الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Occupational stress has been of great concern to the management, employees, and other stakeholders of organizations .Occupational stress is defined as the perception of a discrepancy between environmental demands (stressors) and individual capacities to fulfill these demands. Job stress is a major occupational health problem in many sectors of industries and the electronics industry workers are one of several occupational groups who report disproportionately high levels of job stress. Stress might lead to low motivation and morale, decrease in performance, high turnover, sick leave, accidents, low job satisfaction, low quality products and services alteration in behavior or health. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of the job stress among LG Electronics Company workers in Ismailia city and to describe dimensions of job stress (job demand, job control and social support) among them. Furthermore, it explored the relationships between dimensions of job stress and high -sensitivity Creactive protein concentrations as indicator of chronic inflammation. The current study was carried out in LG Electronics Company in Ismailia city. Two hundred and sixty four workers were included. All of them were males. A structured interview questionnaire measuring the sociodemographic characteristics, work characteristics, assessment of the job stress using Job Content Questionnaire was used. C - reactive protein (CRP) concentration was measured as an indicator of chronic inflammation. The mean age of the studied workers was 29.86 5.29 years, and 69.7 % of them were married. Moreover, majority of workers (83 %) had completed secondary education. Regarding smoking status, eighty one participants (30.7 %) were smokers. All of them were cigarettes smokers. The mean duration of smoking among smokers was 10.40 4.47 years. The mean number of cigarettes per day was 9.74 3.11 cigarettes. All smokers have been smoking twenty pack year or less and can be classified as light smokers Their work history revealed that the mean duration of employment was 7.14 4.36 years. Furthermore, the majority of the workers (72.7%) worked 40 hours per week. The mean working hours was of was 40.59 1.1hours per week. Regarding nature of work, 60.6% of workers were assemblers, 15.2% were storage workers, 14.8% were administration employees, while 9.5% were inspectors. The highest percentage of workers (84.1%) was exposed to noise. Moreover, 45.1% of workers had a history of exposure to extreme heat while, 21.6% of workers had a history of exposure to radiation. As well as 63.3% of workers had a history of exposure to metals fumes while 20.8% of workers had a history of exposure to vapors. On other hand, 51.5% of workers had a history of exposure to chemicals, and 25% of workers had a history of exposure to dust. While, there was negative exposure history to vibration, extreme cold, or biological hazards. Low job control was reported by 130 workers (49.2%), high job demand was perceived by 136 workers (51.5%), and low social support was reported by 128 (48.5%) workers. The high strain category included 89 workers (33.7%). The low strain category included 87 workers (33%). The passive job strain category included 41 workers (15.5%). In addition the active job strain category included 47 workers (17.8%). With The prevalence of high job strain in Electronics Company workers was 33.7%. The findings of the current study showed that electronics workers in high strain group were significantly younger in age (28.74 4.87years) compared to those in non high strain group (30.43 5.42 years). With respect to marital status, 73% of high strain workers were married while 68% of non high strain workers were married, with no statistically significant difference. Secondary education represented the main educational level in both groups. Regarding smoking status, 33.7% of the workers in high strain group were smokers compared to 29.1% of the workers in non high strain group, with statistically insignificant difference. The results of the current study indicated that workers in high strain group had significantly shorter duration of employment (5.94 2.43 years) as compared to those in non high strain group (7.75 4.96 years). The mean weekly worked hours among workers in high strain group (40.60 0.87 hours) was higher than the mean among workers in non high strain group (40.58 1.21 hours) with statistically insignificant difference. Furthermore, all workers in the high job strain group were assemblers, while the non high job strain group included 71 assemblers (40.6%), 25 inspectors (14.3%), 40 storage workers (22.9%), and 39 administration employees (22.3%). Moreover, it was found that the low job strain group consisted of 30 assemblers (34.5%), 40 storage workers (46%), and 17 administration employees (19.5%). While all workers in the passive job strain group were assemblers. On the other hand, workers in the active strain group categorized to 25 inspectors (53.2%) and 22 administration employees (46.8%). There were a statistically significant association between high job strain and different hazards such as noise, metals, fumes, chemicals, and vapours. Moreover, there was statistically significant association between social support and high job stress with 65% of high strain workers got low social support from others. High -sensitivity C-reactive protein levels in all subjects was 1.29 0.88 mg/dl. Moreover, high -sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations were highest among assemblers (median =1.1 mg/dl), followed by administration employees (median =0.95 mg/dl), then storage workers (median =0.85 mg/dl) and inspectors (median =0.75 mg/dl) with statistically significant difference (p = 0.004). Furthermore, high -sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations were increased in high strain workers (median =1.10 mg/dl); but this increase was not statistically significant compared to non high strain workers (median =0.95 mg/dl). In addition, the mean concentration of hs-CRP in low job strain category was 1.17 0.80 mg/dl, while in the passive category was1.54 1.09 mg/dl. On the other hand, in the active job strain the mean concentration of hs-CRP was 0.99 0.58 mg/dl, with statistically significant difference. In addition, it was noticed that low job control group had higher hs CRP concentrations (median =1.11 mg/dl) than high job control group |