Abstract
Research into working life in Finland shows how great changes in society have increased the empoloyees'psychological as well as physiological working load. This study deals with change processes in occupational health and their influence on the professionals' approach to counselling and to their own occupatinal roles. In the last few years demands have been made for a more humanistic view of the human being in health education. Simultaneously there has been a need to emphasize the communication-process between the professionals and the client and to analyze how the roles of the professionals influence the interaction with the client. The main purpose of this study is to clarify how the occupational health professionals view the changes in the occupational health activity, to study how professionals in different occupational groups view their roles in counselling and how the roles relate to the encounter with the client. In this study a qualitative and naturalistic approach was used in order to understand how nine occupational health (oh)- nurses and four oh- physicians, working in three different units, conceptualize changes in the activity, their own roles and their relation to the client. Data collection was based on open-ended interviews. The data from the interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analyses. The results show how the oh-nurses and physicians consider changes in the activity, how the economic depression in society has influenced the problems in oh-activity. The oh-nurses focus on questions relating to wokers' increased mental stress, while physicians emphasize the need to focus on the relationship between different levels within the organisation. The oh-nurses and physicians call attention to different working-methods in counselling. They take either an active, partly active or passive role in order to get information of the clients' expectations. The results show a task-oriented and a socio-emotional view and they also show a relationship between the consideration of the role and the interaction with the client. In conclusion The study indicates a relationship between a patient-centered encounter, equal interaction and the clients' ability to take responsibility for their own health.