Evaluation du coût social du stress au travail : analyse méthodologique de la mesure, évolution des couts et comparaisons internationales – ANR-05-SEST-0006

This research project follows up a first article (Béjean & Sultan-Taïeb, 2005), which provided an evaluation of the social cost of diseases imputable to occupational stress in France in 2000. Three objectives may be drawn from the conclusions of the previous survey : 1. To lead a methodological analysis on the social cost of an occupational risk factor. The question is to make appropriate methodological choices of the types of costs to be included in the model, according to several points of view (the financing of public health insurance system, enterprises, or society as a whole) ; 2. To refine the analysis of the costs included in the model, using new statistical data of the exposure to occupational stress (results by sex and by socio-professional categories). To improve the reliability of epidemiological data used in the model ; 3. To put results into perspective, on two different levels : - on the one side, by measuring the evolution of occupational stress between two dates and by elaborating a measure of additional cost of an increase in exposure to occupational stress ; - on the other side, by comparing the results on an international basis between France and other countries. This comparison needs to deepen the analysis of the comparability of results obtained in several countries. Methodology : This is a multidisciplinary project, based on a partnership between health economists from the Economic and Business Laboratory (University of Burgundy, UMR CNRS 5118) and an epidemiologist specialized in psychosocial risk factors at work, Isabelle Niedhammer (INSERM U687). Occupational stress is defined according to Karasek’s model. Illnesses included in the model will be determined after a systematic review of epidemiological surveys on the effects of occupational stress on health. The model resorts to the principle of attributable fractions. In this perspective data on exposure to occupational stress will derive from the results of a French national survey on occupational risk factors (SUMER 2003). Data on relative risk will come from a review of epidemiological literature. The measure of the evolution of exposure to occupational stress will be calculated from the results of the Third and the Fourth European Survey on Life and Working Conditions conducted by the European Foundation. Expected results deal mainly with economics : - The different conceptions of the social cost of a risk factor : what is the theoretical and ethic background of each methodological option ? ; - Modelling the social cost of diseases imputable to occupational stress in France in 2003 (results by sex and socio-professional categories) ; - Evaluation of the additional cost of an increase in exposure to occupational stress in France between 2000 and 2005 ; - International comparison of the costs of occupational stress. A lot is at stake with this pioneering research project. The purpose is to provide decision-makers (state, firms, workers…) with economic results on the benefits that can be expected from a prevention policy aimed at reducing occupational stress.