Textile workers: Occupational Stress, coping strategies and
related factors
Koseoglu Ornek, O.1 and Esin, M.N., 20152
1 Istanbul
Bilgi University, 2 Istanbul University
Presenter
Ozlem Koseoglu Ornek
Phd student- Lecturer
E mail: ozlem.koseoglu@bilgi.edu.tr
Istanbul-2015
2
Textile workers and Occupational Stress
 Textile business sector takes very significant share in working area in Turkey.
There are thousands workers in this area. Generally, they work long time in
unhealthy and unsafety conditions, extreme workload and also get less paid. The
most of them are women and have low-socieconomic conditions which make them
vulnerable.
 So, occupational stress is unavoidable due to contemproray work environment
which is defined in many different words in the related literature. Such as job
stress, stres at workplace.
3
Textile workers and Occupational Stress
 Occupational stress; when demand s of the occupation is not compatible with the
skills, knowledge and capability of the employee , this would overwhelm the coping
mechanism this employee and occupational stress would develop in response to
this (Akintayo, 2012; Peterson and Wilson, 2002).
 These responses would inevitably vary for each individual. However, employee
who works in such a conditions like Textile sectors have more risky to develop
stress.
4
 Moreover, the effect of the stress varies between genders too, placing females in a
more disadvantaged and vulnerable category when compared to their male
counterparts.
 Research regarding effects of the stress on different genders revealed that woman
are twice more likely to develop symptoms of stress than man.
(Bilsker, Gilbert,Myete and Patterson, 2005).
5
Coping Strategies
 Coping mechanism with stress is different to person to person. It is much
easier to coping with short time stress and it even contribute one’s
motivation compare to long time stress.
 Long time stress caused impairment of the productivity and performance
of the employees as well as mental health problems such as depression
(Wada et al., (2013)
6
Coping Strategies
 The most important thing is to choose and practice a suitable coping strategies
one’s personalitiy and conditions.
 These are yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises, relaxing exercises, enjoying
time with friend and family, walking, and spending time for hobbies...
7
Occupational Stress’ Symptoms
 Generally observed physical symptoms are high blood pressure, high pulse, cheyne
stokes respiration, decrease of immuglobulin IgA, increase of secretion of kortisol
hormone, headache, stomachache, heart diseases, obesity, sleep disturbances and
tense of muscles.
 Mental health symptoms involve irritability, tension, aggressive behaviours, lack of
concentration, depression, perception disorder and obliviousness.
 Development of such symptoms of physical and mental ill health decreases the job
quality, absenteeism, productivity, motivation, and threat workers health and
safety
(Houtman, Jettinghoff and Cedillo, 2007)
8
Some common factors of Occupational stressor
 These are changable work to work but these are the most commons according
related literature. Such as;
 Excessive workloads
 Low salaries
 Conflicting demands
 Unclear rolles definitions
 Lack of social support or little support from colleques or supervisors
 Little contol over job process
 Poor work organization
 Few oppurtinities for advancement
(American Pschological Association, 2015)
9
 As a result of these conditions and outcomes, health protection, prevention
and also promotion programs should be organized and implemented at the
workplace.
 Occupational health nurses as a member of occupational team can take part
easily and effectively in these programs.
 Accordingly, there was a necessity of such a research as define health problems
and to be used as a guide for health promotion programs.
10
Research title: Textile workers: Occupational Stress, coping
strategies and related factors
 The aim of this research study has been to examine occupational stress, coping strategies
with stressors and relevant factors in textile workers.
 Method: It is a descriptive and cross sectional design. The data was collected from textile
factories by using;
1.
The Descriptive Characteristics of the worker’s Assessment Form,
2.
The Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) which was developed by Shimomitsu and et
all, (2000) in Japan.
3.
The Brief Scales for Coping Profiles (BSCP) that was developed by Kageyama,
Kobayashi, Kawashima and Kanamaru, (2004).
11
Measurements
1. The Descriptive Characteristics of the worker’s Assessment Form
 It was formed by the researcher according to related literature.
 It is comprised of 24 questions such as age, gender, mariage status, occupation, working
time, economic situation, chronic and acut disease, sleep patterns, salary, education
situation...) and,
 2 questions about evaluation of work performance which were cited from related research
by World Health Organization (Kessler et all., 2004; Kessler et all, 2003).
12
2. The Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ)
It was developed by Shimomitsu and et all, (2000) in Japan. It is consist of 57 items and
graded on 4 point-scale. It has 4 subscales which are;
•
Physical symptoms
•
Psychological symptoms) and
•
Job stress
•
Social support
13
2. The Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ)
 It has been translated and adapted for use in Turkish by Koseoglu Ornek and Esin, 2015.
 The both measurement have been found to have reliability and validity values.
 The Cronbach alphas score of The BJSQ was 0.74.
 According to factor analysis, the item total correlation coefficients ranges from 0.45 to
0.77.
14
3. The Brief Scales for Coping Profiles (BSCP)
It was developed by Kageyama, Kobayashi, Kawashima and Kanamaru, (2004).
It is comprised of 18 questionsand graded on 4 point-scale. It has 6 subscales which are;
1.
Active solution
2.
Seeking help for solution
3.
Changing mood
4.
Changing a point of view
5.
Emotional expression involving others
6.
Avoidance and suppression
15
3. The Brief Scales for Coping Profiles (BSCP)
 It has been translated and adapted for use in Turkish by Koseoglu Ornek and Esin, 2015.
 The both measurement have been found to have reliability and validity values.
 The Cronbach alphas score of the BSCP was 0.72.
 According to factor analysis, the item total correlation coefficients ranges from 0.48 to
0.73.
16
Results- Demographic caharecteristics
 The research samples were consisting of 668 textile workers.
 More than 53% of the workers were women.
 The mean age of all subjects was 33,2±9,9 years.
 Almost 49% of the workers had graduated from just primary school.
 The mean working hours per week was 62±5,9.
17
 Almost 8% of the workers have worked without formal compulsory insurance payment
by the employer.
 69% of the workers defined their economic conditions as “good”.
 Almost 77% of the workers defined their health conditions as “good”
 More than 80% of them earn 270-500 USD dollars.
 Almost 40% of the workers gave 10 out of 10 point, 17.7% of them gave 8/10 to their
“general work performance”
18
Results- the Brief Job Stress Questionnairee
 The score of the BJSQ was 113,9±20,3 (median:112),
its subscales;
 The physical symptoms’ score was 15.3±12,9 (median:14),
 The psychological symptoms was 24,8±7,3(median:24) and
 The job stress was 54,2±9,24 (median:53).
 The social support was 17,7±4,9 (median:17)
The scores above the median indicating job stress.
19
Results- Coping Strategies
 The scores of the BSCP was 53,8±8,3 (median:54),
 The scores from its 2 subscales which were higher than median;
“Changing a point of view” 8,2 ± 2,37 (median:8) and
“Seeking help for solution” 2,9±1,1 (median: 2)
20
Results- Coping Strategies
Theother scores from its some subscales which were lower than median;
 Emotional expression involving others 4,8 ± 1,6 (median:5)
 Avoidance and suppression 4,6 ± 1,6 (median:5)
The scores above the median indicating unsuccessful coping methods.
21
Results- related Factors
 It was found significant an association between the workers’ gender and physical
symptoms (p˂0.05).
 It was shown that psychological symptoms and job stress’ level has ranged according to
their economical situation (respectively; H=18,512 df= 3 p=0,000, H=7,954 df=3 p˂0,05).
22
Results- related Factors
 It was found negative correlation between job stress’ level and the workers’ sleep
quality and also general working performance (respectively;Spearman’s q=-0,091,
p=0,000:Spearman’s q= -0,126, p=0,001).
 However, it was found positive correlation between psychological symptoms and the
working hours peer week (Spearman’s q= 0,082, p=0,05).
23
Conclusion
 The job stress’s level of the workers were found high and the coping profiles were found insufficient.
 Ultimately, these findings can be used as guidelines for the prevention of health problems in textile
workers.
24
References
Akintayo, D. I., 2012. Occupational stress, psychological well-being and workers’ behaviour in manufacturing industruies in South-west
Nigeria. Research Journal in Organizational Psychology & Educational Studies, 1:5;289-294
American Pschological Association, 2015. Internet access; http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/work-stress.aspx, retrieved at 17.08.2015.
Bilsker, Gilbert,Myete ve Patterson, 2005. Depression & Work Function: Bridging the gap between mental health care & the workplace.
Retrieved at :15 April 2015 http://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/carmha/resources/depression-work-function-bridging-the-gap-between/WorkDepression.pdf
Houtman, I., Jettinghoff, K., ve Cedillo, L., 2007. Raising Awareness of Stress at Work in Developing Countries . Retrieved at: 20 May 2015,
http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/raisingawarenessofstress.pdf?ua=1
Kageyama, T., Kobayashi, T., Kawashima, M., & Kanamaru, Y. (2004). [Development of the Brief Scales for Coping Profile (BSCP) for
workers: basic information about its reliability and validity]. Sangyo eiseigaku zasshi= Journal of occupational health, 46(4), 103-114.
Peterson, M., ve Wilson, J.F., 2002. The culture-Work-Health Model and Work stress. Am J Health Behav, 26(1):16-24
Shimomitsu T, Haratani T, Nakamura K, Kawakami N, Hayashi T, Hiro H, Arai M, Miyazaki S, Furuki K, Ohya Y, and Odagiri Y., 2000. The
final development of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire mainly used for assessment of the individuals. In: Kato M, ed. Research report of the
Grant for the Prevention of Work Related Disease Sponsored by The Ministry of Labour: The 1999 Report, 126-137. Tokyo, Japan
25
Thanks for attention…!