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Occupational Medicine Advance Access published online on October 16, 2006
Occupational Medicine, doi:10.1093/occmed/kql105
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

Activity, functional capacity and well-being in ageing Finnish workers

Jorma Seitsamo 1 *, Kaija Tuomi 1, and Rami Martikainen 1

1 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Jorma Seitsamo, E-mail: jorma.seitsamo{at}ttl.fi


  Abstract

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.
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