Emotional labor and dysmenorrhea in women working in sales and call centers

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea among women working in sales and call centers in Seoul, South Korea. METHODS: Working women in sales jobs and call centers in Seoul were interviewed face-to-face by well-trained interviewers. In total, 975 participants were analyzed in the final model. Emotional labor was measured using a constructed questionnaire with two components: an emotive effort component with three questions and an emotive dissonance component with five questions. To examine the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, chi-squared tests and logistic regression were applied. RESULTS: The prevalence of dysmenorrhea among sales workers and call center workers were 43.0% and 61.1%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in call center workers were 1.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-3.28) and 1.72 (95% CI, 1.13-2.63), respectively. The adjusted OR of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in sales workers were 1.71 (95% CI, 0.92-3.16) and 1.15 (95% CI, 0.67-1.98), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Emotional labor was found to be associated with dysmenorrhea in call center workers. Further studies to investigate other factors, such as management strategies and the relationship between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, are needed to support interventions to prevent dysmenorrhea that will further promote the quality of health and life of working women.

Interação teleatendente-teleusuário e custo humano do trabalho em central de teleatendimento / Interaction call center workers-call Center users and the human cost of work in a call center unit

O texto aborda uma pesquisa realizada em uma central de teleatendimento do setor público. A análise ergonômica orienta-se para a interação teleatendente-teleusuário, buscando mostrar as características da organização do trabalho que constrangem as estratégias de mediação dos operadores e potencializam a ocorrência de vivências de mal-estar no trabalho. O referencial teórico-metodológico articula os conceitos de custo humano do trabalho, vivências de bem-estar e mal-estar e a Análise Ergonômica do Trabalho - AET. Os resultados mostram as características da Central e principais indicadores críticos, revelando um nexo entre custo humano do atividade e indícios de vivências de mal-estar dos operadores.

The text shows a research done in a public call center unit. The ergonomic analysis is oriented toward the interaction call center worker-call center user, aiming to present the characteristics of the work organization that constraint the strategies of mediation of the call center workers and that may result in discomfort of well-being at work. The theoretical and methodological approach deals with the concepts of human cost of work, well-being and discomfort of well-being, and the Ergonomics Analysis of Work - EAW. The results show the characteristics of the call center unit and its main critical indicators, revealing a connection between the human cost of the activity and signals of discomfort of well-being among the call center workers.