Analysis of the occupational stress of Korean surgeons: a pilot study / 대한외과학회지

PURPOSE: Surgeons serve one of the most challenging and stressful professions. Ineffective control of occupational stress leads to burnout of the surgeon. The aim of this study was to obtain preliminary data on the sources and the degree of stress of surgeons and to determine the feasibility of the survey. METHODS: A total of 63 surgeons in our three affiliated hospitals were enrolled in this study. Fifty-five questions were used to assess the demographics, characteristics and Korean occupational stress scale (KOSS), which were prepared and validated by the National Study for Development and Standardization of Occupational Stress. RESULTS: Forty-seven of the 63 surgeons participated in this study (74.6%). The mean KOSS score of the survey was 50.9 +/- 8.55, which was significantly higher than that of other professions (P < 0.01). Drinking and smoking habits were not related to the KOSS score. Doing exercise was related to a low KOSS score in terms of low KOSS total score (P < 0.01). Average duty hours (P < 0.01) and night duty days per week (P = 0.01) were strongly related to higher KOSS in the linear regression analysis. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to evaluate job stress of surgeons in Korea. This study showed that Korean Surgeons had higher occupational stress than other Korean professions. A larger study based on this pilot study will help generate objective data for occupational stress of Korean Surgeons by performing a survey of the members of the Korean Surgical Society.

The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Burnout among Occupational Therapists / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVE: A growing body of research has documented that occupational stress is associated with workers' adverse health outcomes such as mental distress, depression and burnout. This study was performed to identify the relationship between occupational stress and burnout among occupational therapists in Korea. METHODS: A total of 226 occupational therapists registered in the Korean Association of Occupational Therapist participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess demographics, subjective health status, work-related factors, occupational stress and burnout. Burnout was measured by Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Occupational stressors were assessed using 26-items of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS-26(R)). This scale consists of items targeting at physical environment, job demand, insufficient job control, interpersonal conflict, job insecurity, lack of reward, organizational system and occupational climate. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between 8 occupational stressors and burnout, separately. SAS 9.1 version was used for the analyses, and a P<0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The results show that all occupational stressors were associated with burnout after adjustment for control variables. Occupational stressors accounted for from 14.39% (p<0.001, organizational system) to 33.21% (p<0.001, occupational climate) of the variance in burnout. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that occupational stress might play a significant role in increasing the risk of burnout among occupational therapists.

Job Stressors in Subway Workers and Firemen / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To determine the job stress factors of subway workers and firemen and to develope appropriate stress management systems for the works places. METHODS: The study subjects comprised 1,826 male subway workers and 538 male firemen residing in Daegu metropolitan city. The Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS) questionnaire was used. RESULTS: The median values of the study subjects were lower than the reference values. The categories of physical environment and insufficient job control were more stressful to firemen while the organization system category was stressful to both subway workers and firemen (p<0.05). There was no statistical difference in the stress factor of the interpersonal conflict category. Among the firemen, the physical environment category was more stressful to field work department workers than to desk workers (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The study results suggested that interpersonal conflict and organization system categories are stressful to male subway workers and firemen. Especially, effective control of firemen's physical environment stress factor is needed.

Level of Job Stress among Social Workers at Social Welfare Agencies in Seoul / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the level and variation of job stress according to social welfare organizations and work conditions among social workers in Seoul. METHODS: For this survey, a self-reported questionnaire was administrated to 1,000 social workers working in organizations for social welfare practice in Seoul. A total of 432 completed questionnaires were received (43.2% response rate). RESULTS: Social workers working in welfare organizations for the aged had higher job stress in the areas of job demand, insufficient job control and lack of reward than those in other welfare organizations. In addition, higher job stress was found in those in charge of both service and administrational work, without regular time for rest, working over 10 hours, in the frontline and senior grade. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the importance of guaranteeing regular time for breaks in the work schedule and of considering the service and administrational work ratio in job arrangement in order to alleviate stress of social workers.

Occupational Stress on Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases and Metabolic Syndrome / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between occupational stress and cardiovascular risk factors including metabolic syndrome in a working population. METHODS: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted among Koreans working in several industries. They were questioned about: demographic factors, marital status, education, personal history, alcohol intake, smoking, and physical activity , while their occupational stress was assessed using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS). The subjects were measured for height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and LDLcholesterol. Regression analyses to determine the relationships between occupational stressors using KOSS and cardiovascular risk factors were performed using multivariate models with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: A total of 2,097 workers (1,770 men and 327 women) were included. Multiple logistic regression analysis (socio-demographics and potential confounders) demonstrated a positive association between high interpersonal conflicts and hypertension, a negative association between high job insecurity and diabetes and no association between any KOSS subscale and metabolic syndrome and obesity. Multiple linear regression, adjusted for socio-demographics and potential confounders demonstrated a negative association between low HDL-cholesterol and poor physical environments, high job demand and poor job insecurity and no association between lipid profiles and other KOSS sub-scales. CONCLUSIONS: A few KOSS sub-scales such as interpersonal conflicts showed a positive association with hypertension in Korean workers. Neverthelsss, some measures of occupational stress showed a negative association with diabetes and HDL-cholesterol in cross-sectional population-based survey. We therefore decided to conclude this association by longitudinal study.

Developing an Occupational Stress Scale for Korean Employees / 대한산업의학회지

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSES: Over the past three decades, numerous studies performed in Korea have reported that job stress is a determinant risk factor for chronic diseases and work disability. Every society has its own culture and occupational climate particular to their organizations, and hence experiences different occupational stress. An occupational stress measurement tool therefore needs to be developed to estimate it objectively. The purpose of this study is to develop and standardize the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS) which is considered to be unique and specific occupational stressors in Korean employees. Subjects and METHODS: Data were obtained from the National Study for Development and Standardization of Occupational Stress (NSDSOS Project: 2002-2004). A total of 12,631 employees from a nationwide sample proportional to the Korean Standard Industrial Classification and the Korean Standard Occupational Classification were administered. The KOSS was developed for 2 years (2002- 2004). In the first year, we collected 255 items from the most popular job stress measurement tools such as JCQ, ERI, NIOSH and OSI, and 44 items derived from the a qualitative study (depth interview). Fortythree items of KOSS, in the second year, were retained for use in the final version of the KOSS by using Delphi and factor analysis. Items were scored using conventional 1-2-3-4 Likert scores for the response categories. RESULTS: We developed eight subscales by using factor analysis and validation process: physical environment (3 items), job demand (8 items), insufficient job control (5 items), interpersonal conflict (4 items), job insecurity (6 items), organizational system (7 items), lack of reward (6 items), and occupational climate (4 items). Together they explained 50.0% of total variance. Internal consistency alpha scores were ranged from 0.51 to 0.82. Twenty-four items of the short form of the KOSS (KOSS-SF) were also developed to estimate job stress in the work setting. Because the levels of the subscales of occupational stress were gender dependent, gender-specific standard norms for both the 43-item full version and the 24-item short form using a quartile for the subscales of KOSS were presented. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that KOSS might be an appropriate measurement scale to estimate occupational stress of Korean employees. Further and more detailed study needs to be conducted to improve the validity of this scale.