Variation in perceived stress and stress symptoms between

Variation in perceived stress and stress symptoms between worksites Authors: Nielsen NS 1, Joergensen T 1, Borch-Johnsen K 2, 3, Lauritsen T 3 1) Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Ndr. Ringvej 57, DK-2600 Glostrup, Denmark 2) Steno Diabetes Center, Niels Steensensvej 2, DK-2820, Gentofte, Denmark 3) University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark Introduction Stress is often determined by work speed, work amount, job demands and low influence in the job situation. Studies further indicate that there is a great health economic potential by working with stress prevention and stress coping among employees in the work situation Purpose To analyze: - the variation in perceived stress and stress symptoms of employees at different work locations within a large company - the influence of sociodemographic factors on stress among the employees Material & methods The present analyses are based on data from a questionnaire survey from 2004 among 7, 753 employees in a large Danish company. The age of the participants was between 18 and 60 and the employees worked at 13 different geographic locations. The questionnaire comprised 63 questions concerning socio-demographic and work related characteristics, health, morbidity, lifestyle and stress among the employees. The response rate was 67%. Stress and stress determinants on different work locations were analyzed by means of multinomial-logistic regression technique - whether a possible variation between work locations can be explained by socio-demographic factors Results Often perceived stress and frequent stress symptoms varies from 21% at one location to 39% in other locations in the same company. Analyses showed that this variation is significant (fig. 1). Gender, age, marital status and education are significant determinants for stress among the employees. Night/staggered working hours is not significant related (table 1). The variation in stress between locations in the company cannot be explained by variations in the composition of gender, age and other socio-demographic factors among the employees at the different locations (table 1). Tab. 1 Socio-demographic determinants for often perceived stress and for frequent stress symptoms among employees in a large compagny Often perceived stress Frequent stresssymptoms Stress* determinants issues (OR) p-value gender women 1, 34 men 1, 26 0, 000 age middle-aged 2, 00 youngest 2, 08 0, 000 marital status / 1, 28 0, 026 education long 1, 16 0, 000 / 0, 545 / unmaried/live alone 1, 97 non/short typical working hours / Work location var: 7 -17% / / var: 20 -37% 0, 016 * Significance of determinants for stress as a whole - concisting of often percieved stress and frequent stress symptoms - is analyzed by multinomiel logistic regressions tecnique Conclusion Stress among employees could not be explained by socio-demographic differences between the work groups and is most likely influenced by local site related stress loads. It is therefore essential to include health educational practice which take local stress determinants into consideration