New grants/funding received

Hokke, S. Cooklin, A. Leach, L. Crawford, S. Bennetts, S. Love, J. Nicholson, J. Fathers at work: Identifying workplace barriers and supports for fathers to combine work and care. La Trobe University Transforming Human Societies Grant. $32,000

Grants applied for

Leach. L.S. Enabling fathers to work and care. ARC Future Fellowship. $991,843.

Conference presentations

Supthanasup, A. Social Networking Sites (SNSs): A new source of child feeding information for millennial parents in Thailand? Fifth Annual Symposium of the Australian Food, Society, and Culture Network. 15 November 2019, University of Sydney.

Zhao Y. Shift working parents' work family conflict and mental health. Work, Stress and Health Conference. 09 November 2019, Philadelphia, USA.

Zhao Y. Shift work and mental health: A systematic review. Work, Stress and Health Conference. 08 November 2019, Philadelphia, USA.

Outreach and engagement

Lyndall Strazdins was featured in the PM radio news article Call for Australians to work for longer, in which she discussed results from the ARC LP Working Well, Working Wisely study, and other RSPH research regarding older workers and retirement: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/call-for-australians-to-work-for-longer/11718912. November 19, 2019. Call for Australians to work for longer. PM.

Papers accepted/published:

1. Furuya-Kanamori L, Xu C, Lin L,  Doan T, Chu H, Thalib L, Doi SAR. P-value driven methods were underpowered to detect publication bias: analysis of Cochrane review meta-analyses. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2019; [accepted for publication]. This paper aims to investigate the effect of number of studies in a meta-analysis on the detection of publication bias using p-value driven methods. The study confirmed that when publication bias is present, p-value tests underestimate the presence of publication bias, particularly when study numbers are small. P-value based tests used for detection of publication bias related asymmetry in meta-analysis require careful examination as they underestimate asymmetry. Alternative methods not dependent on the number of studies are preferable.
2. Hokke, S., Bennetts, S.K., Crawford, S., Leach, L., Hackworth, N.J., Strazdins, L., Nguyen, C., Nicholson, J.M., Cooklin, A.R. Does flexible work ‘work’ in Australia? A survey of employed mothers’ and fathers’ work, family and health. Community, Work & Family. Accepted 15/11/2019.

Workplace flexibility is perceived to benefit parents yet evidence of the effectiveness of formal work arrangements in promoting parents’ health is mixed, and few have evaluated informal flexibility. This study investigates Australian mothers’ and fathers’ use of formal (employer-provided) and informal (self-directed) work arrangements, and explores the links with work-family conflict and health outcomes (psychological distress, occupational fatigue, burnout). Online survey data were from a national cross-sectional sample of 4,268 employed parents The results show that greater use of flexible work arrangements are associated with lower fatigue and less burnout for fathers and mothers. Conversely, higher use of flexible leave arrangements (e.g. purchased leave) and informal arrangements (e.g. performing family-related tasks at work) were associated with poorer health outcomes. Flexible work arrangements may have some health benefits, yet the widespread use of informal arrangements suggests flexible workplace provisions alone are not meeting parents’ needs for family-related support.

1. San Too, L*., Leach, L.S*., & Butterworth, P. (*joint first-authorship) Is the association between poor job control and common mental disorder explained by general perceptions of control? Findings from an Australian longitudinal cohort. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. Accepted 27/11/2019.

Low job control (i.e. autonomy at work) has reliably shown an association with poorer mental health. However, measures of control in the workplace may simply be a proxy for perceptions of control more generally, or alternatively, it may be that control in the workplace is associated with mental health independent of non-work influences. This study sought to examine the influence of general perceptions of control on the association between job control and mental health using four waves of data from a cohort of mid-aged adults from the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Study (baseline n = 2106). The results show that the effect of job control remained significant after adjusting for general perceptions of control and other confounders. The within-person effect in the model demonstrated that when workers had low job control, they were twice as likely to experience a common mental disorder. Individuals’ general perceptions of control in life does not account for the association between low job control and poor mental health. The findings add a new layer of evidence to the literature demonstrating that lack of autonomy at work is an independent predictor of employees’ mental health.