Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Psychosicial Distress and Occupational Risks / 예방의학회지

The effects of cigarette smoking on the psychosocial distress, the absenteeism, the occupational injuries, and on the prevalence for the accidents were assessed in 795 male workers who had been employed since March 1994. The results show that the prevalence of current smokers were higher in young men, lower educational level, lower income, single men(unmarried or divorced), alcohol drinkers, and blue collar workers. In the bivariate analyses, the workers with the high job demand and low work control were more likely to smoke, although the relationship was not strong. Those who reported lower satisfaction on his job tended to smoke more. Mean scores of psychosocial well-being Index(PWI) were higher in current smokers than nonsmokers. For the hierarchical multiple regression analyses, interaction terms between cigarette smoking and job stressors(job demand and work control) were not significant. For smokers, the odds ratios for the occupational injuries, and the accidents were 1.40(95% confidence interval 0.77-2.57) and 1.96 (95% confidence interval 0.75-5.09), respectively. The mean absent day were 4.13 for smokers, 3.65 for nonsmokers, although the differences were not statistically significant. It seems that cigarette smoking had not caused any crucial effects on the psychosocial well-being status and the occupational risks. Some considerations for the further research on the relationship of cigarette smoking on the mental health status and the occupational risks were also discussed.

A Study on the Relationship between Subjective Symptoms and Psychosocial Well-being Status of VDT Operators / 대한산업의학회지

This study was undertaken to identify the relationship between the subjective symptoms and the psychosocial well-being status of VDT operators. The study subjects of this study were 89 female telephone operators in Korea Telecom. The mean age of study subjects was 37.7 (s.d.; 3.1), and 91% of them were the married and 9% were the single. The mean values of psychosocial well-being status by general characteristics were not statistically significant. Of the 89 operators, 98.9% felt musculoskeletal subjective symptoms in shoulder, 91.2% in neck, 89.9% in hand, 89.9% in lowback, 88.9% in arm, 87.8% in back, and 85.6% in leg, respectively. The mean scores of the psychosocial well-being status by three categories of subjective symptoms were significant in shoulder, neck, arm, hand, and leg, but were not significant in back and lowback. Correlations between the subjective symptoms and the psychosocial well-being status were significant in discomfort scale, leg, arm, neck, shoulder, lowback, and hand, but were not significant in back. Multiple regression analysis were used to determine whether the independent variables (age, discomfort, and subjective symptoms) contributed to explaining the psychosocial well-being status. Discomfort and the subjective symptoms in leg were a correlate of the psychosocial well-being status.