open access
Combined effects of work-related stress in Her Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG)
open access
Abstract
Material and methods. Participants included 282 coastguards. A range of known stress outcomes were measured including: mental and physical health, accidents, risk taking, effects of memory, lifestyle, and job satisfaction.
Results. Significant associations were found with: anxiety, depression, number of sick days, perception that illness was caused or made worse by work, number of symptoms, medicines taken, insomnia, ability to maintain a desired body weight or take planned exercise and find time to relax and wind down, time spent on hobbies or interests, the impact of job on family life/family life on job, and job satisfaction.
Conclusions. Sixteen negative outcomes were significantly associated with the combined effects approach, compared with 15 using ERI or 10 using JDCS alone. Results clearly demonstrated the harmful effects of stress in maritime related roles, other than those of seafarers and suggest that further research in this area would be useful. Further studies on the more flexible stress model, which allows for the examination of both established and new combinations of risk factors and associated outcomes, would also be beneficial.
Abstract
Material and methods. Participants included 282 coastguards. A range of known stress outcomes were measured including: mental and physical health, accidents, risk taking, effects of memory, lifestyle, and job satisfaction.
Results. Significant associations were found with: anxiety, depression, number of sick days, perception that illness was caused or made worse by work, number of symptoms, medicines taken, insomnia, ability to maintain a desired body weight or take planned exercise and find time to relax and wind down, time spent on hobbies or interests, the impact of job on family life/family life on job, and job satisfaction.
Conclusions. Sixteen negative outcomes were significantly associated with the combined effects approach, compared with 15 using ERI or 10 using JDCS alone. Results clearly demonstrated the harmful effects of stress in maritime related roles, other than those of seafarers and suggest that further research in this area would be useful. Further studies on the more flexible stress model, which allows for the examination of both established and new combinations of risk factors and associated outcomes, would also be beneficial.
Keywords
stress; coastguards; combined effects; Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS); Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI); outcomes
Title
Combined effects of work-related stress in Her Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG)
Journal
Issue
Article type
Original article
Pages
63-70
Published online
2012-06-05
Page views
922
Article views/downloads
1431
Bibliographic record
IMH 2012;63(1):63-70.
Keywords
stress
coastguards
combined effects
Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS)
Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI)
outcomes
Authors
S.E. Kingdom
A.P. Smith