EqualHealth

The increasing prevalence of nonstandard work schedules (NSWS) has disproportionately affected women across several EU countries. While evidence shows that NSWS negatively impact workers’health and family well-being, their impact on mental health remains understudied, while the factors driving gender-specific effects remain poorly understood. The EqualHealth project aims to address this gap by comparing three European countries (France, UK, and Sweden), with contrasting prevalence of NSWS and health and work–life balance policies, and by using longitudinal data. The main objectives of the project are threefold : 1) to measure the prevalence of mental disorders across type of NSWS and gender in the three European countries, controlling for employment and work characteristics, and for socio-demographic factors, and to analyze how exposure to different types of NSWS influences the onset of mental disorders ; 2) to explore the role of contextual resources at work and in the family sphere, and the role of health policies and institutional contexts ; and (3) to examine workers’ coping strategies, based on their subjective experience of mental health. The project explores gender differences due to the persistence of gendered inequalities at the workplace, the gendered division of domestic labor, and gender norms. The EqualHealth project draws on a mixed methods design and innovative longitudinal data sources. We analyze the links between career paths and mental health using data from three vast national cohorts, matched with administrative data. In addition, the project will deepen our understanding of the phenomenon by collecting biographical interviews in the three countries, and by taking an integrated and multi-dimensional approach to mental health. We compare different mental health indicators (self-reported, diagnosed, subjective, and biomarkers), enabling clinical and medical categories to be discussed, and populations that are under-diagnosed or far removed from the health systems to be identified. By its unique interdisciplinary approach (sociology, demography, epidemiology, public health, and political science), the project will provide a better understanding of the impact of NSWS on the mental health of women and men. It will help to expand knowledge of the social determinants of mental health, and to gain a better understanding of the role of public policy and organizations in developing and preventing mental disorders among workers, in conjunction with physiological processes. Additionally, the integrated approach to mental health, and combination of approaches, make it possible to identify at-risk populations, to enrich existing cohorts, and to improve the measurement of mental health at international level, an objective promoted by the OECD. The project is also contributing to better integration of biomedical data in social science research on health, increasing knowledge of the determinants of health and encouraging the development of appropriate prevention policies.