A Study Of The Model And Norm And It's Application Of Occupational Stress

Occupational stress and workplace health have become issues of great concern over the last decade, both internationally and nationally. Given the value of work in this society, the amount of time spent at work and the current changes that are affecting the nature of work, it is not surprising that work stress appears to be increasing. As a result of the rapidly changing global economy, organizations now operate in cultures of increased speed, efficiency and competition. Consequently, economic imperatives and the need to retain competitive advantage have resulted in restructuring and uncertainty.This is the first time that Occupation Stress Inventory Revised Edition (OSI-R) was used to establish occupational stress norm for different occupation groups, so that we could estimate the level of occupation stress, stressor, strain and coping resources in different occupation. In addition, we established and tested subjective and objective environment match model of occupational stress. Efficient intervention measure was taken to reduce the occupational stress so as to improve the work ability and life quality.1 Establishment and test of a subjective and objective environment match model of occupational stress.Recent figures provided by the Health and Safety Executive (2001)suggest that stress-related illness is responsible for the loss of 6.5million working days each year, costing British employers around ￡370 million (about $ 518 million) and British society as a whole as much as ￡375 billion (about $525 billion ). The true impact of mismanaged stress must be viewed in terms of costs associated with poor performance and productivity, increased accidents at work, high labor turnover, forced early retirement, ill health, job dissatisfaction, and unhappiness, in addition to increased insurance premiums and compensation and stress litigation costs.We suggest that to manage stress successfully, we need to recognize the effects of exposure to stress and understand how and why stress is damaging in its consequences. To do this, we offer a theoretical framework by describing certain models of stress.Response-based model of job stress(Hans Selye ,1956), makes no attempt to address the issue of psychological response to events, or that response to a potential threat may, in turn, become the stimulus for a difference response. The framework can explain our response to certain stressor, such as the physical effects of heat and cold, but it is not adequate to explain response to psychosocial stress.A stimulus-based model of job stress(Meyer, 1930), This highlights a major weakness of the simple stimulus-response model of job stress, because stress needed to be defined in terms of the imbalance between the perceived demand from the environment and the individual perceived resources to meet those demands.An interactive model of job stress (Lazarus & Launier, 1978), An interactive model of stress acknowledge that situation are not inherently stressful, but are potentially stressful, and it is necessary to take account of the source of stress, mediators or moderators of the stress response, mechanism or manifestation of stress.An operational model of job stress (Cooper & Marshall, 1978), It is vital as part of the process of evaluation and the calculation of a cost-benefit analysis. The model of stress can be used to guid the steps to successful stress management programs.These models of stress were static,unitary and unilateral(Rout,2002), Occupational stress is complex and dynamic. Occupational stress is usually categorized as being either acute, chronic, or post traumatic. The term 'acute stress' refer to sudden onset. Stress of this nature usually involves a rapid response to an abrupt, single. For the majority of people who experience an acute stress response, return to 'normal' life within a shot time period is expected. 'Chronic stress' is a cumulative reaction to a build-up of pressures over a long period of time. This type of response tends to begin gradually and proceed slowly. 'Post traumatic stress disorder' develops as a delayed and /or deferred response to an acute stressful event or situation(either short or long lasting). This event usually has a particularly threatening or catastrophic nature,with the potential to cause pervasive distress in almost anyone(WHO,1992). Therefore, We establish and test a subjective and objective environment match model of occupational stress.2 Establishment of the occupational stress norm on the different occupational workersIn this study, cross-sectional study method is used, and a synthetic way of sorting and randomized sampling is adopted to deal with research targets. Based on Occupation Sorting Canon in the People's Republic of China, eight areas are sorted out by rate, i.e., executive group, scientific research group, technical group, marketing group, administrative support group, public service/safety group, production laborer group, professional group, then, individuals were randomly stratified in each group.The normative data were derived from a sample of 4278 participants, average age was 36.43±9.74 years (range from 19 to 66), average working experience was 17.39±11.21 years (range from 1 to 49), 57.0% people have college degree or diploma and over 78% are married.Descriptive statistics for OSI-R scale scores for the total normative sample, for gender samples, and for occupational group samples were modulated. Scale raw score to T-score conversion tables derived from the OSI-R normative sample for total sample, for gender samples, various occupational groups were established. OSI-R profile from for total group, for gender group, various occupational groups were established. The result of trend analysis shows that the major factors influencing OSI-R are occupation, sex and education.3 Analysis of major stressors, strain, and coping resourcesThe Occupation Stress Inventory Revised Edition (OSI-R) modified by our group was used to test the targets' occupational stress level (including stressors, strain and coping resources).There are three questionnaires in OSI-R, which are, occupational role questionnaire (ORQ), personal strain questionnaire (PSQ), and personal resources questionnaire (PRQ). There are 14 items in OSI-R. Of them, ORQ includes 6 items, i.e., role overload (RO), role insufficiency (RI), role ambiguity (RA), role boundary (RB), responsibility (R) and physical environment (PE). PSQ includes 4 items, i.e., vocational strain (VS), psychological strain (PSY), interpersonal strain (IS) and physical strain (PHS). PRQ includes 4 items, namely, recreation (RE), self-care (SC), social support (SS) and rational/cognitive (RC).The results of gender norm show that there are heavier occupational role , stronger interpersonal and physical strain in male than that in female, and the differences are statistically significant (PO.01). The score of recreation in the male is higher than that in female, but the score of self-care in the female is higher than that in male, and the differences are statistically significant (P<0.01).Difference in the scores of occupational role, personal resource among various age groups is significant (PO.01). Vocational, interpersonal strain scores among various age groups is significant (PO.05).The results of educational level norm analyses suggest that the difference in the scores of occupational stress and strain among various educational levels show statistically significant (PO.05), whereas there are no statistic significance of coping resources among the groups (P>0.05).In terms of different occupations, the scores of occupational stress, strain and personal resources among various groups indicate obviously significant differencesOPO.oi).Among the 6 items of occupational role questionnaire, the scores of role overload, role insufficiency, role boundary, role ambiguity, responsibility are obviously higher in the executive group (P<0.05). The scores of vocational strain, psychological strain and interpersonal strain in the executive group are significantly higher(P<0.05). The results of personal resources indicate that social support scores in executive group are superior(P<0.05).To approch the occupational stress levels, major stressors and strain in the various occupational group, 319 participants were sampled as control group. The research method and measuring tools are the same.The control sample consists of 162 male and 157 female. The ratio of male and female is 100:97. The mean age of the respondents was 38.17±9.0. General consideration, the scores of the three questionnaires in the various occupational group are higher than that in the control group.Among the 6 items of occupational role questionnaire, the scores of role overload, role insufficiency, role boundary, role ambiguity, responsibility are obviously higher in the executive group, scientific research group, technical group, marketing group, administrative support group, public service/safety group and production laborer group (PO.01). The scores of the strain in the executive group,scientific research group, technical group, marketing group, administrative support group, public service/safety group and production laborer group, are significantly higher than the control group (PO.01). The results of personal resources indicate that social support scores in executive group are superior to control group (PO.05), The results of personal resources indicate that self-care scores in scientific research group, marketing group and production laborer group are superior to control group (PO.01). The results of personal resources indicate that public service/safety group are inferior to control group (PO.01). The results of personal resources indicate that professional group are superior to control group (P<0.05).4 Intervention of Occupayional stressWe used OSI-R scale scores for occupational group samples, OSI-R profile from for various occupational groups. At the same time, this model and OSI-R profile can be used in real life to estimate the levels of occupation stress personally. Efficient intervention measure was taken to reduce the occupational stress and strain and strengthen their coping resources, so as to improve the work ability and life quality. Meanwhile, different treatment should be taken separately in accordance with special occupation as their stressors and strain characteristics are distinct.