Naslov
The impact of night work on subjective reports of well-being: and exploratory study of health care workers from five nations

Autori
Tepas, Donald ; Barnes-Farell, Janet ; Bobko, Natalia ; Fisher, Frida M. ; Iskra-Golec, Irena ; Kaliterna Lipovčan, Ljiljana

Izvornik
Revista de Saude Publica (0034-8910) 38 (2004), Suppl; 26-31

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Health occupations; night work; age factors

Sažetak
A Survey of Health Care Professionals was designed, translated and back-translated by the authors into five languages. The survey was then completed by 876 health care workers from Brazil, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine and the USA.1 Only health care workers were studied in a rough effort to equate for occupational differences in work design and work demands. In a previous report, the Croatian data from this survey found that shiftworkers reported being more physically tired at the end of their workday than non-shiftworkers.2 Although this finding is intuitively compatible with expectations, it does not address the issue of whether this impact varies from country to country. The present report examines whether nations differ in the impact of the night shift on perceived well-being. The respondents from each country were sorted into night worker and non-night worker groups on the basis of individual responses to the question "Do you usually work at night?" Reported physical fatigue at the end of the workday was the dependent variable for an analysis using a 2 X 5 ANCOVA model, with work schedule (night, non-night workers) and nation (Brazil, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine and USA) as independent variables. Number of work hours per week and rotating/non-rotating shift were included as covariates. With physical fatigue as the dependent variable, the results showed significant differences for work schedule, nation, and the interaction of work schedule and nation. Additional ANCOVAs were calculated using other measures of worker well-being and quality of life from the survey. These included reported mental fatigue, tenseness, work ability, and several composite variables developed in previous analyses of this data base1. For every dependent variable examined, there is a significant effect for nation, but the impact of the work schedule and/or the interaction test are not always significant. The results of this study consistently support the general proposal that nations differ significantly in their perceptions of well-being. The data also suggest that the manner and/or degree to which night shift work impacts the work force in a given nation varies. For some variables, the impact of night work on worker-reported well-being and quality-of-life may be minimal. With other variables, the impact of night work is significant and must be taken into account in the organization of working time. The interaction of these variables is complex, and more research on nation differences is needed

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA