Journal of Occupational

  Background: The employees of welfare centers, due to the special conditions of their work, may be exposed to excessive occupational stress and workload . Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of workload and occupational stress on the general health of female employees of public welfare centers.

  Materials and Methods: This was a correlational research on 63 female employees of 3 welfare centers. The data were collected using the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI), NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software by computing the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and the stepwise regression.

  Results: The general health score of 66% of staff of the welfare centers was higher than the cutoff point, as limit determinant of health and non-health. Among the different dimensions of general health, social disorders obtained the highest score 74% of staff had social problems. The workload score of 12% of women was higher than 70 (high workload) and the workload score of 71.42% of women was between 40 and 70 (intermediate). Mean score of General Health Care of mentally ill disabled, and elderly employees was, respectively, 21.12, 27.21, and 24.90. The Occupational Stress Inventory score of the study population was 151.04, indicating that welfare employees were not exposed to high rates of stress in their work environment.

  Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that authorities should pay special attention to ergonomics factors affecting the general health of welfare employees, especially with respect to social disorders. Moreover, personality traits should also be considered in employing of individuals.

  Background: The lack of satisfaction and balance between the workload and abilities and limitations of individuals in various occupations may influence their general health. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of workload and job satisfaction on the general health of industrial workers.

  Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional and correlational study on 215 workers of a Chinese manufacturing industry in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. Data were collected using the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software and through computing the Pearson and Spearman’s correlation coefficients and step-wise regression.

  Results: The general health score of 60 % of women and 45.1 % of men was greater than the cut-off score of 21 as a determinant of health and non- health. In addition, 80.6 % of men and 74.8 % of women had social problems . The overall workload of 26.53 % of men and 23.7 % of women was over 70 ( high workload ) and the workload of 69.38 % of men and 69.23 % of women was between 40 and 70 (intermediate ). Based on these result , the average job satisfaction score is moderate and 60.2 % of men and women have shown moderate satisfaction . The result of correlation test showed no statistically significant correlation between workload and job satisfaction and general health (P > 0.05). Moreover, no significant relationship was observed between job satisfaction and general health (P > 0.05).

  Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that authorities should pay special attention to the general health of industrial workers, especially with respect to social disorders. In addition, given the direct relationship between some subscales of workload and job satisfaction, and general health, further studies are needed to identify these factors.

Background: Due to high prevalence of musculoskeletal risk factors among kitchen workers and their role in causing discomfort, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ergonomic factors (mental workload and working posture) on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among workers of training hospitals in Qazvin, Iran.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done through census among 60 workers of teaching hospital's kitchens of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2016. Data were collected using pain perception and mental workload questionnaires and Quick Exposure Check (QEC) method was used for posture assessment. Data were analyzed using single and multiple logistic regression tests.

Results: About 85% of the workers reported that their work shift was very heavier than normal. The best and worst exposure score in QEC method were assigned to cooking and trolley responsible tasks, respectively. Seventy percent of working postures were classified in action level 3 (i.e. investigation and changes are required soon) that increased the backache prevalence by nearly about 4 times. Heavy workload in interaction with other influential factors increased the neck discomfort about 5 times and back discomfort by 2.5 times.

Conclusions: Long working hours, heavy workload, stress, high-speed work, long standing and inadequate rest are the factors influencing the increase of MSDs prevalence among the kitchen workers. By increasing numbers of manpower, reducing the workload and working hours and adequate rest, in addition to doing the work properly, MSDs in this group can somehow be reduced.

Background: Mental workload is one of the factors that influence individuals’ performance in the work environment as well as their efficiency and productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Rating Scale Mental Effort (RSME) for mental workload in nurses.

Materials and Methods: This study was descriptive and cross-sectional conducted on 75 nurses. For assessment of mental workload, first NASA task load index (NASA-TLX) and then RSME were measured. After from data gathering, the data were analyzed using SPSS, descriptive statistics, Student’s independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson correlation test.

Results: The results of the assessment workload using RSME and NASA-TLX index of nurses showed that nurses' workload was high. Pearson correlation test regression coefficient showed a good correlation between scores of RSME and NASA-TLX index (r = 0.72) (r² = 0.51). Also there was no significant association between age and work experience with mental workload score in RMSE (P = 0.09) (P = 0.08) and NASA-TLX index (P = 0.08) (P = 0.06). Student’s t-test showed that no significant relationship was observed between sex and scores of RMSE (P = 0.08) and NASA-TLX index (P = 0.07).

Conclusions: The results of this study showed that RMSE is a good method for assessing mental workload and there was acceptable correlation with NASA-TLX valid indices. RMSE index can be used to assess the mental workload.

Background: Among important issues in physical education organizations, one could refer to paying attention to organizational health and identifying traumatic factors, including cognitive failure. Organizational failure could stem from organizational behavior. This study aims to examine the association between job stress and workload with cognitive failure with the mediating role of organizational climate among physical education staff in Ardabil province.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive correlational study, the statistical community consisted of the physical education staff of Ardabil province in 2019, from whom 200 employees were selected by random sampling. The research tools included cognitive failure questionnaires about organizational climate, job stress, and workload. The data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation and path analysis using SPSS, and AMOS software.
Results: The results showed that the variables of job stress and workload had a significant positive association with cognitive failure. In addition, the research model had a good fit, and the indirect impact of these variables was confirmed by the mediating role of organizational climate (P <0.01).
Conclusion: we concluded cognitive failure at work, based on job stress and workload with the mediating role of organizational climate, could be predictable in the physical education staff of Ardabil province.