Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder that requires constant management to maintain good health and quality of life. Poorly managed diabetes could lead to serious complications and early death. With the ageing demographic profile, there is growing recognition that older people, including those with diabetes, are increasingly becoming a significant proportion of the labour force leading to changes in pension and retirement-related policies. For people with diabetes, understanding how working conditions influence their health and wellbeing is an important step to addressing issues that could compromise their prolonged participation in the labour force. This study examined impact of job-strain on health-related quality of life among people with diabetes. A hundred and twenty-three eligible individuals with diabetes who attended two acute trusts in North-West of England, participated in the study. Diabetes specific quality of life, job characteristics and personal/disease characteristics were measured using questionnaires. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were undertaken using SPSS version-22. Over a sixth (17.4%) of participants reported poor quality of life. Marital/co-habitation status, type of diabetes and presence of other long-term conditions were associated with quality of life. High deprivation levels was associated with poor quality of life but there was no association between deprivation levels and participants’ perception of the impact of diabetes on their quality of life. High psychological job-demands and physical job-demands were each associated with poor quality of life. High physical and psychological job-demands are potentially detrimental to quality of life in people with diabetes. Adjustments in working conditions could prove crucial in improving quality of life of employees with diabetes.

Keywords: Quality of Life (QoL); Diabetes; work-related stress; Neighbourhood Deprivation

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