• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.216-223
• /
• 2018

Background: Many studies have reported negative psychological or physical effects of emotional labor. Relationship between work-related musculoskeletal disorder and psychosocial factors has been reported. To manage organizational and psychosocial factors of musculoskeletal disorder with work place intervention among emotional laborers, the factors contributing to musculoskeletal pain must be identified and clarified. Methods: Data from the fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey was analyzed. Based on the questionnaire, we selected emotional laborers and included 3,979 participants, excluding participants whose variables were of interest to the researcher. Weight variable was applied. The association with musculoskeletal pain and psychosocial factors, such as workload, monotonous work, job control, social support, and job satisfaction, was investigated. Results: Univariate analysis demonstrated that there was a statistically significant relationship between social support, job satisfaction, and musculoskeletal pain. In multivariate analysis, job satisfaction showed a strong correlation with musculoskeletal pain at all sites. Social support was significantly associated with backache. Monotonous work seemed to reduce the pain in the neck and/or upper limbs. Job control and work intensity were not significantly associated with musculoskeletal pain. Conclusion: In this study, job satisfaction was significantly associated with musculoskeletal pain, and social support among the social psychological stressors could reduce musculoskeletal pain. However, unlike previously known, the presence of monotonous work resulted in reduced musculoskeletal pain. The results of this study will help to establish the direction of improvement of atmosphere in the workplace to prevent the musculoskeletal pain of emotional laborers.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.463-471
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the association between psychosocial work environment and depressive symptoms among Korean teachers. Methods: Data on 235 elementary school teachers and 341 middle and high school teachers was obtained from the 2014 Korean Working Condition Survey. The effect of psychosocial work environment on depressive symptoms was determined by multiple logistic regression analyses. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 18 % in elementary school teachers and 24 % in middle and high school teachers. When adjusted for demographics and other socio-psychological and environmental factors, 'social community at work' served as a protection factor for Korean teachers' depressive symptoms. In addition, 'cognitive demands' in elementary school teachers and 'social support from supervisors' in middle and high school teachers were found to be predictors of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Interventions to increase 'social community at work' and 'social support from supervisors', and to decrease 'cognitive demands' may be helpful for Korean teachers at risk of depression.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.228-239
• /
• 2013

Purpose: This study aims to assess the effects of psychosocial work environment and self-efficacy on stress, depression, and burn-out among office workers. Methods: Survey data were collected from 331 office workers who worked in one workplace from April 10 to 30, 2012. The impact of psychosocial work environment and self-efficacy on stress, depression, and burn-out was analyzed with hierarchical multiple regression using SAS version 9.3. Results: Work-family conflicts and emotional demands were identified as main factors influencing mental health. Other work environment factors influencing mental health were role clarity for stress, possibilities for development, meaning-of work, social support-from supervisors and job insecurity for depression, and social community at work for burn-out. Self-efficacy was correlated with most psychosocial work environment and factor with independent influence on stress and depression. The final models including general characteristics, psychosocial work environment, and self-efficacy accounted for 34%, 44%, and 36% for stress, depression, and burn-out respectively. Conclusion: To promote mental health in office workers, there is a need to decrease work-family conflicts and emotional demands and to improve work organization and job contents, social support, and self-efficacy.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.224-231
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the psychosocial working environment and mental health of financial workers, and analyze the impact of the former on the latter. Methods: Data of 257 financial clerks were extracted from the 2017 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey. Psychosocial working environment was divided into five fields: demands at work, work organizations, interpersonal relations, workplace violence, and working hour quality. Mental health included sleeping problems, psychological well-being, and job stress. Results: A total of 6.1% subjects reported sleep problems, 28.2% experienced poor psychological well-being, and 39.6% had job stress. More than half the subjects were exposed to tight deadlines, complex tasks, hiding feelings at work, fair treatment, fair distribution of work, colleagues' support, and managers' support. Tight deadlines, workplace violence, long working hours, hiding feelings at work, and managers' support had a significant impact on the mental health of financial clerks. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we propose that employers, workers, and health managers in the financial industry should work together to establish a respectful organizational culture, prevent long working hours through recruitment, and conduct programs to protect emotional health.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.499-505
• /
• 2022

Despite advances in medicine and preventive strategies, fewer than 1 in 5 people with hypertension have the problem under control. This could partly be due to gaps in fully elucidating the etiology of hypertension. Genetics and conventional lifestyle risk factors, such as the lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, excess salt intake, and alcohol consumption, do not fully explain the pathogenesis of hypertension. Thus, it is necessary to revisit other suggested risk factors that have not been paid due attention. One such factor is psychosocial stress. This paper explores the evidence for the association of psychosocial stressors with hypertension and shows that robust evidence supports the role of a chronic stressful environment at work or in marriage, low socioeconomic status, lack of social support, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, childhood psychological trauma, and racial discrimination in the development or progression of hypertension. Furthermore, the potential pathophysiological mechanisms that link psychosocial stress to hypertension are explained to address the ambiguity in this area and set the stage for further research.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.263-267
• /
• 2015

Significant changes in the past year have taken place in the world of work that are bringing new challenges with regard to employee safety and health. These changes have led to emerging psychosocial risks (PSRs) at work. The risks are primarily linked to how work is designed, organized, and managed, and to the economic and social frame of work. These factors have increased the level of work-related stress and can lead to serious deterioration in mental and physical health. In tackling PSRs, the European labor inspectorates can have an important role by enforcing preventive and/or corrective interventions in the content and context of work. However, to improve working conditions, unilateral interventions in the context and content of work are insufficient and require adopting a common strategy to tackle PSRs, based on a holistic approach. The implementation of a common strategy by the European Labor Inspectorate for tackling PSRs is restricted by the lack of a common legislative frame with regard to PSR evaluation and management, the different levels of labor inspectors' training, and the different levels of employees' and employers' health and safety culture.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.7126-7137
• /
• 2015

This study explored the quality of nursing services in relation to a nurse's psychosocial factors (type A behavior pattern, self-esteem, locus of control, and anxiety), job stress, and fatigue. This study targeted 503 nurses who currently work at six different general hospitals in Daejeon city, The data was collected by self-administered questionnaire which was surveyed from April 1 to June 30, 2014. As the result of analysis of covariance, psychosocial factors affect the quality of nursing services more than job stress or fatigue. In addition to that, as parts of psychosocial factors, high self-esteem and low fatigue, job stress, and anxiety increase the quality of nursing services. The research above implies that the quality of nursing services of nurses who work at the general hospital has a correlation with not only the psychosocial factors but also job stress, and fatigue.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.1781-1791
• /
• 2013

The present study was intended to measure the level of psychosocial stress and fatigue symptom according to the various characteristics such as sociodemographic, health-related, job-related, job stress factors, and psychosocial factors among nurses working at ward and operating room in university hospitals, and to reveal the relation between these factors and psychosocial stress and fatigue symptom. The self-administered questionnaires were given to 220 nurses working at ward, and 147 nurses working at operating room in 4 participating hospitals located in Daejeon City during the period from July 1st to Aug 31st, 2012. As a results, the factors related to the psychosocial stress of nurses working at ward were age, subjective health status, job career, satisfaction of work, fit to the job, job demand, job control, coworker support, self-esteem, locus of control, type A behavior pattern. In operating room, there were age, sleep hours, subjective health status, job career, physical burden of work, satisfaction of work, fit to the job, consider quitting the job, job demand, job control, type A behavior pattern. The factors related to the fatigue symptoms of nurses working at ward were age, leisure time, subjective health status, satisfaction of work, consider quitting the job, job demand, locus of control, type A behavior pattern. In operating room, there were age, subjective health status, physical burden of work, supervisor support, coworker support, locus of control. Based on the study results, we suggest that the factors related to psychosocial stress and fatigue symptom of nurses were different from working station. We need development and application of programs to keep under management psychosocial stress and fatigue symptom.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.454-461
• /
• 2018

Background: Working conditions and psychosocial work factors have acquired an important role explaining the well-being and performance of professional drivers, including those working in the field of public transport. This study aimed to examine the association between job strain and the operational performance of public transport drivers and to compare the expositions with psychosocial risk at work of three different types of transport workers: taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers. Method: A sample of 780 professional drivers was drawn from three transport companies in Bogota (Colombia). The participants answered the Job Content Questionnaire and a set of sociodemographic and driving performance questions, including age, professional driving experience, work schedules, and accidents and penalties suffered in the last 2 years. Results: Analyses showed significant associations between measures of socio-labor variables and key performance indicators such road traffic accidents and penalties. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis contributed to explain significantly suffered accidents from key variables of the Job Demand-Control model, essentially from job strain. In addition, throughout post-hoc analyses, significant differences were found in terms of perceived social support, job strain, and job insecurity. Conclusion: Work stress is an issue that compromises the safety of professional drivers. This research provides evidence supporting a significant effect of job strain on the professional driver's performance. Moreover, the statistically significant differences between taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers in their expositions to work-related stress suggest the need for tailored occupational safety interventions on each occupational group.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.431-442
• /
• 2020

Background: Psychosocial risks are increasingly a type of risk analyzed in organizations beyond chemical, physical, and biological risks. To this type of risk, a greater attention has been given following the update of ISO 9001: 2015, more precisely the requirement 7.1.4 for the process operation environment. The update of this normative reference was intended to approximate OHSAS 18001: 2007 reference updated in 2018 with the publication of ISO 45001. Thus, the organizations are increasingly committed to achieving and demonstrating good occupational health and safety performance. Methods: The aim of this study was to characterize the psychosocial risks in a cryopreservation laboratory and to develop a predictive model for psychosocial risk management. The methodology followed to collect the information was the inquiry by questionnaire that was applied to a sample comprising 200 employees. Results: The results show that most of the respondents are aware of the psychosocial risks, identifying interpersonal relationships and emotional feelings as the main factors that lead to this type of risks. Furthermore, terms such as lack of resources, working hours, lab equipment, stress, and precariousness show strong correlation with psychosocial risks. The model presented in this study, based on artificial neural networks, exhibited good performance in the prediction of the psychosocial risks. Conclusion: This work presents the development of an intelligent system that allows identifying the weaknesses of the organization and contributing to the enhancement of the psychosocial risks management.