Exposing women to workplace stress factors as a risk factor for developing arterial hypertension.
Journal Title: Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine - Year 2011, Vol 18, Issue 1
Abstract
The purpose of this study is the evaluation of women?s exposure to stress-inducing factors at work, definition of a scale of the problem, as well as assessment of the impact of professional work on the value of arterial pressure. The research was conducted on four professional groups of women: working in agriculture, working as clerks, seamstresses, as well as those working as medical representative in the period from August- September 2008 in the Lublin region. A total number of 416 women was examined, ages ranging from 30-40, who had not been previously treated due to arterial hypertension. The women under examination had their arterial blood pressure measured twice on a working day at 08:00 and at 14:00. The values of measurements were averaged. The research tool was also the standardised Questionnaire for Subjective Work Evaluation. The raw result was obtained on the basis of summing up all the points, which were afterwards transformed into 10 standard values. The general result was given in 10 standard values, whereas the results of stress factors were quoted as mean results of raw values and were referred to results defined as high for a given factor. The results obtained were statistically analysed on the basis of t-Student test. The significance level adopted was p<0.05. The results obtained in a particular professional group were compared as well as the impact of socio-demographic variables, such as level of education, marital status, place of residence, on the intensification of stress related to a particular factor of work evaluation, was also analysed. Stress experienced by women at a workplace affects not ony their professional life, but also family life and social intercourses. In the women?s opinion, an unpleasant workplace is such a workplace where the feeling of mental workload is connected with the lack of rewards (motivation), uncertainty resulting from organisation of daily chores and lack of support from others. The high general level of stress was noted among the group of women working in agriculture, in pharmaceutical companies, as well as among those who perform physical work (seamstresses). The intensification of stress at a workplace had a considerable impact on the value of arterial pressure among the group of woman medical representatives, as well as among the group of woman office workers. No significant dependencies were concluded between socio-demographic variables and the general level of exposure to intensified stress in the examined professional groups. The above research confirms the need for further examination of the working environment of women and its impact on health. Obviously, attempts should be made in order to improve the conditions of work for women, bearing in mind the fact that the adoption of neutral attitude towards the sexes when assessing risk and undertaking preventive activities may result in the female gender being underestimated or even disregarded.
Authors and Affiliations
Iwona Bojar, Ewa Humeniuk, Alfred Owoc, Waldemar Wierzba, Andrzej Wojtyla
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP58734
- DOI -
- Views 156
- Downloads 0
Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii infection in foresters in the south-eastern Poland and comparison of diagnostic methods
Introduction:[i] Coxiella burnetii[/i] is an aetiologic agent of Q fever. Ticks have been considered as a reservoir and a vector of [i]C. burnetii[/i]. The outbreaks of Q fever were noted in different parts of Europe bot...
Occurrence of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in food.
Gastroenteritis is one of the most frequent microbial diseases, which is caused by the ingestion of food contaminated with staphylococcal enterotoxins. In our study, the production of staphylococcal enterotoxins A, B (SE...
Symptoms of depression among adults in rural areas of western Poland
[b]Objective[/b]. To measure the intensity of depressive symptoms in the populations residing in rural areas of western Poland, and to delineate the putative association between the intensity of depression and selected s...
Metabolic syndrome in Poland – the PONS Study
Introduction: In Central and Eastern European countries, cardiovascular disorders (CVD) in middle age are much more common than in Western Europe, and it is imperative to understand the causes underlying this excess dise...
Co-existence of chronic non-communicable diseases and common neoplasms among 2,462 endocrine adult inpatients – a retrospective analysis
[b]Objective[/b]. To analyze the coexistence of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and common neoplasms among endocrine adult inpatients. [b]Materials and method. [/b]The retrospective analysis was performed usin...