Does a working day keep the doctor away? A critical review of the impact of unemployment and job insecurity on health and social care utilisation.

ABSTRACT: While the negative impact of unemployment on health is relatively well established, the extent to which that impact reflects on changes in health and social care utilisation is not well understood. This paper critically reviews the direction, magnitude and drivers of the impact of unemployment and job insecurity on health and social care utilisation across different care settings. We identified 28 relevant studies, which included 79 estimates of association between unemployment/job insecurity and healthcare utilisation. Positive associations dominated mental health services (N = 8 out of 11), but not necessarily primary care (N = 25 out of 43) or hospital care (N = 5 out of 22). We conducted a meta-analysis to summarise the magnitude of the impact and found that unemployed individuals were

SUBMITTER: Li K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9985560 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature