title: Occupational stress perception and its potential impact on work ability.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine perceived stress across employees with different occupational status, to investigate the impact of stress on work ability and to derive conclusions regarding health promotion activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive survey combining questionnaire and medical examination was offered in one division in BASF Ludwigshafen. Among 867 voluntary participants, 653 returned complete questionnaires. The questions were directed at perception of safety at the workplace, self-rated health status, frequency of stress symptoms, unrealistic job demands, time pressure and maladjustment of work life balance. The outcome of interest was self-estimated health measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Occupational stressors were perceived differently across occupational status groups. Frontline operators had more health concerns due to workplace conditions, while professional and managerial staff reported higher frequencies of perceived tension, time pressure, and maladjustment of work life balance. After adjustment for occupational status, demographic and lifestyle factors, perceived stress was associated with a modest to strong decline in WAI scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While perceived occupational stress had an apparent impact on WAI, and WAI has been demonstrated to be predictive of early retirement, more intensive and employee group-specific stress management interventions are being implemented beyond traditional strategies of routine occupational medical surveillance.
authors: Occupational Medicine and Health Protection Department, BASF Societas Europaea, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
authors: Mei
authors: M
authors: Yong
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Nasterlack
authors: Rolf-Peter
authors: RP
authors: Pluto
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Lang
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Oberlinner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002617:Chemical Industry; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D009790:Occupations; D010465:Perception; D010808:Physical Examination; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation
keywords: Work Ability Index; cross-sectional study; health promotion; health surveillance; risk factors; screening