title: Prevalence of stress level among Bank employees in urban Puducherry, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Stress is an important health area of concern among bank employees. The study aims to assess the stress level and its associated factors among bank employees.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted among 192 bank employees in urban Puducherry, India. Stress level was assessed by Cohen's Perceived Stress scale and classified into low (0-11), average (12-15), high (16-20), and very high (21 and above) based on the stress scores. Collected data were analyzed by using univariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Majority of them had high and very high level of stress (75.5%, confidence interval: 69.4-81.6%). The variables that include age group, sex, category of work, smoking and alcohol use were not found to be significantly associated with the stress level (P > 0.05). With respect to question items, handling personal problems and things were going their way were answered as fairly often and very often by the majority of the subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Stress level among bank employees is high, which necessitates intervention measures for this vulnerable group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: S Ganesh
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: N Deivanai
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Sundaram
keywords: Bank employees; India; prevalence; stress level