The relationship between work stress and work ability among power supply workers in Guangdong, China: a cross-sectional study

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Runzhong Liu¹  Aihua Lin¹  Zhiting Liu¹  Li Li²  Hualiang Li² 

[1] Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 74, Zhongshan 2nd Road, 510080, Guangzhou, PR China;Electric Power Research Institute of Guangdong Power Grid Corporation, 510080, Guangzhou, PR China;

关键词: Power supply workers;    Work stress;    Work ability;    Structural equation model;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-016-2800-z

 received in 2015-06-10, accepted in 2016-02-01,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFaced with the challenge of population aging, a prolonged working life is increasingly important in today’s society. Maintaining work ability of employees is one of the effective ways to cope with the challenges to sustainability of the workforce presented by population aging. Researchers have shown ongoing interest in exploring the determinants of restricted work ability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of work stress on work ability among power supply workers in Guangdong, China.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among power supply workers during August 2014 to September 2014. A total of 805 subjects were enrolled in the study. Work stress was assessed by the Job Content Questionnaire and the Effort Reward Imbalance Questionnaire. Work ability was assessed by the Work Ability Index (WAI). The structural equation model was applied to test the relationship between different work stress components and work ability simultaneously using the Job Demands-Resources model as a framework.ResultsJob resources (measured by job control, reward and social support) were positively and directly associated with work ability (β = 0.70, P < 0.001). The association between job demands and work ability was also statistically significant (β = −0.09, P = 0.030). In addition, the findings also supported previous studies in that job demands were correlated with job resources (β = −0.26, P < 0.001).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that decision makers and health care providers should consider increasing job resources available to power supply workers. Consideration of organizational changes related to the design of the job task also would be useful to improve the employees’ work ability.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Li et al. 2016