The effect of active occupational stress management on psychosocial and physiological wellbeing: a pilot study

An Investigation into Occupational Related Stress of At-Risk Workers During COVID-19

OBJECTIVES

Nearly all workers and industry sectors have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in some form since March 2020. However, the pandemic-related stressors experienced in the workplace may vary from industry to industry and may have disproportionally affected some workers. This study investigates increased stress levels, stressor events, and other perceptions of stress from at-risk workers during COVID-19.

METHODS

An in-depth work-related stress survey that incorporated many aspects of work, life, work-life balance, and the health of employer-employee relationships was developed with a focus on COVID-19-related stressors. The cross-sectional survey was distributed online through professional networks from October to November 2021. The survey results were statically analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) after grouping the industry sectors into the four groups to determine trends within these groupings.

RESULTS

The survey was completed by 670 workers in sectors such as manual labor, business/office service, healthcare, and education. A variety of trends were determined between the occurrence of COVID-19 and work stress which had, in some cases, affected some industry sectors to a larger degree than others. More than 50% of the participants reported experiencing an increased workload since the onset of the pandemic with some sectors, like healthcare, reporting an increased workload more frequently at 80%. Around 55% of respondents believed they could be exposed to COVID-19 in their workplace, ranging from 52% of business/office service workers to 77% of healthcare workers.

CONCLUSIONS

As workplaces navigate past the pandemic, occupational stress should be addressed head-on through workplaces providing expanded resources so as to assure work stress associated with future pandemics are mitigated appropriately. Whether the stressor is associated with irregular shift work or psychosocial aspects (i.e. relying on coworkers), many of these stressors have the possibility to become exacerbated by external factors such as pandemics.

Stressed at Work: Investigating the Relationship between Occupational Stress and Salivary Cortisol Fluctuations

Chronic stress has been associated with a range of health disparities, but examination of occupational stress, especially in the wake of COVID-19, has been minimal for many careers. A novel methodology involving work stress diaries and collection of salivary cortisol was employed to determine correlations between occupations, occupational stressors, and how well these are related to the physiological response to stress exposure, the release of cortisol. While cortisol levels tended to follow typical circadian rhythm based on sampling times, cortisol levels also followed the subjective stress levels listed in the work stress diaries following linear regression analysis using the pooled study population data (p = 0.042). When comparing the stressors between the studied careers, participants who worked in the healthcare industry accounted for one-third of the total participants, but reported nearly half (42%) of the more severe occupational stressors listed in the diaries. Finally, the most commonly listed emotional reactions to exposures listed included feelings of stress, frustration, anger, anxiety, or overwhelm. As the workplace progresses from the pandemic, the opportunity to reduce occupational stress exposures in the workplace is at hand. Companies that work towards minimizing the stress faced by their workforce would have a healthier and more relaxed workforce.