers who had left employment had an increased prevalence of severe disability (in comparison with that of workers who had left other types of employment) and an increased prevalence of moderate and slight disability. Currently employed garment workers had an increased prevalence of moderate and slight disability when compared with workers currently employed in other occupations. The risk ratios remained similarly elevated when the data were adjusted for a...
Over the last years, the Quebec health system has gone through a period of transformation aimed a... more Over the last years, the Quebec health system has gone through a period of transformation aimed at cost reduction and better efficiency. The present study describes the effects of the transformation on the professional life and on the health of nurses in the Quebec City urban area. Despite a cross-sectional study not allowing links from cause to effect and despite the fact that the study only includes nurses who were still employed by institutions, the research shows an increase of the prevalence of a higher level of psychological distress in nurses since the beginning of the transformation. Interventions in the work place should be geared to professional factors that nurses identify as problematical.
The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major cause... more The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major causes of morbidity of the population with an annual prevalence varying from 15 to 25%. Consequences of this morbidity are more importantly felt on the working capacity of individuals. Several elements linked particularly to the evolution of the organization and working conditions in the course of the last years incriminate the workplace in explaining the origin of this new "epidemic". If there is a relative unanimity on the importance of mental health problems at work, it is not the case with the understanding of the origin of these problems and, consequently, of the strategies to put in place to counter them. Of the entire studies that have attempted to explain this phenomenon, three approaches are considered: the causalist approach, the cognitivist approach and finally, the psychodynamic approach. Even if the cognitivist approach allows the understand why some stress factors iden...
Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality worldwide accounting ... more Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality worldwide accounting for 17.7 million deaths per year. Mental health problems (MHP) are the first cause of disability worldwide. Their prevalence, long duration and high risk of recurrence place a considerable burden on health and social care systems and important productivity losses for employers. The PROspective Quebec (PROQ) Study on Work and Health is a prospective cohort initiated in 1991-93 to further extend our comprehension of the effect of work stressors on cardiovascular and mental health outcomes. Design and method: At baseline (1991–1993), the study population involved 9,189 white-collar workers aged 18 to 65 years-old employed by 19 specific public organizations in Quebec City. At the first follow-up, 8 years later (1999–2001), 8,121 workers agreed to participate again corresponding to 89% of the initial sample. The 22-year follow-up (2015–18) is currently ongoing. This second follow-up includes measurements at later life of a large number of cardiovascular and mental health outcomes as well as their major risk factors, including blood pressure. Results: Data collection procedures are a self-reported questionnaire, an interview, biological variables and medico-administrative databases extractions. This prospective cohort will fill important research gaps related to: 1) the pathways by which adverse psychosocial work stressors cumulated over the working life could lead to higher risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and mental health problems (MHP) at older ages, 2) the effects of psychosocial work stressors on novel subclinical markers of disease risk (aortic stiffness, inflammatory markers, telomere length, cognitive function) and 3) the costs of CVD and mental health problems attributable to work stressors. Conclusions: This cohort is one of the most rigorous and extensive occupational cohorts in the world. The results will contribute substantially to the primary prevention of CVD and MHP.
... mentale au Québec : une analyse différenciée selon le sexe Michel Vézina, MD, MPH, Renée Bour... more ... mentale au Québec : une analyse différenciée selon le sexe Michel Vézina, MD, MPH, Renée Bourbonnais, PhD, Alain Marchand, PhD, Robert Arcand, MSc ... De plus, 45 % d'entre eux rapportent avoir un faible soutien social et 40 % une forte demande psychologique au travail. ...
The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major cause... more The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major causes of morbidity of the population with an annual prevalence varying from 15 to 25%. Consequences of this morbidity are more importantly felt on the working capacity of individuals. Several elements linked particularly to the evolution of the organization and working conditions in the course of the last years incriminate the workplace in explaining the origin of this new "epidemic". If there is a relative unanimity on the importance of mental health problems at work, it is not the case with the understanding of the origin of these problems and, consequently, of the strategies to put in place to counter them. Of the entire studies that have attempted to explain this phenomenon, three approaches are considered: the causalist approach, the cognitivist approach and finally, the psychodynamic approach. Even if the cognitivist approach allows the understand why some stress factors iden...
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