title: Occupational stress and health-related quality of life among public sector bank employees: A cross-sectional study in Mysore, Karnataka, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Occupational morbidities have been estimated to cause an economic loss up to 10-20% of the gross national product of a country. It is an important cause of occupational morbidity and decreased quality of life (QOL) for the workers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study is to assess the level of occupational stress and its association with the QOL among the public sector bank employees.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was conducted among employees of public sector banks in Mysore district, Karnataka, India. A cross-sectional study design was used for the study. Job stress was measured by using occupational stress index (OSI) scale questionnaire and health-related QOL was measured using the short form 12 (SF-12) questionnaire. The sample size estimated for the study was 526 and cluster random sampling technique was used. Chi-square test was used to find the association between the study variables and level of stress. Multiple linear regression model was used to find the determinants of health-related QOL among the study subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total number of the study subjects was 546 out of which 57% were males and 43% were females. The proportion of study subjects reporting to be current smokers was 4.2% and almost all study subjects reported occasional alcohol consumption. The mean physical component summary (PCS) score and mental component summary (MCS) using the original United States standardization were 47.90 and 48.30, respectively. The individuals with mild stress scored higher in both PCS and MCS than the individuals who had moderate to severe stress levels. There was significant association of health related quality of life with the age of the respondent,presence of at least one morbidity and level of stress with health-related QOL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has shown an association of occupational stress with the QOL. There is a need for interventions aimed at mitigating the occupational stress among employees of the banking sector.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Sowmya N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Malamardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Ramachandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kamath
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Rajnarayan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Binu Valsalakumari Sreekumaran
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Varalakshmi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chandrasekaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Phadnis
keywords: Bank employees; health-related quality of life (QOL); occupational stress