job stress, education and work ability among refinery workers

Job stress is one of the basic problems in industrial that can underlie a number of problems such as cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal diseases, early retirement to employees. On the other hand early retirement from workplace has increased, is one of the problems of today's industries. Hereof, improving work ability is one of the most effective ways to enhance the ability and preventing disability and early retirement. The aim of This study is determine the relationship between job stress score, work ability and educational level in refinery workers. This is a cross-sectional study in which 171 workers in refinery who were working in different occupational groups participated. Based on appropriate assignment sampling, 33 office workers, 69 operational workers, and 69 maintenance workers, respectively, were invited to participate in this study. Two questionnaires including work related-stress and WAI were filled in. Finally, the information was analyzed using the SPSS-20 and statistic tests namely, Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA and t-test. Analysis showed that 86% and 14% participants had extreme and moderate stress, respectively. Average score of stress and standard deviation was 158.7±17.3 that was in extreme stress range. Average score and standard deviation of WAI questionnaire were 37.18 and 3.86 respectively. That placed in a good range. Pearson correlation coefficient showed that WAI score had significant reversed relationship with a score of stress. Stress is one of the most important factors that influence the ability of employees, so learning to cope with stress in order to maintain and enhance the ability of staff is recommend.