How could cultural activities for employees and managers improve employee
health?
Workshop led by
Töres Theorell (1,2), MD, PhD, Anna Nyberg (2), PhD, and Julia Romanowska
(1), PhD
1.) Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
2.) Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm
Partly on the basis of studies of the manager´s role in employee health (see
Nyberg 2009) we have postulated that cultural activities could have a role in
promoting employee health. A two-year follow-up study (Theorell et al 2012)
of a representative cohort of Swedish 6214 working men and women (slosh)
showed that working men and women who reported that cultural activities
were organized for the employees in their work place had a significantly
lower likelihood than other employees of developing worsened
symptoms of emotional exhaustion. An experimental study with RCT
design (Romanowska 2014) compared the effect of the combination of
a short introductory manager education and an art based intervention
with the effects of the combination of the same short education and a
high quality educational programme. Both combined interventions
lasted for nine months. Managers as well as employees were examined
before start, after twelve months and after 18 months. The results
showed that after 18 months the employees in the group whose
managers had gone through the art-based programme had significantly
better results than in the other group with regard to the concentration
of the anabolic hormone DHEA-s, covert coping and mental health
(combined scores for sleep disturbance, depressive symptoms and
symptoms of emotional exhaustion). The managers in the art group
showed more improvement in Sense of Coherence and Agreeableness
than the other managers.
In the workshop we will discuss the implications of the findings in these
studies. Can cultural activities be used for improvement of the work
environment?