Relationship between Occupational Stress Level and the Absence of Administrative Personnel in Isfahan Health Center

Occupational stress occurs when job needs do not comply with the abilities, support, and needs of the employee. In addition to negatively affecting the physical and mental health of individuals, occupational stress can reduce their efficiency and productivity in organizations. This paper investigated the rate of job stress and its relation to absenteeism in workers.

In this cross-sectional study, 82 personnel of Provincial Health Center of Isfahan were randomly selected based on simple sampling. The data collection instrument was a demographic information questionnaire and the job stress questionnaire by Davis et al., with a concurrent validity coefficient (criterion validity) of 0.701 and reliability coefficient (with Cronbach's alpha method) of 0.863. The minimum and maximum scores of stress were 0 and 48, respectively. The study data were analyzed by the Pearson correlation, independent t-test, Spearman correlation and ANOVA statistical tests using SPSS software.

In this study, 62.2% of the subjects were female and 37.8% were male. Mean and standard deviation of stress was 19.05 ± 12.04. Mean ± SD of the number of days of absence was 2.7 ± 7.6. The Pearson correlation test showed no significant correlation between the stress score and absence from work (r = 0.122 and p = 0.141). Average score of stress in women was 20.80 ± 12.45 and in men was 16/16 ± 10.91. The t-test showed that there was significant correlation between sex and stress scores. It showed that the stress scores in women were higher than in men (p = 0.046). The Pearson correlation test also showed that, there was a significant negative correlation between stress score and income (r = -0.221 and p = 0.023).

Results related to occupational stress score in Isfahan Health Center’s office staff showed that 20.7% of subjects suffered from occupational stress. The occupational stress score in staff shows that it is necessary for the organization to find solutions that prevent any long-term effects of stress on employees.