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Ryu, Jeong, Kim, Roh, and Won: Association between Job Stress, Psychosocial Well-being and Presenteeism, Absenteeism: Focusing on Railroad Workers
Original Article
Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2012; 24(3): 263-273.

Published online: 30 September 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.0000/kjoem.2012.24.3.263

Association between Job Stress, Psychosocial Well-being and Presenteeism, Absenteeism: Focusing on Railroad Workers

Inn-Shil Ryu, Dae-Soon Jeong1, In-Ah Kim2, Jae-Hoon Roh3, Jong-Uk Won3

Yonsei University Graduate School of Public Health, Institute for Occupational Health, Korea.

1Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea Railroad Corporation, Korea.

2Yonsei University Graduate School of Public Health, Korea.

3Department of Preventive Medicine, Institute for Occupational Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea.

Corresponding author (juwon@yuhs.ac)

Received 8 June 2012       Revised 20 September 2012       Accepted 20 September 2012

Copyright © 2012 The Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to determine the current status of presenteeism and absenteeism among railroad workers as well as to investigate whether or not job stress level and psychosocial well-being status are associated with presenteeism and absenteeism.

Methods

As the cross-sectional design, a self-reported questionnaire using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale(KOSS), Psychosocial Well-being Index(PWI), and Work Productivity and Impairment-General Health(WPAI-GH) was administered to railroad workers. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze the association between job stress, psychosocial well-being status and presenteeism, absenteeism in 1,099 subjects.

Results

Among the study subjects, 52.0% and 22.0% experiened presenteeism and absenteeism, respectively. Job stress level in railroad workers was higher than that in general workers. Multivariate logistic regression with presenteeism as the dependent variable showed an elevated odds ratio of 3.56(95% CI 1.48-8.54) in the highest job stress group, and an odds ratio of 3.20(95% CI 1.94-5.26) in the high-risk psychosocial stress group. There was no significant association between job stress level and absenteeism, whereas weak association between psychosocial stress and absenteeism was found.

Conclusions

Since railroad workers have a high level of job stress and elevated experience of presenteeism, a management strategy is required to control presenteeism and absenteeism in order to promote railroad workers' health and safety.

Keywords: Sick leave, Absenteeism, Stress, Psychological, Railroads

Figures and Tables

Table 1
General characteristics of the study populations
kjoem-24-263-i001
Table 2
Distributions of study subjects with presenteeism and absenteeism according to the general and work-related characteristics
kjoem-24-263-i002
Table 3
Distributions of study subjects with presenteeism and absenteeism according to the level of job stress and psychosocial well-being
kjoem-24-263-i003
Table 4
Odds ratios for presenteeism by logistic regression analysis
kjoem-24-263-i004

Model 1: univariate analysis of job stress.

Model 2: univariate analysis of psychosocial well-being.

Model 3: multivariate analysis of job stress with general and work-related characteristics.

Model 4: multivariate analysis of job stress, psychosocial well-being with general and work-related characteristics.

Table 5
Odds ratios for absenteeism by logistic regression analysis
kjoem-24-263-i005

Model 1: univariate analysis of job stress.

Model 2: univariate analysis of psychosocial well-being.

Model 3: multivariate analysis of job stress with general and work-related characteristics.

Model 4: multivariate analysis of job stress, psychosocial well-being with general and work-related characteristics.

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