Abstract

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Demand-control at work and psychic distress in Norwegian philharmonic musicians.

Bjørn Hilt, MD, professor emeritus. Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.

Frank Brundtland Steder, Chief Researcher, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Kjeller, Norway 

In a study with data collection in 2019-20 we found that musicians reported more psychic distress than the occupationally active general population of Norway (1). We have now analyzed the data to see to what extent factors like demand, control, social support, and reward are associated with the reported psychic distress.

Demand was defined as having to do many tasks at a high pace, control as being able to decide on the amount of work and how it is performed, while social support was the get help and support from leaders and work mates when needed, and reward as perceived respect and payment as deserved.

Psychic distress was “measured” with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-5 (HSCL-5) where a score >= 2 indicates complaints with anxiety and/or depression.

We used logistic regression with control for age and sex to elucidate possible associations between assumed determinants and the outcomes.

The study comprised 382 musicians aged 20-69 years from eight different philharmonic orchestras in Norway. There were 171 females and 209 men. 5.5 % were under thirty years of age while 31.9 % were between 50 and 59 years.

There were 20 % of the study subjects who were defined as having high demands, 36.3 % who had low control, and 8.5 % who had the combination of both. High social support was present in 24.1 % and 39 % considered themselves to have satisfactory reward.

Results showed an odds ratio (OR) of 1.74 (95 % CI 1.03-2.94) for having HSCL-5 > 2 related to high demands, 1.43 (0.92-2.22) for low control, and 4.32 (1.91-9.8) when there were both high demands of low control. The corresponding OR for the general population was 2.93 (2.21-3.9). In musicians, high degree of social support gave an OR of 1.54 (0.93-2.56), and satisfactory reward 0.55 (0.35-0.87).[FS1]  

We see some psychosocial challenges in the working environment of musicians and clear associations between certain challenges and psychic distress.

 

1)  Hilt B, Brundtland Steder F. Arbeidsmiljø og helse blant orkestermusikere – sammenligning med den generelle befolkningen.  Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. Report  24/00225, Kjeller 2024.(In Norwegian, English summary).

 

 
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