The Healthy Working Lives Group has undertaken research on ageing, work, return to employment and the wider social and biological factors that shape healthy working lives.
This work focuses on how people can be supported to remain in work, return to work after unemployment or ill health, and experience better health and employment outcomes as they age.
About this work
Population ageing, longer working lives and changes to retirement policy mean that supporting older workers is an increasingly important occupational health, public health and labour-market issue.
For many people, working longer can bring financial, social and health benefits. However, older workers may also face barriers including poor health, age discrimination, caring responsibilities, outdated skills, unemployment, insecure work and limited access to suitable employment support.
Our research examines how health, employment support and wider social factors interact across later working life.
Supporting Older People Into Employment: SOPIE
The group contributed to the Supporting Older People Into Employment (SOPIE) study.
SOPIE was a mixed-methods longitudinal study designed to identify factors influencing return to work among people aged over 50 participating in the UK Work Programme.
The study investigated the relationship between health, worklessness and the return-to-work process for older workers.
It combined:
- embedded fieldwork with a Work Programme provider;
- quantitative analysis of a large cohort of Work Programme clients;
- follow-up over two years;
- qualitative research with clients and staff;
- analysis of employment outcomes, health, client characteristics and intervention components.
The SOPIE study aimed to improve understanding of how employment services can better support older people to return to work and sustain employment.
Health, worklessness and later working life
The SOPIE programme recognised that return to work in later life is shaped by more than job availability.
Health status, confidence, caring roles, skills, previous work history, employer attitudes, age discrimination and the design of employment services can all affect whether older workers are able to return to and remain in work.
This work contributes to a wider understanding of how occupational health and employment support can help prevent avoidable labour-market exit among people aged 50 and over.
Accelerated ageing and health inequalities
The group has also contributed to research on accelerated ageing and socioeconomic inequalities in health.
This work examined links between biological ageing, renal dysfunction, socioeconomic status and dietary phosphate intake, using data from the pSoBid cohort.
The study found associations between serum phosphate levels and markers of biological ageing, including telomere length and DNA methylation. It also reported that accelerated biological ageing and dietary phosphate levels among the most deprived males were related to frequency of red meat consumption.
This research helps connect occupational health and public health concerns by showing how social disadvantage, diet and biological ageing may contribute to inequalities in health and working life.
Why this matters
The ageing workforce is not a future issue. It is already here.
Supporting older workers requires more than telling people to work longer and hoping their knees, kidneys and line managers all agree.
Good occupational health research can help identify the factors that support longer, healthier and fairer working lives. This includes understanding barriers to return to work, preventing avoidable work loss, addressing health inequalities and designing better employment support.
Key themes
- Older workers
- Return to work after unemployment
- Supporting Older People Into Employment
- Health and worklessness
- Employment support for people aged over 50
- Sustainable employment
- Labour-market participation
- Healthy working lives
- Ageing and health inequalities
- Biological ageing
- Socioeconomic status and health
- Prevention of avoidable labour-market exit
Selected publications
- Protocol for a mixed-methods longitudinal study to identify factors influencing return to work in the over 50s participating in the UK Work Programme: Supporting Older People Into Employment (SOPIE)
Brown, J., Neary, J., Katikireddi, S.V., Thomson, H., McQuaid, R., Leyland, A., Frank, J., Jeavons, L., de Pellette, P., Kiran, S. and Macdonald, E. (2015). BMJ Open, 5(12), e010525.
https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/112482/ - Accelerated ageing and renal dysfunction links lower socioeconomic status and dietary phosphate intake
McClelland, R., Christensen, K., Mohammed, S., McGuinness, D., Cooney, J., Bakshi, A., Demou, E., MacDonald, E., Caslake, M., Stenvinkel, P. and Shiels, P.G. (2016). Aging, 8(5), pp. 1135–1148.
https://www.aging-us.com/article/100948/text
Healthy Working Lives Group 