ABSTRACT
Background: Stress is inescapable part of modern life, where workplace is becoming a volatile stress factory for most employees. Occupational stress/work stress/job stress can occur when there is discrepancy between the demands of the environment/workplace and an individual’s ability to carry out and complete these demands. There is paramount need to address the factors which are leading to stress at the earliest since they are increasing rapidly. The objectives of the study were to determine the levels of stress among software professionals and to determine its association with key socio-demographic variables and with working environment.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among software professionals working in Madhapur area of Hyderabad using self-administered, pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire after taking informed consent. Data was analyzed using MS Excel and Epi Info software.Results: Among the study participants, 71.5% were males and 28.5% were females. Mean age of the study participants was 34.04±7.52 years. Around 45.25% were having low stress, 33.5% moderate stress and only 21.25% had high stress according to perceived stress scale. Significant association was found between stress and age, type of family, marital status, gender and working hours per day.Conclusions: In the study, most of them were having low stress according to perceived stress scale. Females were having high stress compared to males. Software professionals have to be educated on factors which are leading to stress to prevent its adverse effects.
ABSTRACT
Background: This study has been carried out to determine the prevalence and pattern of Musculo Skeletal Disorders (MSD) among software professionals and to evaluate the association between socio-demographic factors, computer work related factors and MSD. Methods: The study design was cross sectional with software professionals working in information technology (IT) companies in Chennai, Tamilnadu as the study population. The sampling method used for the survey is the non-probabilistic purposive sampling. Data was collected using a questionnaire which includes personal data, job details and standardized Nordic questionnaire. Results: Prevalence of work related MSD during last 12 months, during last 7 days and annual disability were 69%, 49.2% and 16.6% respectively. The common prevalence of work related MSD reported during last 12 months based on their body region were neck (29.56%), lower back (22.89%), shoulders (12.17%) and knees (9.56%). There was a statistically significant difference in terms of gender, regular exercise, more than 5 working days per week, more than eight hours of work per day and habit of taking lesser breaks during work hours at regular intervals. There were no statistically significant difference in terms of age, BMI and years of employment. Conclusions: The study has concluded that MSD is widely reported among software professionals working in the IT field in India. Hence, an appropriate prevention strategy needs to be carried out in order to enable them work comfortably.
ABSTRACT
Stress has been a topic of interest in the last century, since its description by Hans Selye. Stressors could be anything from the daily life, professional or domestic, eventually leading the deleterious health outcomes. However some types of stressors were believed to be necessary for growth, which were termed eustress. In the present study we evaluated the stress levels in software professionals (n=155) from Karnataka State, India by using Professional Life stress Score (PLSS) and Perceived Stress Score (PSS) after explaining the subjects about the questionnaire and response types and obtaining their informed consent. Ethical clearance was obtained from the institutional ethics committee before the beginning of the data collection. Apart from the responses for the questionnaire, their BMI was calculated by carefully measuring their height and weight. Their other demographic data such as age, matrimonial status were also collected. From the results we found that PLSS score was elevated to mild and moderate degree among the study group, which was not correlated with either their age or matrimonial status. However in contrast, the PSS scores were elevated to higher degree and it was well correlated with BMI, age and number of years of experience. From the results we found that these young technical professionals of Bangalore and Mangalore did not have much professional stress but they were influenced by other factors which produce overall stress as evidenced by the elevated PSS scores. Thus we herestate that this study produced results which was helpful in differentiating the professional life environment causing stress and other compounding factors influencing the psychological well being. We, therefore conclude that well employed young professional enjoy their work but other extraneous factors could lead to stress.