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Successful Aging Strategies in Nursing: The Example of Selective Optimization with Compensation

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Book cover Age-Differentiated Work Systems

Abstract

The future efficiency of healthcare delivery in Western Countries is closely related with the challenge to enable health care employees to remain healthy and capable in their jobs. Our research aims to investigate particularly how the interplay between successful aging strategies and working conditions affects the work-ability and well-being of nurses. Our findings confirm that nurses apply successful aging strategies in terms of selective optimization with compensation (SOC, Baltes & Baltes, 1990). We found that SOC in nursing significantly contributes to work ability especially of older nurses. Moreover, in aging nurses and in nurses with musculoskeletal impairments the latitude to schedule work, make own decisions, or choose methods – i.e. job control – substantially enhance the effectiveness of SOC. Our findings foster the theoretical development of occupational life-span models. Furthermore, the results provide ground for the development of SOC-specific interventions that aims to maintain the work ability and well-being of nurses.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG): MU 3079/1-1. The project is part of the DFG priority program 1184 “Age-differentiated Work Systems”. The authors would like to thank Helga Asenbauer, Martina Bürger, Ines Englmann, Dana Lippert, and Birgit Müller for helping in the conduction of this study and Kristel Vanessa Barbosa for her advice on the English language.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Andreas Müller & Peter Angerer

  2. Institute and Outpatient Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Barbara Heiden & Matthias Weigl

  3. Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Jürgen Glaser

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  1. Andreas Müller
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  2. Barbara Heiden
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  3. Matthias Weigl
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  4. Jürgen Glaser
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  5. Peter Angerer
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Correspondence to Andreas Müller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Inst. of Industrial Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Bergdriesch 27, Aachen, 52062, Germany

    Christopher Marc Schlick

  2. , Institute of Industrial Science, University of Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Straße 40, Kassel, 34132, Germany

    Ekkehart Frieling

  3. , Inst. of Work-, Organisational- and, TU Dresden, Zellescher Weg 17, Dresden, 01062, Germany

    Jürgen Wegge

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Müller, A., Heiden, B., Weigl, M., Glaser, J., Angerer, P. (2013). Successful Aging Strategies in Nursing: The Example of Selective Optimization with Compensation. In: Schlick, C., Frieling, E., Wegge, J. (eds) Age-Differentiated Work Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35057-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35057-3_8

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