Occupational Health
“Our aim is to contribute to the synergy of sustainable employability and reducing health inequalities”
The research group Occupational Health is committed to contribute to an essential part of a sustainable public health: an inclusive and sustainable labour market. Employment is an important determinant of health. We strive to improve sustainable employability, among all social groups and promote life-long working in good health.
Together with municipalities and employers across various sectors, we explore effective strategies to promote entering and maintaining paid employment among disadvantaged groups (e.g. persons with disabilities). Additionally, we focus on enhancing health and workability for workers, particular shift workers, through the implementation and evaluation of workplace and lifestyle interventions.
In our research we perform state of the art research, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to address important questions like: How does employment affect health and how does health affect employment? Which factors determine work ability and sustainable employment during the working life? Which preventive interventions and policies enhance sustainable employability and how cost-effective are these?
Highlight
An interdisciplinary approach to promote employment among persons with severe mental disorders
Many persons with severe mental disorders do not work, although they would like to enter paid employment. An interdisciplinary ‘work first’ employment program ‘Work As Best Care (WABC)’ for unemployed persons with severe mental disorders was developed in the area of Dordrecht in which employment professionals worked closely together with mental health professionals. A quasi-experimental study was conducted, evaluating the effects of WABC on employment participation and mental health of persons with severe mental disorders. Data from questionnaires were linked to register data from Statistics Netherlands to investigate changes in mental health and employment participation. This work-first approach increased employment participation of persons with severe mental disorders, although an improvement in mental health was only found among women. Close collaboration of employment and mental health professionals, together with the ‘work first’ approach is a promising program to enhance employment participation among persons with severe mental disorders. This study was led by Merel Schuring and Roos Hijdra.
Figure 1 Employment participation before and after starting WABC or regular employment support in the period 2015-2020.
Shift2Health: the development and evaluation of strategies to prevent and reduce obesity in shift workers
In 2023 the Horizon EU project ‘Shift2Health’ was launched, where Erasmus MC together with 15 European partners collaboratively explore new insights into the behavioral and physiological causes of weight gain in shift workers. There are nearly 30 million shift workers throughout various employment sectors in Europe. Working night shifts is associated with a higher risk of becoming overweight and obese. Shift workers are also more likely to develop abdominal obesity diseases such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Overweight and obesity and associated diseases not only severely impair the life of the employee, but also put unsustainable pressure on national health systems. In this multi-centered study, our team will: A) help identify the mechanisms leading to overweight and obesity in shift workers; B) develop, implement and evaluate a combined lifestyle intervention in shift workers from both the industry and healthcare to improve sustainable employability and health; and C) perform a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on potential health effects of recommendations regarding obesity-preventing strategies. This study is led by Heidi Lammers-van der Holst, Lili Kokai and Coen Dros.
Figure 2 Geographic distribution of 16 European partners across 7 countries involved in the Shift2Health consortium.
Section: Occupational Health








