Stress among factory workers in a developing country.
This cross-sectional study reveals that a significant proportion (35%) of the sampled population of factory workers experienced measurable health problems in the form of anxiety, sleep disturbance, depression, somatic complaints and other clinical indicators of stress. Job stress and social support levels experienced by the group of workers judged 'sick' were significantly different from the control group, particularly so for employees in the lower levels of work hierarchy. In consonance with findings from the literature, job stress has a significant impact on mental health, with all the job stress parameters accounting for 41% of the variation in the general health. Those job stress variables that were significant predictors of health were job pressure, namely security and job tension, and interpersonal rewards. Extrinsic rewards i.e. those factors relating to income and status were not significant predictors of health. Perceived social support tended to increase at the higher levels of occupational status and at the work place it appeared to exert a positive influence on health presumably by counteracting the adverse effects of job stress. This study stresses the need for industrial organizations of the emergent nations to initiate measures which would enhance health status of workers as a cardinal factor in organizational growth [corrected].
Shankar
J
J
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Famuyiwa
O O
OO
D000328:Adult; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D010556:Personality Tests; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*