Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on October 16, 2006
Occupational Medicine 2007 57(2):85-91; doi:10.1093/occmed/kql105
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Activity, functional capacity and well-being in ageing Finnish workers
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland
Background The ageing of the labour force and falling employment rates have forced policy makers in industrialized countries to find means of increasing the well-being of older workers and of lengthening their work careers.
Aims To longitudinally study the relationship between activity and functional capacity and the well-being of ageing workers.
Methods Follow-up study to that carried out by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in 1981–97 (n = 3817). Activity level was measured using various free-time activities, and functional capacity was measured through daily-life activities. The measure of well-being included items with both positive and negative affects. The associations between activity, functional capacity and well-being were analysed by general linear models with repeated measures.
Results Activity level and functional capacity had a strong positive effect (the effects of one unit increase were 0.32 and 0.30, respectively) on well-being. They were also interdependent. The impact of activity level in maintaining well-being became 31% greater during the follow-up, whereas the effect of functional capacity diminished by 17%.
Conclusion The results of the study indicate that both involvement in activities and functional capacity have an important, partly compensatory role in maintaining the well-being of ageing workers.
Keywords Ageing workers; functional capacity; retirement; well-being
Correspondence to: Jorma Seitsamo, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A, Helsinki FI-00250, Finland. Tel: +358 304742410; fax: +358 304742423; e-mail: jorma.seitsamo{at}ttl.fi