[Compare the occupational stress and work ability among the police-officers, doctors and teachers].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the occupational stress and work ability in doctors, police-officers and teachers.


METHODS
Changes in occupational stress work ability were measured with revised occupational stress inventory (OSI-R) and work ability index (WAI) for 288 doctors, 191 police-officers and 343 teachers, and then comparative and correlation analyses were made.


RESULTS
1. The difference in occupational stress and strain between the groups was statistically significant (P < 0.01), and the score of the police-officers was higher than that of the doctors and teachers (P < 0.05), but the personal resources of police-officers were lower than those of the doctors and teachers (P < 0.05). 2. Analysis of the 6 items of occupational role questionnaire revealed that the scores of role ambiguity, role boundary and responsibility were obviously higher in police-officers than in doctors and teachers, while the scores of role overload and physical environment were higher in teachers (P < 0.05). 3. Analysis of all items of personal strain revealed that the scores of vocational strain, psychological strain, physical strain, but not of interpersonal starin, were significantly higher in police-officers than in doctors and teachers (P < 0.05). 4. As to the personal resource, the results indicated that recreation and self-care of doctors and teachers were superior to those of police-officers. The score of social support was highest in doctors. The score of rational conduct was highest in teachers (P < 0.05). 5. Occupational role and personal strain were positively correlated, and both were correlated negatively to the personal resources (P < 0.01). The correlations of work ability, occupational stress and strain, and personal resources were significant in teachers (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
For polices-officers, doctors and teachers, different yet relevant measures should be taken to reduce the occupational stress so as to improve their work ability.
Yang
Xin-wei
XW
Department of Occupational Health, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Wang
Zhi-ming
ZM
Lan
Ya-jia
YJ
Wang
Mian-zhen
MZ
D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D016495:Police; D011897:Random Allocation; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance; D016526:Workload