Work precarity and mental health

Vplivi sodobnega sveta spreminjajo tudi razmere na trgu dela. Prevladuje zahteva po fleksibilni delovni sili, kar vodi v vse bolj nestabilne oblike dela. Prekarno delo je tisto, ki je drugačno od splošno sprejetega. Opredeljujeta ga predvsem nestabilnost in negotovost v trajanju in količini dela, poleg tega pa tudi nevarni delovni pogoji, nizek prihodek in drugo. Takšno delo pogosto pomeni tudi nižji življenjski standard zaposlenega. Poleg merjenja objektivne prekarnosti dela se je smiselno osredotočiti tudi na subjektivno zaznavo prekarnosti dela. To je koncept, ki pomeni subjektivno zaznavo objektivnih pogojev prekarnosti zaposlitve in opisuje individualno psihološko izkušnjo nestabilnosti, negotovosti in nemoči, povezane z delom. Ker je delo ena izmed človekovih glavnih dejavnosti, pomembno prispeva k duševnemu zdravju delovno aktivne populacije. Duševno zdravje lahko merimo s splošnimi merami ali pa z različnimi kazalniki, na primer s pomočjo merjenja depresivnosti, anksioznosti, psihološkega blagostanja in zadovoljstva z delom. Raziskave kažejo, da se višja stopnja obeh vrst prekarnosti pozitivno povezuje s kazalniki negativnega duševnega zdravja, s kazalniki pozitivnega duševnega zdravja pa se povezuje negativno. Velja, da naj bi bila ta povezava močnejša, kadar kot mero izberemo subjektivne zaznave, ne pa objektivnih vidikov. Neprekarni delavci izkazujejo boljše duševno zdravje kot prekarni. V magistrski nalogi me je zanimalo, ali te ugotovitve veljajo tudi v slovenskem prostoru. V vzorec sem zbrala polnoletne delovno aktivne udeležence, ki so bili v času reševanja zaposleni v kateri koli obliki zaposlitve (prekarni ali neprekarni). Za merjenje kazalnikov duševnega zdravja sem uporabila nekatere že obstoječe pripomočke, poleg tega pa sem za namene magistrske naloge priredila pripomoček za merjenje subjektivno zaznane prekarnosti in oblikovala kratek vprašalnik za merjenje objektivne prekarnosti. Večina rezultatov je pokazala podobne ugotovitve, kot jih različni avtorji navajajo v literaturi, kar kaže tako na negativen vpliv prekarnosti dela na duševno zdravje kot tudi na vpliv slabšega duševnega zdravja na kakovost in stabilnost zaposlitve.Modern world influences are changing conditions in the labour market. The demand for a flexible work force is prevailing, which leads to unstable work forms. Precarious work is different from usual standards. It is mostly defined with unstability and uncertainty of duration and quantity of work, and also with dangerous working conditions, low salaries etc. This kind of work often means lower living standard of a worker. Measuring objective work precarity is necessary, but it also makes sense to focus on subjective perception of work precarity. It is a concept which means subjective perception of objective conditions of work precarity and it describes an individual psychological experience of unstability, uncertainty and powerlesness connected to work. Work is one of the main human activities and it has an important contribution to mental health of the working population. We assess mental health with general measures or with different indicators (e. g. depression, anxiety, psychological well-being and satisfaction with life). Research shows that higher levels of both kinds of precarity correlate positively with indicators of negative mental health and negatively with indicators of positive mental health. It is assumed that this connection is higher when measuring subjective perception rather than objective aspects. Non-precarious workers display better mental health than the precarious. I was interested if this findings can be applied to Slovenian population. There were full-aged working participants in my sample, who have been employed in any kind of work form at the time. Existing measurements were used for assessing mental health. In addition, I have adapted a scale for assessing subjective work precarity and formed a brief questionnaire for assessing objective precarity for the purposes of my master\u27s thesis. Results mostly showed findings simmilar to the ones in the literature, which shows a two-way negative influence of work precarity and mental health on one another