Job stress causing depression in workers in Victoria

Jun 3 2008

A study by researchers at Melbourne University has found that almost one in six cases of depression among workers in Victoria are caused by job stress.

An analysis of job stress data collected from a 2003 survey of 1,100 Victorian workers found that many Australian workers are suffering from work-related depression.

The researchers say almost 17 per cent of working women and 13 per cent of working men with depression attribute their condition to job stress, this equates to 21,437 Victorians who are depressed because of their work.

For the study stressful working conditions was defined as a combination of high demand jobs and low control over how the job is done.

Study author associate Professor Tony LaMontagne from the McCaughey Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing says some workers are more prone to work-related depression and these are usually in the lower skill level, lower socioeconomic position.

Professor LaMontagne says such people have a disproportionate burden of mental illness and job stress is one of the factors which is preventable.

Professor LaMontagne says women are more likely to be in low control, high demand jobs and he believes improving the quality of jobs would deal with the social inequality in mental illness.

The numbers of prevalent depression cases among working Victorians were estimated from the National Mental Health survey and workers' compensation statistics were obtained from a national database.

The researchers also found that 30-times fewer workers receive workers' compensation for stress-related mental disorders, which they say suggests that workers’ compensation statistics grossly under-represent the true extent of the problem.

The researchers say the evidence demonstrates that improving job control, moderating demands, and providing more support from supervisors and co-workers has an affect.

They hope a better understanding of the scale of the problem will lead to more support for employees, particularly for lower-skilled workers and working women.

The non-profit organisation Beyond Blue estimates that at least one in five Australians will experience depression or another mental illness at some stage in their lives.

Todd Harper the CEO for VicHealth says the study shows that workplaces need to do more to prevent workplace related mental health problems.

The study was funded by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), the National Heart Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council, Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation (Canada); it is published in the current issue of the international journal BMC Public Health.